Israeli media is reporting that an Egyptian court has banned the armed wing of Hamas and listed it as a terrorist organization. According to a Haaretz report:
January 31, 2015 An Egyptian court on Saturday banned Hamas’ armed wing and listed it as a terrorist organization.
Hamas is an offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood which the authorities have also declared a terrorist group and have repressed systematically since the army ousted one of its leaders, Mohammed Morsi, from the presidency in 2013.
‘The court ruled to ban the Iz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades and to list it as a terrorist group,’ said the judge of the special Cairo court which deals with urgent cases.
The case was based on allegations that the armed wing staged terrorist attacks to support the Brotherhood, and carried out a bombing and shooting operation which killed 33 security personnel in the Sinai Peninsula in October of 2014.”
In response, Hamas condemned the court’s decision, calling it a dangerous political decision which serves Israel’s interests. Hamas stressed that they object to any attempt to point a “blaming finger at Hamas and its military arm for alleged interference in Egypt’s internal affairs.”
A source close to Hamas’ armed wing signalled on Saturday the group would no longer accept Cairo as a broker between it and Israel, after the move.
Read the rest here.
The GMBDW reported last week that the European Union (EU) will appeal the recent EU court decision ordering the removal of Hamas from the EU list of terrorist organizations. In December 2014, the GMBDW reported that Hamas had won a court ruling that could conceivably lead to it being removed from the EU list of terrorist organizations. The GMBDW posted a Featured Story earlier this month identifying a French Hamas lawyer and other Global Muslim Brotherhood leaders/entities as playing a key role in the court case.
The Hamas charter says that it is “one of the wings of the Muslim Brothers in Palestine.”
For a profile of Hamas, go here.