Israeli analyst Barry Rubin has written an article for the Toronto Globe and Mail in which he asks the question why some in the media and elsewhere are determined make Hamas into something it clearly is not. The article begins:
What do you have to do to be recognized as a revolutionary Islamist group using terrorism, backed by Iran, to seek to wipe Israel off the map and kill the Jews? It isn’t easy. People keep trying to make you into something else – incipient moderate, multifaceted debating society – insisting that you just don’t really mean it. Such is the case with Hamas. Every day – in speeches, articles, violence, mosque sermons and the media – Hamas makes its positions absolutely clear. And every day, someone in the West just doesn’t want to believe it. Now Hamas has formed an alliance (of convenience?) with the Palestinian Authority, run by Fatah. It’s a remarkable situation, or would be anywhere outside of the Middle East. After all, Hamas won an election, made a deal with the PA, and then staged a coup to take over the Gaza Strip that included shooting wounded Fatah fighters dead in hospitals. Fatah and the PA regularly repress Hamas on the West Bank. So why are they “working together?” The PA wants to show unity to the world; Hamas hopes that it can take over the PA. Is it true that “as older leaders of Hamas claim some degree of moderation, younger radicals refuse to give up violence?” Not exactly. First, there is no real division along age lines. Nor is it all, but merely some, leaders of Hamas who “claim” some moderation.
Read the rest here.
The Hamas charter states that it is ” is one of the wings of the Muslim Brothers in Palestine” and an early media report indicated that shortly after Hamas took over the Gaza strip, Muslim Brotherhood representatives were present to review Hamas military formations. In 2007, a Hamas journalist acknowledged the role that the “international Muslim Brotherhood” has played in providing funds for the purchase of weapons and in 2008, an Israeli TV station reported that Muslim Brotherhood “representatives” had traveled to Gaza from Egypt through the open border to meet with Hamas. Hamas is supported financially and politically by the global Muslim Brotherhood and a NEFA Foundation report has documented the Hamas fund-raising activities of the Union of Good, a coalition of Islamic charities linked to the Brotherhood that provides financial support to both the Hamas “social” infrastructure, as well as its terrorist activities. Previous posts have also discussed the worldwide campaign orchestrated by the global Brotherhood against Israeli actions in Gaza during the 2008-2009 conflict with Israel.