Hamas

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Enemy image, Political party, armyTerrorists

"Terrorists"  Hamas  link () Sourcewatch Wikiquote
File:Images.jpg
Formation	1987
Founder	Ahmed Yassin Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi
Headquarters	Gaza, Palestinian territories Doha, Qatar (residence of Hamas chairman)
Interests	Israel, Jeruzalem, Gaza, West Bank,
"Terrorists" according to the West, largely founded, financed and brought to power by Israel, Hamas has led Palestine into becoming an enemy image to the western world since 2006.

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“To a certain degree, the Islamist Organisation whose militant wing has rained rockets on Israel [Hamas] has the Jewish state to thank for its existence.”
Ishaan Tharoor (30 July 2014) 

Ḥarakah al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah or the Islamic Resistance Movement better known as Hamas, is a Palestinian Islamic organisation with several integrated militant divisions, NGOs and political entities. It won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election and became the de facto governing authority of Gaza after 2007, gaining a slight majority in the parliament of the Palestinian National Authority. It was largely created and financed by Mossad-elements in the 1990s, socially engineering a support for Zionist activists in Israel by starting bombing attacks against Jews on Israeli soil and acting as "extremist voice of the people" of Gaza. The rise of Hamas during the 2000s "War on Terror" caused a rise in support of the Western world in the 2000s for Israeli Zionists, despite numerous Mossad-confessions Hamas thanks its existence to the Mossad.

Origins

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Blowback: How Israel Helped Create Hamas - The Intercept

Israel and Hamas have engaged in several wars of varying intensity. Hamas's military wing has launched attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers, often describing them as retaliations, in particular for assassinations of the upper echelon of their leadership. Tactics have included suicide bombings and rocket attacks. Human Rights Watch condemned all attacks on civilian targets.

Creation

Full article: Mossad

The Islamic Resistance Movement is largely a creation of the Israeli deep state. For years, Israel encouraged Gaza’s Islamists as a counterweight to the secular nationalists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its dominant faction, Yasser Arafat’s Fatah, helping to turn a bunch of fringe Palestinian Islamists in the late 1970s into one of the world’s most notorious militant groups, which has killed far more Israeli civilians than any secular Palestinian militant group.

Parliament

In the January 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, Hamas won a majority in the PNA Parliament, defeating the PLO-affiliated Fatah party. After the elections, the Quartet (the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States) made future foreign assistance to the PNA conditional upon the PNA's commitment to non violence, recognition of the state of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements. Hamas rejected those conditions.

Since the early 1990s, the group has frequently stated that it would accept a truce if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders, paid reparations, allowed free elections in the territories and gave Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes destroyed by Israeli settlers. In the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, Hamas won a majority in the PNA Parliament, and the western world stopped its aid to Hamas, but not Palestine.

"Inadvertent" support from the Israeli Deep state

File:Netanyahu strategy Hamas.jpg

"Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas," Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu told his Likud party’s Knesset members in March 2019. "This is part of our strategy"

The support for Hamas began under Prime Minister Menahem Begin, Likud Prime Minister of from 1977 to 1983, and Yitzhak Shamir, also Likud, from 1983 to 1985, then from 1986 to 1992. Both were highly experienced in terrorist methods from the fight against the British. Under Begin and later Shamir, Israel created, funded and controlled the "Village Leagues," a system of local councils managed by Palestinians who were hand-picked by Israel to run local city and village administrations. The plan was devised by Ariel Sharon, who was Israel's Defence Minister. Funding was allowed to flow in from the Gulf states. The notion of only "original support" to a simple "Islamic organisation" that later "turned against its maker", makes it possible to minimise the full extent of covert Israeli support.

Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev, who was the Israeli military governor in Gaza in the early 1980s, later told the New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief David K. Shipler that he was giving money to the Muslim Brotherhood, the precursor of Hamas, on the instruction of the Israeli authorities. The funding was intended to tilt power away from both leftist and Palestinian nationalist movements in Gaza, and especially from Arafat (who himself referred to Hamas as "a creature of Israel"), which Israel considered more threatening than the fundamentalists. "The Israeli government gave me a budget" the retired brigadier general said, "and the military government gives to the mosques".

Avner Cohen, a former Israeli religious affairs official who worked in Gaza for more than two decades, told the Wall Street Journal in 2009 that "Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel’s creation," Back in the mid-1980s, Cohen wrote an official report to his superiors warning them not to play divide-and-rule in the Occupied Territories, by backing Palestinian Islamists against Palestinian secularists. "I … suggest focusing our efforts on finding ways to break up this monster before this reality jumps in our face," he wrote.

