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Hamas

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The flag of Hamas. The text is the shahada,Wikipedia the Islamic creed, which Islamic fundamentalists enjoy putting on their flags.
“”The following statement should be uncontroversial. An organisation that kidnaps unarmed women, children and old people then parades the naked bodies of its dead victims should not be considered as a resistance movement. Hamas is what Hamas does: it is a violent Islamist terror cult.
—Martin Bright, writing for The Telegraph, 8 October 2023.[1]
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Islam
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The Islamic Resistance Movement (Arabic: حركة المقاومة الإسلامية, Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah), frequently abbreviated to Hamas (Arabic: حَمَاس, Ḥamās) is a Palestinian Islamist militant political organization which has governed the Gaza StripWikipedia since 2007. Hamas sees itself as a resistance front against Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, although its larger goal is the elimination of Israel altogether. It has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States,[2] the United Kingdom,[3] the European Union,[4] Japan,[5] Israel, and other countries. Hamas is known for suicide bombings against civilian targets,[6][7] launching unguided explosive rockets into Israel,[8] and for committing terrorist attacks against rival Palestinian political groups.[9] Violent exchanges between Israel and Hamas have escalated into multiple wars, such as the 2008 Gaza warWikipedia, the 2012 Gaza WarWikipedia, the 2014 Gaza WarWikipedia, the 2021 "Unity Intifada"Wikipedia, and the ongoing war which began after a massive and brutal Hamas terrorist attack in 2023.

Ahmed YassinWikipedia founded Hamas in 1987 during the First IntifadaWikipedia, a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. At its inception, it was closely tied to the Muslim Brotherhood. It gradually gained influence to the point where it won the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006 due to widespread discontent with the corruption and ineffectiveness of FatahWikipedia, the previous ruling party.[10] This election result immediately sparked a violent power struggle between the two factions, culminating in Hamas taking control of Gaza in 2007 and beginning to govern it seperately.[11] Israel immediately put the Gaza Strip under a near-total blockade, and Egypt followed suit in 2014.[12] This caused a rapidly worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza. There has not been a Palestinian election since 2008.

After a destructive series of conflicts, Hamas attempted to moderate its image in 2017 by amending its charter to remove antisemitic language and claim that its conflict was with Zionism rather than Judaism.[13] The same year, Hamas claimed that it would accept peace with Israel based on the 1967 borders.[14] Under Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli government policy during this time was to bolster Hamas in order to keep Palestinians divided between Hamas and Fatah and therefore undermine the credibility of a two-state solution.[15]

Unfortunately, Hamas signaling peace did not translate into concrete action. On 7 October 2023, Hamas launched a massive, deadly terrorist attack against Israel. During their incursion into Israeli territory, Hamas militants summarily executed civilians, burned villages, mutilated and paraded corpses, and committed acts of sexual violence.[16] The attack resulted in an estimated 1,200 deaths, and Hamas took over 240 hostages.[17] Hamas' actions provoked international outrage, and Israel retaliated by bombing and invading the Gaza Strip. During the war, Israel's actions against civilian targets escalated to an extent that they have been credibly labeled genocide.[18] Despite Israel's best efforts, Hamas remained active through 2024 despite its diminished capabilities.[19]

History[edit]

Gazan protesters burn an Israeli flag, 1994.

Origins[edit]

“”And certainly by this stage, 1987, 20 years of occupation - what have the PLO done? When I say PLO, what has Fatah done? Nothing, virtually... In fact, it's actually gotten worse, where we are further away from an independent state than we've ever been before.
—Martin Kear, author of Hamas and Palestine: The Contested Road to Statehood, explains what Gazans were feeling during the 1987 First Intifada.[20]

Israel captured the Gaza Strip from Egyptian occupation in the 1967 Six-Day War.[21] Israeli occupation was heavy-handed, seeing thousands of homes bulldozed and Arab families exiled to the Sinai Peninsula.[22] Long-term Israeli strategy was to empty the Gaza Strip to the extent possible to make way for settlement, and one of the Israeli cabinet's proposed strategies was to limit access to water in order to motivate Arabs to leave.[23] In short, Israeli misrule caused conditions in the Gaza Strip to deteriorate, and fast.

Israel also turned a blind eye to the rise of Islamism in favor of focusing on what it saw as a greater threat, the secular Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) led by the Fatah faction and its leader, Yasser Arafat.[24] One of the major Islamist organizations that was active in the region was the Muslim Brotherhood, and it won support in Gaza by supplying food, education, and other social services to the impoverished locals.[20] A Muslim Brotherhood member, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, then decided to found his own organization. Israel granted Yassin a license in 1979 to found a charity group called the al-Mujama al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Center.[20] It was far more than a simple charity organization. The Islamic Center also conducted community organization and encouraged political activism, and Israeli officials actually viewed this development as a positive one, as it caused political division among Palestinians.[25]

In 1987, popular discontent across Palestine resulted in the First Intifada, a series of protests and riots across the region. The Islamist movement which had been growing in Gaza was unhappy with the lack of results shown by the PLO's leadership, as well as the PLO's interest in engaging in diplomacy with Israel. Yassin's charity organization reinvented itself as Hamas, a militant force that intended to fight against Israeli occupation while repudiating secularism.[26]

Terrorism and the sabotaged peace[edit]

Aftermath of a Hamas suicide bombing that killed 23 people in Tel Aviv, 1994.

