Cassandra Browning

Week 3 Project

South University Online

SU_MCJ6404_W3_A2_Browning_C

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 Hamas

Who is Hamas?

Hamas is an Islamic fundamentalist group that started in 1987. It is a political and

militant group that has waged war on Israel since 1987. According to Counter Extremism Project

Hamas, is a political, religious, social provider, terrorist and violent organization. Its goal is to

liberate Palestinian territories from Israeli occupation. Hamas’ objective is to establish an Islamic

Palestinian State in Israel. The groups charter in 1988 Article 6 stated that Hamas, “strives to

raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine and that Israel will exist only until Islam

obliterates it.” (The Mackenzie Institute, 2016)

Strategic Position and International Terror Scenario

Hamas is prominent in Israel particularly the Gaza Strip, but face opposition with Israel

and the Palestinian Army. Hamas has control of the Gaza Strip. It gained control over Gaza in a

democratic election in 2007. As leaders over Palestine citizens, many of which are starving and

want to leave Gaze because of the lack of food, electricity and medicine caused by the blockades

in place by Israel, on the grounds that commercial goods could be used to make weapons against

Israel. (Ward, 2018) In the international terror scenario in the United States in 1997 Hamas was

listed as a foreign terrorist organization. (United States State Department, n.d.) In Canada, under

the Anti-Terrorism Act, the government listed Hamas as a terrorist entity in 2002. (Public Safety

Canada, 2018) The European Union listed Hamas as a terrorist group in 2003. Despite a court

ruling by the General Court of the EU to remove Hamas they are currently still listed in the EU

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 as a terrorist group. (Vincenti, 2015) Jordan banned Hamas in 1999. (Toameth, 2013) Japan

recognizes that Hamas is a terrorist group in 2005, but, after the 2006 Palestinian election

acknowledged that Hamas had won it democratically but is still list Hamas as a terrorist group.

(Japan’s Democratic Blue Book, 2005) Hamas has also been designated as a terror group in

Israel, New Zealand and Australia.

Threat to International Security

Hamas has in the past made threats verbally against the United States and other Western

countries. In June of 2002 a statement was made by Hamas, that “Americans are considered

legitimate targets as well as Israelis.” (Levitt, 2006) As Halevi points out, “the Hamas threat to

the west is no different than ISIS”. (Halvi, 2017) With the financial support from Iran the will

continue to be a threat not only to Israel, but the safety of Americans and other Western countries

that are in essence trying to aid Israel and the Palestinian people.

Tactics and Weapons Used vs Other Terrorist Groups

Hamas tactics were to deliberately attack civilian population centers. During their attacks

they used mortar bombs, Kassam and Grad rockets, homicide and suicide bombers and active

shooters against Israeli civilians. Hamas’s goa was to inflect the maximum amount of

destruction, suffering, civilian death and devastation that it could. (Linett, 2010) Another tactic

used by Hamas is to launch rockets and store them near schools and in mosques. In relation to

other terrorist groups Hamas has been compared to and likened to ISIS in their beliefs and

ideologies, like ISIS Hamas uses attacks that inflict the most damage with what is hoped to be

the maximum of civilian casualties. Both have used women and children as human shields to

cause death or prevent their own death.

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 Threat to Civilians and Rank of Danger to Innocent Civilians

Hamas is a major threat to not only the Palestinians and Israelis but to the Jewish

civilians as well. During the 2014 Gaza Conflict, Hamas set booby traps and IEDs in civilian

areas. They camouflaged the explosives. Civilians are used as human shields, women and

children were used to aid it the terrorist, to keep the Israeli Army from shooting them. As the

Israeli Army tries to avoid civilian casualties, when at all possible.

Similarities and Differences Hamas vs. ISIS

Hamas and ISIS are similar as they are both part of the Muslim Brotherhood. Both groups

are Islamist, Jihadist and Pan-Islamic (Muslims should be united under one Islamic state) (Malik,

2016) The differences are that Hamas is a political and social services provider organization,

whereas ISIS is an insurgent and territory-controlling organization. Both organizations use

suicide bombs, car bombs and ambushing of local militant forces and civilians. Hamas attacks

Israeli forces, whereas ISIS appears to attack anyone that is non-Muslim, Christian or from

Western countries. (Counter Extremism Project, n.d.)

Counterterrorism Measures

In Israel the counterterrorism measures include ongoing, around the clock operations

prohibiting the transfer of arms (weapon transfer from Iran) to Hamas. YAMAM a special police

unit is also sent in covertly to take out terrorist, in this case Hamas. Israel is involved in

intelligence collection and analysis in prevention and to deter terrorism. By talking with

informants, who are Palestinian that work with the Israelis for money and other benefits. Israel

also uses technology to detect arms, explosives, signal intelligence, eavesdropping, using

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 unmanned aerial vehicle and by assassinations and doing targeted killings. They have also

erected barriers to control what comes into Gaza. The have destroyed tunnels underground that

Hamas has used to smuggle arms, missiles and rockets and the materials to make them. They

have increased the number of check points, not only to Hamas but to Palestinians that support

Hamas. Defensively they have provided citizens with kits that contain personal gas masks and

anti-nerve agent antidotes to help in case of potential chemical and biological attacks.

In conclusion, it appears that this will be an ongoing war or conflict for many years to

come. With Hamas at the helm of the Gaza Strip, there will be more lives of civilians and

military than there has in the past, with increased missile fire and rockets, killing both Israeli and

Palestinian civilians. Israel needs the aide of all nations to combat Hamas and other terror groups

that are settles in the Gaza Strip.

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 Reference(s)

(n.a)(n.d) Hamas, retrieved from https://www.aipac.org/learn/issues/issue-display/hamas

(United States State Department) (n.d) ,Foreign Terrorist Organizations, retrieved from
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“Foreign Terrorist Organizations,” U.S. Department of State, May 8, 2009,

http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm.

“Japan‘s Foreign Policy in Major Diplomatic Fields, Japan’s Diplomatic Blue Book 2005” Retrieved from
https://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/other/bluebook/2005/ch3-a.pdf

BBC, (2017) Profile: Hamas Palestinian movement, retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-

middle-east-13331522

Byman, Daniel, L. (2010) How to Handle Hamas, retrieved from

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-to-handle-hamas/

Byman, Daniel, L. (2018) Why Israel is stuck with Hamas, retrieved from
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hamas/

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Halevi, Jonathan, Lt. Col (ret) (2017) Hamas’ New Political Document: Its Implications and Objectives,
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Levitt, Matthew, (2006) Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad, Retrieved from
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terrorism-in-the-service-of-jihad

Linett, Howard, (2010) The tactics of Hamas: Hamas’ methodology has focused largely on civilian
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 Malik, Arisha, (2016) Why Pan-Islamism is the biggest roadblock for Muslims' integration with modernity,
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roadblock-for-muslims-integration-with-modernity

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Toameh, Khaled Abu, (2013) King Abdullah Says No To Hamas, retrieved from
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despite-court-ruling/

Ward, Alex, (2018) Israel and Gaza may be on the verge of war. It could be worse than in the past.
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palestine-protest

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