Founders and Spies

Full article: Mosab Hassan Yousef

One of the most vital spies in the organization early on among others is the son of co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, Mosab Hassan Youcef. Mosab converted to Christianity in 1998 after denouncing Islam and the violence people engaged in under the name of it, in particular the torture of Muslim collaborators in Palestinian prisons. Mosab developed a hate for Islam after seeing how Hamas used the lives of suffering civilians and children to achieve its goals and turned Israeli spy for Shin Bet after being arrested by them.

Shin Bet called Mosab responsible for preventing dozens of Palestinian suicide attacks and prevent the assassinations of many Israelis, exposing numerous Hamas cells, and assisted Israelis arresting Palestinian militants. Mosab even helped the intelligence agency arrest his father.

The Hamas-Likud objective alliance

During the 1990s Suicide bombings from Hamas helped to undermine the policies of the Israeli Labor Party and have at least twice helped to elect Likud candidates to the office of Prime Minister. Every time Israeli and Palestinian negotiators appeared ready to take a major step toward achieving peace, a Hamas suicide bombing scuttled the peace process and pushed the two sides apart. After the return to power of Labor in 1992, negotiations resumed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority of Yasser Arafat. The initiative made Likud increase the pressure on Arafat through Hamas. On the political front, Likud officials met with political prisoners from the ranks of Hamas to convince them of the need to politically short-circuit the peace process. Likud then pushed for the release of Palestinian prisoners so that they organise a political opposition to Arafat.

Suicide attacks and the destruction of the peace process

The first suicide attack attributed to Hamas occurred in April 1994, in response to a deadly massacre by Baruch Goldstein, a fanatical Israeli settler against Muslims praying at the Hebron mosque. As a result, in January 1995, Bill Clinton banned any negotiations with the organisation because of its power to cause trouble in the context of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, on November 4, 1995 by the Israeli deep state destroyed half of the hopes for a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hamas, through a major wave of attacks, destroyed the Palestinian half. In February and March 1996, a series of suicide bombings undermined the authority of the interim labor Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, who lost the elections shortly after to Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu, once at the head of the government, has Hamas leader Sheikh Yassin released from Israeli captivity in 1997, under pretext of a prisoner exchange. This cleverly staged release is followed, as planned, by a new wave of attacks, which allowed the Israeli prime minister to obtain the support of his public opinion to suspend the peace process and go back on the agreements signed by Yitzhak Rabin.

As soon as Ariel Sharon became Prime Minister in March 2001, he used a wave of Hamas suicide bombings as the pretext to trigger a military operation: on this occasion, the IDF took control of areas normally under Palestinian sovereignty and ravaged Yasser Arafat's government infrastructure. In March 2002, a particularly deadly attack in a hotel in Netanya (30 dead, 150 injured), still attributed to Hamas, triggers the operation "Ramparts" by the IDF, which commits a massacre in the Jenin refugee camp and besieged the Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat, in Ramallah. The number of suicide attacks continued until the end of Sharon's government in 2006; allowing it to do everything possible to "destroy, not only Arafat, but all hope of a Palestinian state."

Executive Intelligence Review wrote in 2001 that "To this day, Sharon is the "Godfather of Hamas". This is privately acknowledged by many American, European, and Russian intelligence professionals. Haven’t you marveled that, every time American pressure has come down on Sharon, to end the colonial occupation, Hamas bombers have bailed out the Israeli Prime Minister with an act of horrific terrorism? This is not to say that every member of Hamas is an Israeli spy, although US intelligence has ample evidence that some of Hamas' commanders are witting of their collaboration with Sharon. Rather, the cumulative effect of irregular warfare shock trauma becomes a self-feeding phenomenon, in which a handful of witting players can keep the population trapped."

Funding

In February 2020, Haaretz wrote how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sent Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen and the Israeli military's chief of Southern Command Herzl Halevi to Qatar to ensure it continues its financial aid policy to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, by "begg[ing] "the Qataris to keep funneling money into Hamas." The visit came to light in an interview with former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman who said "both the Egyptians and the Qataris are angry with Hamas, and they were going to cut all ties with them. All of a sudden Netanyahu shows up as a Hamas advocate, pressuring Egypt and the Qataris to continue" with the financial support, adding that Netanyahu's policy is tantamount to "surrender to terrorism." Cohen and Halevi stayed in Doha for less than 24 hours, meeting with the Qatari envoy to the Gaza Strip Mohammed al-Emadi and Qatari national security advisor Mohammed Bin Ahmed al-Misnad."

Hamas proscribed in UK

File:Hamas Terrorist or FF.jpg

"Terrorists" says the West, "freedom fighters" – Global South

On 19 November 2021, Home Secretary Priti Patel laid before Parliament an order to outlaw the militant Islamist terrorist movement Hamas in its entirety from the UK.