In 1993, the First Intifada ended in diplomacy, as US President Bill Clinton brought Fatah's Yasser Arafat and Israel's Yitzhak Rabin together to sign the Oslo Accords, which was intended to pave the way for the creation of a democratic Palestinian state.[27] The hope provided by the Oslo Accords did not last. Israeli settlements across Palestine continued. In 1994, Jewish terrorist Baruch Goldstein committed a mass shooting at a holy site in Hebron that resulted in 29 Palestinian deaths.[28] In 1995, another Jewish fanatic shot and killed Yitzhak Rabin.[29] This removed a major figure within the Israeli government who had been pushing for peace and coexistence.

Israeli emergency services respond to a suicide bombing that killed 21 people, 2001.

As the peace process deteriorated, Hamas grew in influence. It endorsed suicide bombings and car bombings against civilians as legitimate methods to punish the Israelis. In April 1994, a Hamas car bomb killed 8 people and wounded 40 near a bus stop in the Israeli town of Afula, stated to be a retaliation for Baruch Goldstein's massacre.[30] In October 1994, a much deadlier Hamas suicide bombing in the Israeli capital, Tel Aviv, took 23 lives.[31] The Israeli public reaction was about what you'd expect. Demanding retaliation and a hard line against Palestinian terrorism, Israeli voters in 1996 turfed out the pro-peace Labor government and replaced them with the hawkish, right-wing Likud, led by Benjamin Netanyahu.[24]

Netanyahu denounced the Oslo Accords, saying the peace process was incompatible with Israel's need for security and its right to claim the entire region in the name of the Jewish people.[32] His main tactic in destroying the Oslo Accords was in escalating the rate of settlement constructions and land acquisitions in Palestine, splitting Palestinian regions into smaller pieces that couldn't feasibly constitute an independent state.[32] When Palestinians objected to this strategy, Netanyahu said it was evidence that Palestine was choosing militancy over peace.

Meanwhile Hamas terrorist attacks continued. In July 1997, for instance, two Hamas suicide bombers in Jerusalem killed 15 people.[33] During and after the Second Intifada of 2000, Hamas' terrorist activities intensified and now featured rocket attacks and mass shootings.[24]

Takeover of the Gaza Strip[edit]

Hamas fighters in the abandoned office of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, 2007.

In 2004, Israel assassinated Hamas' founder Ahmed Yassin in a helicopter attack and then killed his immediate successor quickly thereafter.[34] Khaled Meshal, another Muslim Brotherhood member who was exiled to Syria, took control of the group.[35] He changed Hamas' long-term strategy by aligning it with Israel's longtime foe Iran, winning a powerful new sponsor despite Hamas being a fundamentalist Sunni organization.[24]

Meanwhile, Hamas attacks against Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip were escalating, and the Israeli occupation was ineffective in preventing terrorist attacks and rocket strikes.[36] Then-current prime minister Ariel Sharon made the decision in 2005 to withdraw the IDF from the Gaza Strip and forcibly dismantle the Israeli settlements that had been built there.[36] Netanyahu resigned from the cabinet in disgust.[36] The withdrawal was also in part a product of negotiations with the recently-elected Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, who renounced armed resistance and said he wanted a peaceful and diplomatic two-state solution.[24]

A pivotal moment in Gaza's history came in 2006, Hamas crushed Fatah in the Palestinian legislative elections by winning 76 seats versus Fatah's 43 in the 132 seat chamber.[37] It is important to note that Hamas did so with a bare plurality of the vote (44%), and its victory had been fueled by popular dissatisfaction with Fatah's corruption and ineffectiveness rather than support for terrorism.[38] The election result caused consternation in the administration of George W. Bush, which, at the height of the War on Terror, had just watched a terrorist organization win an election.[39] Many Western countries halted foreign aid to Palestine, and Israel immediately placed the Gaza Strip under a near-total blockade.[38]

Fatah didn't react well either, and fighting broke out between the two main Palestinian factions as Fatah tried to reassert control over Gaza.[38] Both Hamas and Fatah engaged in atrocities against each other throughout 2006 and early 2007, summarily executing captives, slaughtering civilians, bombing buildings, and shooting up hospitals.[40] Hamas frequently executed captives by throwing them off skyscrapers.[40] Hamas won the conflict, forcing Fatah officials to flee the Gaza Strip and assuming total control.[41]

