Hamas-affiliated media has published an article by a senior Hamas official arguing that Hamas has the right to attack Israeli embassies and interests as well as senior Israeli officials anywhere in the world. According to a MERI translation, the article also argued that “the resistance” is also entitled to harm the interests of Israel’s allies including the US. According to the translation:
Hamas
In an article published July 16, 2013 on Felesteen.ps, a website affiliated with Hamas, Hamas Refugee Affairs Department head Dr ‘Issam ‘Adwan argued that Hamas had the right to attack Israeli embassies and interests as well as senior Israeli officials anywhere in the world. He added that the resistance is also entitled to harm the interests of Israel’s allies, headed by the U.S.
Dr. ‘Issam ‘Adwan[1] In his article, ‘Adwan called for opening Hamas liaison offices in the Arab and Islamic countries ‘in order to recruit support, material and moral assistance, and even manpower assistance.’ Hinting at the Palestinian Authority, he stated that the resistance ‘has the right to smite with an iron fist any hand that seeks to rip apart the [Palestinian] people’s unity and [cause it to]abandon its rights.’ It should be noted that this article is unusual in that to date, senior Hamas officials have adhered to the movement’s position that there should be no attacks outside the borders of Palestine. The following is a translation of the main points of the article:[2] ‘The Palestinian resistance is entitled to expand and diversify its means and tools of resistance; this is a legitimate resistance that defends a defenseless people that has fallen under an oppressive occupation which is supported by the global forces of evil. No one has the right to condemn the resistance for any of the methods that it adopts, because it knows better than everyone else what is good for it and for its noble objectives.”
The Palestinian resistance requires the Palestinian people to remain united under the resistance banner, and it [the resistance]has the right to smite with an iron fist any hand that seeks to rip apart the people’s unity and [cause it to]abandon its rights. It must also pursue the agents of the occupation wherever they may be, even outside Palestine, because leaving them in peace damages the Palestinian cause and places the Palestinian people, its leadership, and its resistance in grave danger.
The statements from the Hamas official may reflect the considerable pressure felt by Hamas in the wake of Dr. Morsi’s deposal. The Al-Monitor mideast news portal has posted an article titled “Hamas Mitigates Fallout After Muslim Brotherhood Defeat” which looks at the situation facing Hamas:
A political earthquake hit Hamas following the ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. Frustration plagued both members and leaders of the Islamic movement in the Gaza Strip. They were hoping that the Islamic governance project would succeed with the rise of Islamists — the Muslim Brotherhood in particular — in Arab Spring countries, and the world’s new openness toward this project.
In statements regarding their crisis, Hamas leaders have tried to maintain calm. They also took a position of self-defense in light of efforts on the part of anti-Muslim Brotherhood Egyptian media outlets to incite hatred against Palestinians, especially those in the Gaza Strip. Yet, despite these efforts, tension and disappointment seemed clear in the ranks of the leaders in this coastal region. These leaders clearly support the actions of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to oppose the military “coup” against Islamists.
A Hamas leader confirmed to Al-Monitor the emergence of signs of “disappointment” that the movement experienced, and is still experiencing, as a result of Morsi’s sudden fall. The movement had raised its hopes high with Morsi’s arrival to power. After he opened prospects for greater empowerment of Hamas’ rule in the Gaza Strip, this enhanced the power of Islamists in Arab, Islamic and Western countries.
Last week, the GMBDW discussed an article that looked at Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar and his efforts to rebuild relations between Hamas and Iran.
The Hamascharter says that it is “one of the wings of the Muslim Brothers in Palestine” and soon after Hamas took over the Gaza strip, Muslim Brotherhood representatives traveled to Gaza from Egypt through the newly-opened border to review Hamas military formations. A Hamas journalist has acknowledged the role that the “international Muslim Brotherhood” has played in providing funds for the purchase of weapons and Hamas is known to be supported financially and politically by the global Muslim Brotherhood. A Muslim Brotherhood spokesman revealed that a coalition of London-based Muslim groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, were behind the mass demonstrations staged to protest Israeli actions in the 2008 Gaza war and the Global Muslim Brotherhood and its Turkish affiliates were also intimately involved, along with the Turkish government, in the June 2010 Gaza flotilla that was involved in a violent altercation with Israeli naval forces.
