There is clear involvement of Hamas’s political leaders in carrying out attacks against innocent Israelis; also clear are the Hamas links to, and funding from, Iran. It is important to proscribe Hamas as a whole as a terrorist organisation, and not just its military wing.
Hamas is a radical Islamist terrorist organisation, the Palestinian equivalent of Islamic State. It aspires to take control and impose sharia law throughout all areas of the Palestinian Authority, including the West Bank.
Hamas staunchly opposes peace and coexistence, with its stated goal being the destruction of Israel. Instead of providing for the welfare of Gaza’s citizens, Hamas uses its resources to increase its military capabilities, benefit its own members, and pursue its goal of wiping the Jewish state off the map.
Protests against the failing economy and electricity shortages that Hamas presides over are responded to with beatings, arbitrary arrests and torture.
As its overtly antisemitic and anti-Western charter makes clear, Hamas’s primary goal is to “obliterate” Israel “through jihad” and extend its Islamic rule “from the river to the sea”.
Read the article by Ron Gerstenfeld in The Australian.