Uh-oh, it's time for war[edit]

Hamas launches explosive rockets from Gaza City, 2021.
“”Each time the terrorist group strikes and Israel responds with force, Hamas gains allegiance from Palestinians. The terrorist group has also grown its popularity by providing education, hospitals, and social services where governance has collapsed. This intermixing of governmental services with terrorism makes it nearly impossible for Israel to wipe Hamas out. It also increases the odds of civilian casualties, which will only worsen the vicious cycle in which Israel and the Palestinians have been engaged for decades.
—California State University professor Ibrahim al-MarashiWikipedia in Time Magazine, October 17, 2023.[24]

After taking control of the Gaza Strip, Hamas used it as a base to construct and launch more rockets into Israel. The attacks wounded hundreds and caused chaos and population displacement in the affected areas despite Israel's hurried construction of an early-warning system.[42] A ceasefire brokered by Egypt in June 2008 temporarily halted the attacks, but it broke down in November when Israel launched a raid into Gaza to kill six Hamas fighters.[43] By 27 December, the situation had deteriorated into war with the beginning of Israel's "Operation Cast Lead".

Damage in Gaza City after Operation Cast Lead.

Well, maybe war is overselling things a bit. Hamas had no capability and even less interest in shielding the civilians of the Gaza Strip from Israeli weaponry, and Israel killed over 1,400 Gazan civilians despite using precision-guided weaponry.[44] Thousands more had their homes and businesses destroyed. Operation Cast Lead concluded after 22 days, having obviously been a punitive expedition more than anything else.[43]

In November 2012, after more rocket attacks from Hamas, Israel began "Operation Pillar of Defense", another series of airstrikes that killed dozens more Gazan civilians.[45] During the operation, Hamas also fired more than 1,500 rockets indiscriminately into Israeli civilian areas killing multiple Israeli civilians.[46] In July and August 2014, Israel's "Operation Protective Edge" saw more indiscriminate bombing by both sides, but the IDF also got bogged down into an extremely brutal ground battle against Hamas forces in Gaza City.[47]

None of Israel's military operations were successful in destroying Hamas. Each time, Hamas reemerged with more fighters and more rockets, and its popularity had been bolstered as Gazan civilians grew angrier and angrier at Israel's destructive actions in Gaza.[48]

Relations with others[edit]

Hamas is an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Numerous nations, governments, and politicians classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.[note 1] At times, Hezbollah has collaborated with Hamas in attacking Israel, despite Hezbollah's leanings toward Shi'a Islam.[49]:146 Hamas has received support and weaponry from Iran. Russia, China, Norway, and Switzerland, as well as most of the Arab world, do not see Hamas members as terrorists, instead considering Hamas's activities to be "a legitimate struggle."[50]:203 Oddly, many of the countries that regard the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization (e.g., Russia) do not see Hamas in the same light, while the reverse is true for a number of countries that list Hamas as a terrorist organization (e.g., the US and Israel). International politics is weird like that. Egypt declared Hamas a terrorist organization in 2014, as part of its purge of the Muslim Brotherhood.[51]

Goals of Hamas[edit]

At one time, Hamas aimed at the establishment of an Islamic regime over Palestine and Israel. Their 1988 charter states:

The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine, for under the wing of Islam followers of all religions can coexist in security and safety where their lives, possessions and rights are concerned.[52]

However, the Hamas charter is considered irrelevant by its political leaders today, along with a US government study which mentions, "Hamas has, in practice, moved well beyond its charter. Indeed, Hamas has been carefully and consciously adjusting its political program for years and has sent repeated signals that it may be ready to begin a process of coexisting with Israel".[53]

A lot of Hamas members have been killed in conflict with Israel, many by flying robots.[54]

As well as being anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, and anti-semitic, Hamas is anti-Shi'a, and its members have assaulted Shi'a Muslims during worship.[55]

The charter cites a hadith about rocks and stones singing for the killing of all Jews (whether in Israel or elsewhere) on the day of Judgment, when it will supposedly be the duty of Muslims to do so. But for all of Hamas' religious rhetoric, it is primarily a political entity. ("Just as votes for Hamas must be largely understood as protest votes, Hamas’ actions must be largely understood as political actions."[56])

In speeches to Palestinians and in their TV shows before 2009, Hamas remained unambiguously opposed to a two-state solution[57] or to the notion of any Israeli state and glorifies its terror attacks.