Hamas is an organisation which calls for the establishment of a Islamic Palestinian state under Sharia law and has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel. It has long been involved in significant terrorist violence.

The organisation’s military wing is already banned in the UK but following a new assessment the Home Secretary has concluded it should be proscribed in its entirety. This action will support efforts to protect the British public and the international community in the global fight against terrorism. Hamas is already listed in its entirety by the United States and European Union.

Proscription makes it a criminal offence to be a member of, or invite support for the group, with those found guilty facing up to 14 years in prison.

The proscription order laid before Parliament on 19 November will now be debated and, subject to approval, will come into force on 26 November 2021.

It was debated in Parliament before becoming statute on 26 November 2021.

Call for de-proscription

On 17 June 2026, Pete Gregson wrote in the Middle East Monitor:

In the years of Pro-Palestine demonstrations I’ve attended since 7^th October 2023, there is rarely a mention of the group at the core of the whole issue: Hamas. For people are fearful to talk about them. But whilst calling for support for Hamas may be illegal, seeking its de-proscription is not.

The UK government’s 2000 Terrorism Act permits requesting the de-proscription of any “terrorist” group. You can’t be penalised for calling for de-proscription. Citizens have the right to appeal against proscription if you give a reason as to why its proscription affects you.

Following the events of 7^th October 2023, I did exactly that and launched a petition to the Home Secretary. Initially I tried to get the petition before Parliament using the UK government portal but was told it was beyond Parliament’s remit! So, I launched it online on Go-Petition, promoted it using 20,000 flyers – which I took to all the demonstrations around London and Scotland – and started getting signatures.

By January, the online petition had 45,000 views and 1,410 signatures which, though fearing arrest, I took to Downing Street. My two supporters and I had our photo taken outside No 10 and were welcomed into the building by police carrying a big box with "Hamas Petition" written on it.

The mainstream media was completely absent, despite my mailing 270 journalists – not one of whom decided to cover it. Only Russia Today, Al Jazeera, The Canary and Middle East Monitor carried it.

October 7^th Hamas attacks

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GRAPHIC RAW FOOTAGE: Massacre Across Israel From the Eyes of Hamas - Footage of CCTV

In October 2023, during Operation Al Aqsa Flood, Hamas killed some 1,200 people and seized some 240 hostages in a raid on Israeli settler towns. At least 3,000 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip prompting Israel's government to declare a state of emergency. Palestinian militants who infiltrated Israel made their way into several kibbutzim near the Gaza Strip as well as the city of Siderot.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel "is at war" with Hamas in a national address following the the attacks, and the IDF began an aerial bombardment of Gaza. Speaking on 13 October 2023, Netanyahu said:

“These are not merely acts of war, these are war crimes. What Hamas has done is to perpetrate the worst war crimes since the Holocaust: the burning of people alive, cramming young people into a room, bringing spare tyres from cars so there is more flames, burning them alive. This is the Holocaust method.

“Shooting babies, bound children, shooting them in the face, killing children in front of their parents, killing parents in front of their children, the rape and murder of women, the kidnapping of old people, young people, families, carrying them away. You saw the picture of that little boy. Pushed. Beaten. It reminds us of the pictures from the worst periods of the Holocaust.

“If Hamas could have its way, it would do to us exactly what the Nazis did to the Jews—they would kill every last one of us, they would mutilate our bodies, they would behead us, and that’s what they did. And therefore, it’s important to understand that Hamas perpetrated the worst war crimes since World War II."

$1 million offered by Israel

2024

During talks of ceasefires in 2024 in a new perpetual war between Israel and Palestine, Hamas official Ghazi Hamas argued Hamas did not want to rule Gaza, but only want an independent Palestinian entity to rule Gaza to not turn Gaza into a "Vichy-France", and to admit committing the October 7 attacks and to vouch to repeat them until "Israel is annihilated", even it takes "1.000.000" "October 7s".

Watch on YouTube

Hamas Official Ghazi Hamad: We Will Repeat the October 7 Attack Again Until Israel Is Annihilated

File:Hamas reward.jpeg

Hamas leaders wanted by Israel for $1 million

In December 2023, the Israeli military airdropped leaflets in Gaza offering monetary rewards totalling $1 million for information on the whereabouts of senior Hamas leaders.

The leaflets offer

• $400,000 for information on Yahyah Sinwar, who leads the group in Gaza;

• $300,000 for information on his brother, Muhammed Sinwar, who commands the Hamas's southern brigade;

• $200,000 for information on Rafa’a Salameh, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis battalion; and,

• $100,000 for information on Muhammad Deif, the commander of Hamas’s military wing, who has survived repeated assassination attempts.

References