This tone changed dramatically in a 2009 major policy speech in response to speeches of US President Barack Obama in Cairo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which Khaled Meshal, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, set forth Hamas' positions as:[58]

  • Rejected the Palestinian state envisaged by Netanyahu as a “deformed entity, a large prison for detention and suffering, and not the national home a great people deserves.”
  • Rejected Israel’s demand to be recognized as a “Jewish state” — and warned against any Arab or Palestinian acquiescence — “because it means canceling the right to return to their homes of six million refugees, and the forced expulsion of our people in the 1948 areas [Arab inhabitants of the former Mandate] from their cities and villages.” Israel’s demand, according to Meshal, is no different than racist demands made by fascist Italy and the Nazis.
  • Reaffirmed Hamas’ previous acceptance of “the program that represents the minimum demands of our people,” for “the establishment of a Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem with complete sovereignty on the borders of 4 June 1967, after the withdrawal of the occupation forces, and the dismantling of all the settlements, and the realization of the Right of Return.”
  • Reaffirmed that “the refugees’ Right of Return to the homes from which they were expelled in 1948 is a national right and an individual right held personally” by the refugees “and no leader or negotiator can waive it or compromise on it.”

Hamas' actions tend to support that it is pursuing diplomacy at this point:

Hamas was "careful to maintain the [2008] ceasefire," an official Israeli publication reported, despite Israel’s reneging on the crucial quid pro quo that it substantially lift the economic blockade of Gaza. "The lull was sporadically violated by rocket and mortar shell fire, carried out by rogue terrorist organizations," the Israeli source continued. "At the same time, the [Hamas] movement tried to enforce the terms of the arrangement on the other terrorist organizations and to prevent them from violating it."[59]:47-8[60]

Moreover, former Mossad director Efraim Halevy states:

The Hamas leadership has recognized that its ideological goal is not attainable and will not be in the foreseeable future. They are ready and willing to see the establishment of a Palestinian state in the temporary borders of 1967....They know that the moment a Palestinian state is established with their cooperation, they will be obligated to change the rules of the game: They will have to adopt a path that could lead them far from their original ideological goals.[61]

Furthermore, academic analysis of Hamas' stance over the years from the US Institute of Peace among others paints a more nuanced picture. Similar to the PLO in the 1970s and 1980s, Hamas has moderated its political stance, at least in its dealings with the West, from its earlier extremist stance as a result of entering the international field of diplomacy which unambiguously calls for a two-state solution on the June 1967 borders (except for Israel, the US, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Nauru, and Australia/Canada) as part of the "Peaceful Settlement of the Palestine Question". In interviews with Western media, Hamas has called for a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders and affirmed to be reliable by respected individuals like Jimmy Carter and Efraim Halevy.[62]

Human rights record[edit]

As can be expected of a religious fundamentalist group that keeps a near-absolute reign over its territory, Hamas has engaged in several forms of human rights abuse against the inhabitants of Gaza. Among them are executions of collaborators when Gaza was under military bombardment.[63] Some argue that the situation is more complicated because Palestinians are justifiably concerned about collaboration, since

...the creation of the state, [Israel's internal security organization] dedicated much of its time and resources to creating a network of collaborators inside Arab society, often using blackmail and threats to keep Arab citizens — the vast majority of whom lived under military law until 1966 — in line.[64]


However, this problem still wouldn't negate the need for due process.

Hamas has been found to commit torture[65] and abductions, and imposes socially conservative policies (e.g., banning hookahs). It has also committed war crimes by firing rockets and mortar shells into Israeli civilian areas, and in the past has executed suicide bombings.[66] Although Hamas was not historically known to inflict sexual violence on civilians during wars, evidence emerged after the group's October 2023 incursion that its members had indeed done so against Israelis, possibly as a deliberate military tactic.[67] Unsurprisingly, Hamas denies all accusations, and prefers to refer to Israeli abuses and claiming to be not as bad as Fatah.

In early January 2016, Hamas released what it says is a video of its former Israeli prisoner, Gilad Shalit,[68][69] who was captured in 2006 and released to Israel in 2011 in a prisoner exchange. The clip clearly intends to depict Hamas as treating prisoners well, as it shows "the smiling Shalit barbecuing with his guards...[and] drinking tea with Hamas fighters and watching television." In the short video, "Shalit sits in a relatively spacious cell with an exercise bicycle and adjoining toilet as an attendant brings him a beverage."[note 2]

An additional reason for releasing the clip may be to send the message to Israel "that Hamas’ military wing can hold on to prisoners for as long as it takes and Israel will not be able to find them."[68] Hamas has additional Israeli soldiers it holds whom it says it will not release until Israel frees the prisoners it recaptured after releasing them during the Shalit exchange.

Recent reports of excessive use of force by police[70] during a demonstration in Khuza, may indicate that Hamas is losing favor with the population it rules over and tries to brutally suppress dissent. The same Palestinian human rights group also denounces a rising tide of vigilantism,[71] that Hamas is either unwilling or unable to put an end to. However, the fears of a Hamas decline in popularity were found to be unfounded by a poll conducted later that year, which showed 4 out of every 10 Gazans support Hamas, up from the previous year.[72] This was likely due to Hamas' performance in the 2014 war.

All in all, it's fair to say that Hamas plays some role in the suffering that life in Gaza entails for most except a select few Hamas leaders.[73][74] Although, during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014, when Gaza was under intense bombardment and shelling by Israeli forces, dozens of members of Gazan civil society — including physicians, academics, and other public figures — stated that their lives under Israeli occupation were "a living death" in an open letter supporting Hamas' ceasefire demands.[75]

As saber-rattling and wars abroad is a tried and tested way to unify the people behind unpopular leaders, the discontent with Hamas among its subjects may bode ill for any hope for a peaceful settlement in the foreseeable future. Hamas, according to Turkey, has recently been conducting negotiations with Israel to end the blockade and agree to a long-term truce. On the other hand, Palestinians, including Hamas, do observe that the PLO made some of the same concessions now demanded of Hamas and the perception is that this achieved nothing but perpetuating the oppressive status quo.

Genocide[edit]

See the main article on this topic: Genocide

The 1988 Hamas charter stated that Hamas' struggle (jihad) was against Jews and the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state.[76] The superseding 2017 charter stated that Hamas' struggle was with Zionism rather than Jews per se.[77] The 1988 charter clearly showed a key component of genocide that the 2017 charter did not: intent. Therefore attacks by Hamas targeting Israeli civilians would during the period 1988-2017 would constitute genocide, notably those attacks targeting civilians in: the First Intifada (1988-1993),[78] Second Intifada (2002-2005),[79] and rocket attacks (2001-2017).[80] Attacks on civilians by Hamas subsequent to the 2017 charter would likely require additional evidence of intent, such as statements by Hamas members within the command structure as to whether the intent is to eliminate Israel.

How did they ever get into power?[edit]

A lot of people either forget or leave out the very reason Hamas ever won an election, and claim instead what is happening in Gaza now is its voters' fault, as they chose to support terrorists: they run numerous social welfare programs like mosques, charities, sports groups, etc., not unlike Hezbollah.[81] They also have earned respect as a "legitimate" national liberation movement, unlike Fatah, who are seen as collaborators that do the dirty work of Israel's occupation. In the end, Hamas won in a free and fair election.[82]

Human shields myth[edit]

Hamas merits a lot of criticism for its human rights record and wingnut positions, and is often accused of using human shield tactics despite reputable human rights organizations (who themselves have condemned Hamas repeatedly for war crimes and human rights violations) finding no evidence of this. The charge of human shields appears to be borne more out of pro-Israel propaganda designed to legitimize attacks against civilians and avoid its own responsibility for war crimes it commits.

One of the more corroborated allegations is that Hamas used the Al-Shifa hospital as their headquarters to carry out their orders during 2014, although at least one doctor that worked at the hospital questions this.[83] Among the corroborating evidence is the Palestinian health minister objecting to Hamas commandeering hospital wards for use as prisons and interrogation compounds,[84] and a report released by the Israeli security agency Shin Bet.[85] Shin Bet also reported that Hamas's decision to choose a hospital was rooted in the fact it would be spared from airstrikes as it provided aid for wounded Palestinians, thus serving as a human shield.

Amnesty International, for its part, did not find evidence that Hamas or other Palestinian groups violated the laws of war to the extent repeatedly alleged by Israel during Operation Cast Lead (2009). In particular, it found no evidence that Hamas or other fighters directed the movement of civilians to shield military objectives from attacks. By contrast, Amnesty International did find that Israeli forces on several occasions during Operation Cast Lead forced Palestinian civilians to serve as "human shields".[86] According to the Israeli Supreme Court, the Israel Defense Force used civilians as human shields at least 1200 times; most in the form of Israel's "neighbor procedure" where acquaintances would try to convince wanted men to surrender. This led the court to ban the IDF from continuing the practice.[87] In one notorious case, an Israeli military court suspended two Israeli soldiers for using a Palestinian child as a human shield. [88]

The Goldstone Report (which investigated possible war crimes by both sides during OCL) stated that it "did not find any evidence of civilians being forced to remain in their houses by Palestinian armed groups".[89] Human Rights Watch also noted that during OCL: "In the cases documented in this report, Human Rights Watch found no evidence of Hamas using human shields in the vicinity at the time of the attacks."[90]

Amnesty International also found during Operation Protective Edge (2014) that there was no "evidence at this point that Palestinian civilians have been intentionally used by Hamas or Palestinian armed groups during the current hostilities to 'shield' specific locations or military personnel or equipment from Israeli attacks".[91]

It is alleged that calls upon people of Gaza to resist a military attack are said to constitute human shields.[92][93][94][95] In addition, it is alleged that Hamas launches rockets from near civilian buildings.[96] However, these acts do not meet the definition of human shields under the laws of war. To use human shields requires a coercive element by directly forcing people as a shield from military attack. Individuals willingly resisting an attack against them or a civilian home is an act of non-violent civil resistance done of their own accord rather than deliberately being forced to act as a shield. In addition, for armed individuals to operate as a guerrilla army is quite different from engaging in human shielding, as most armies will attest. Amnesty has itself noted that "fighting in urban areas per se is not a violation of international humanitarian law" and "a Party to the conflict cannot be expected to arrange its armed forces and installations in such a way as to make them conspicuous to the benefit of the adversary".[97] Also, seeing as the Gaza Strip is basically one massive city, it makes sense to hide your weapons in inconspicuous areas. To say operating as a guerrilla army is the equivalent of human shielding radically alters the definitions of the laws of war and would grant carte blanche to bad governments (i.e. Assad, Saddam) to target civilians on grounds of fighting against rebel armies in urban areas (i.e. FSA, Kurdish separatists, etc.). If this standard were used to denote human shielding, Israel would come out looking far worse in comparison and could, ironically, be used to justify rocket attacks on Israeli towns/areas much like its apologists will do with regard to Gaza:

In Ashkelon, Sderot, Be’er Sheva, and other cities in the south of Israel, as well as elsewhere in the country, military bases and other installations are located in or around residential areas, including kibbutzim and villages [...] During Operation Protective Edge, there were more Israeli military positions and activities than usual close to civilian areas in the south of Israel, and Israeli forces launched daily artillery and other attacks into Gaza from these areas along Gaza’s perimeter.[98]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ↑ These include Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. The European Union has blacklisted Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
  2. ↑ Shalit himself has not spoken out very much about his treatment by Hamas.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Hamas is no resistance movement – it is an anti-Semitic, misogynist terror cult. Bright, Martin. The Telegraph. 08 October 2023.
  2. ↑ Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. US Department of State.
  3. ↑ Proscribed terrorist groups or organisations. UK Home Office.
  4. ↑ EU court upholds Hamas terror listing. The Guardian. 26 Jul 2017.
  5. ↑ Press Conference by Foreign Minister KAMIKAWA Yoko December 8, 2023. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
  6. ↑ Chen Tianshe. Exploration of the Hamas Suicide Attacks. Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (in Asia) Vol. 6, No. 2, 2012.
  7. ↑ Saarnivaara, Minn (2008). "Suicide Campaigns as a Strategic Choice: The Case of Hamas". Policing. 2 (4): 423–33. doi:10.1093/police/pan061.
  8. ↑ Human Rights Watch Report, 2007.
  9. ↑ Palestinian Rivals Accused Of Human Rights Abuses. NPR. July 31, 2008.
  10. ↑ Scott Wilson, Hamas Sweeps Palestinian Elections, Complicating Peace Efforts in Mideast. Archived from The Washington Post, 27 January 2006.
  11. ↑ Battle for Gaza: Hamas Jumped, Provoked and Pushed. Brookings Institute. August 16, 2007.
  12. ↑ The Gaza Strip | The humanitarian impact of 15 years of blockade - June 2022. UNICEF. June 2022.
  13. ↑ Seurat, Leila (2019). The Foreign Policy of Hamas. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781838607449. p. 17.
  14. ↑ Hamas accepts Palestinian state with 1967 borders. Al Jazeera. 2 May 2017.
  15. ↑ For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s blown up in our faces. Times of Israel. 8 October 2023.
  16. ↑ October 7 Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes by Hamas-led Groups. Human Rights Watch. July 17, 2024.
  17. ↑ Israel revises down its death toll from the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks to about 1,200. NPR. November 11, 2023.
  18. ↑ Rights expert finds ‘reasonable grounds’ genocide is being committed in Gaza. UN News. 26 March 2024.
  19. ↑ After a year of war, Hamas is militarily weakened — but far from ‘eliminated’. Armed Conflict Location and Event Data. 6 October 2024.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 A History of Hamas. NPR. November 16, 2023.
  21. ↑ 1967 war: Six days that changed the Middle East. BBC News. 5 June 2017.
  22. ↑ Ehud Eiran, Post-Colonial Settlement Strategy, Edinburgh University Press 2019 ISBN 978-1-474-43759-2 p.83
  23. ↑ Israeli Prime Minister After Six-Day War: 'We'll Deprive Gaza of Water, and the Arabs Will Leave'. Haaretz. Nov 17, 2017.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 24.5 What the World Can Learn From the History of Hamas. TIME Magazine. October 17, 2023.
  25. ↑ Andrew Higgins, How Israel helped to spawn Hamas. Archived from The Wall Street Journal, 24 January 2009.
  26. ↑ Jean-Pierre Filiu. "The Origins of Hamas: Militant Legacy or Israeli Tool?" Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 41, No. 3 (Spring 2012). p. 54-70 (17 pages).
  27. ↑ Oslo Accords: 30 years of lost Palestinian hopes. BBC News. 12 September 2023.
  28. ↑ 10% of Israeli Jews think terrorist Baruch Goldstein is a 'national hero' - poll. Jerusalem Post. MARCH 6, 2023.
  29. ↑ The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin: ‘He never knew it was one of his people who shot him in the back’. The Guardian. 31 Oct 2020.
  30. ↑ 8 KILLED, 40 INJURED IN CAR BOMB BLAST AT ISRAELI BUS STOP. Washington Post. 6 April 1994.
  31. ↑ Dizengoff Street attack evokes harsh memories of Tel Aviv terror trauma. Jerusalem Post. JANUARY 1, 2016.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 It's now clear: the Oslo peace accords were wrecked by Netanyahu's bad faith. The Guardian. 12 Sep 2013.
  33. ↑ Suicide Blasts at Busy Market Kill 15 in Jerusalem. Los Angeles Times. July 31, 1997.
  34. ↑ Israel has a long history of targeted killings. Here’s a look at some of them. Associated Press. July 31, 2024.
  35. ↑ Profile of Khaled Meshal (aka Khalid Meshaal, Khaleed Mash’al). Council on Foreign Relations. July 13, 2006.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 Former Israeli prime minister reflects on the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza. NPR. November 21, 2023.
  37. ↑ Hamas celebrates election victory. The Guardian. Jan 2006.
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 The election that led to Hamas taking over Gaza. The Washington Post. October 24, 2023.
  39. ↑ How George W. Bush Helped Hamas Come to Power. Slate. Oct 24, 2023.
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Gaza: Armed Palestinian Groups Commit Grave Crimes. Human Rights Watch. June 2007.
  41. ↑ Hamas takes control of Gaza. The Guardian. 15 Jun 2007.
  42. ↑ Rockets from Gaza: Harm to Civilians from Palestinian Armed Groups’ Rocket Attacks. Human Rights Watch. August 6, 2009.
  43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 Ten years after the first war on Gaza, Israel still plans endless brute force. The Guardian. 7 Jan 2019.
  44. ↑ Israel/Gaza: Operation ‘Cast Lead’ - 22 Days of Death and Destruction. Amnesty International. 02 July 2009.
  45. ↑ Israel: Gaza Airstrikes Violated Laws of War. Human Rights Watch. 12 February 2013.
  46. ↑ A year on from deadly Israel/Gaza conflict, the nightmare continues. Amnesty International. November 14, 2013.
  47. ↑ Urban battle from past Gaza war offers glimpse of what an Israeli ground offensive might look like. Associated Press. October 16, 2023.
  48. ↑ What was Hamas thinking? For over three decades, it has had the same brutal idea of victory. Associated Press. October 11, 2023.
  49. ↑ Zaki Chehab, Inside Hamas: The Untold Story of Militants, Martyrs and Spies, I.B. Tauris, 2007. ISBN 1845113896.
  50. ↑ Björn Brenner, Gaza Under Hamas: From Islamic Democracy to Islamist Governance. I.B. Tauris, 2017. ISBN 9781786731425.
  51. ↑ Yasmine Saleh, Court bans activities of Islamist Hamas in Egypt. Reuters 3 March 2014.
  52. ↑ Hamas Covenant 1988, Article Six. Reproduced by The Avalon Project, Yale Law School.
  53. ↑ United States Institute of Peace report on Hamas
  54. ↑ "How Israel killed Ahmed Jabari, its toughest enemy in Gaza." - The Telegraph
  55. ↑ "Hamas brutally assaults Shi'ite worshipers in Gaza." - Haaretzk
  56. ↑ Moriel Rothman, Hamas: Political pragmatists or Islamic dogmatics? 972 Magazine, 1 May 2014.
  57. ↑ Hamas will never accept Israel: anniversary speeches highlight terror group's militant stance JewishNewsOne, YouTube, 9 December 2012.
  58. ↑ Shlomo Brom, Khaled Mashal's Response Speech. Archived from the Institute for National Security Studies, 1 July 2009.
  59. ↑ Norman Finkelstein, This Time We Went Too Far. OR Books, 2010. ISBN 1935928430
  60. ↑ The Six Months of the Lull Arrangement, paragraph 4. The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, December 2008. After the raid of November 4, 2008 when Hamas launched rockets soon after, the ITIC acknowledged that they were launched "in retaliation."
  61. ↑ Mideast Mirror, December 2008
  62. ↑ Eyder Peralta, Hamas Foreign Minister: We Accept Two-State Solution With '67 Borders. NPR, 17 May 2011.
  63. ↑ David Taylor, Gaza conflict: Hamas committed human rights abuses against Palestinian civilians, Amnesty says. ABC News Australia, 27 May 2015.
  64. ↑ Edo Konrad, Time to break the silence: An open letter to American Jews. 972 Magazine, 14 January 2016.
  65. ↑ Gaza: Hamas killed and tortured, says Amnesty. BBC, 27 May 2015.
  66. ↑ Taylor Brailey, Amnesty condemns human rights abuses by Hamas forces. Jurist News, 28 May 2015.
  67. ↑ Dyan Mazurana and Anastasia Marshak, Hamas' use of sexual violence is an all-too-common part of modern war – but not in all conflicts. The Conversation, 11 December 2023.

    There is strong evidence – including eyewitnesses' and first responders' testimony, medical assessments of released hostages and independent investigations – that Hamas committed sexual violence. This includes rape, gang rape, sexual torture and sexual mutilation of Israelis of diverse genders and ages. ... Given this level of planning and Hamas' previous lack of using sexual violence, it is highly unlikely that Hamas' sexual violence committed against Israelis was the result of some men who went rogue. More likely, sexual violence was part of Hamas' war tactics and strategy.

  68. ↑ 68.0 68.1 Jack Khoury, Barbecue and TV: Hamas Video Shows New Footage of Gilad Shalit in Captivity. Haaretz, 3 January 2016.
  69. ↑ Ali Abunimah, Video shows captured Israeli soldier at Gaza barbecue. The Electronic Intifada, 3 January 2016.
  70. ↑ ICHR Condemns Use of Excessive Force by the Police in the Gaza Strip against Protesters. Independent Commission for Human Rights, 25 March 2015.
  71. ↑ ICHR Warns of Ongoing Lawlessness in the Gaza Strip. Independent Commission for Human Rights, 28 January 2015.
  72. ↑ Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Poll: Support for Hamas Rising in Gaza, but Most Feel Devastated by War. Haaretz, 9 June 2015.
  73. ↑ Roi Kais, Private jets, restaurants, luxury hotels: The good life of senior Hamas officials. Ynet News, 22 July 2014.
  74. ↑ Charley Warady, Fighting Abbas’ War. The Times of Israel, 14 July 2014.
  75. ↑ Rachel Shabi, Israel: This is what national resistance looks like. Al Jazeera, 25 July 2014.
  76. ↑ See the Wikipedia article on 1988 Hamas charter.
  77. ↑ See the Wikipedia article on 2017 Hamas charter.
  78. ↑ See the Wikipedia article on First Intifada.
  79. ↑ See the Wikipedia article on Second Intifada.
  80. ↑ See the Wikipedia article on Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.
  81. ↑ Sara Roy, Hamas and Civil Society in Gaza: Engaging the Islamist Social Sector. Princeton University Press, 2011. ISBN 9780691124483.
  82. ↑ Palestinian Elections: Trip Report by Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The Carter Center, 29 January 2006.
  83. ↑ Norsk Gaza-læge: Palæstinenserne har ret til at gøre modstand, DR, August 3rd 2014 (article in Danish, title translates to "Norwegian Gaza-doctor: Palestinians have the right to resist)
  84. ↑ PA: Hamas converts hospitals into jails, Ynetnews, July 2009
  85. ↑ 'Hamas leaders hiding in bunkers under Gaza's Shifa Hospital', Israel Hayom, August 26th, 2014
  86. ↑ Amnesty International, 22 Days of Death and Destruction
  87. ↑ Hanan Greenberg (2005). "Mofaz: IDF to appeal 'human shield' ruling". Ynet.
  88. ↑ Israel: Soldiers’ Punishment for Using Boy as ‘Human Shield’ Inadequate. Human Rights Watch, 26 November 2010.
  89. ↑ Human Rights In Palestine And Other Occupied Arab Territories: Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict. United Nations Human Rights Council, 25 September 2009.
  90. ↑ Rain of Fire: Israel’s Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza. Human Rights Watch, March 2009.
  91. ↑ Document - Israel And The Occupied Palestinian Territories: Israel/Gaza Conflict, July 2014. Archived from Amnesty International, 25 July 2014.
  92. ↑ Human shield deters Israel strike. BBC, 19 November 2006
  93. ↑ Gaza shields an 'illegal tactic'. BBC, 22 November 2006.
  94. ↑ Palestinians' high-risk human shield tactic. BBC, 20 November 2006.
  95. ↑ In pictures: Palestinian 'human shields'. BBC, 20 November 2006.
  96. ↑ Exclusive: Hamas rocket launch pad lies near Gaza homes. France24, 7 August 2014.
  97. ↑ Article 50 Negotiations Authorised by EU. Byline, 22 May 2017.
  98. ↑ Unlawful and deadly Rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian armed groups during the 2014 Gaza/Israel conflict. Amnesty International, March 2015.
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