The Israel Project Factsheet: Hamas True Nature

Israel suspended peace talks with the Palestinians yesterday in the wake of a unity deal between the
Palestinian Authority and the Hamas terror organization that currently rules the Gaza Strip. We offer the
following reminders as to the nature of the latter group.

1. Hamas Is an Internationally Designated Terror Organization.

Hamas was one of the State Departments first Designated Foreign Terror Organizations. It is also listed
as a terror organization by Canada, the European Union, Japan, Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

2. Hamas Was One of the First Two Major Organized Islamist Terror Groups Founded After the 1979
Revolution.
Hamas and Hezbollah the first a Sunni Palestinian Islamist organization; the latter a Shiite
Lebanese one were founded in the 1980s. They were the first major organized Islamist terror groups
founded in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution. (Hezbollah was founded as an extension of Irans
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.)
According to Hamass founding charter, it is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Hamas is one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine. The Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a
universal organization which constitutes the largest organized Islamic movement in modern times. It is
characterized by its deep understanding, accurate comprehension and its complete embrace of all
Islamic concepts of all aspects of life, culture, creed, politics, economics, education, society, justice and
judgment, the spreading of Islam, education, art, information, science of the occult and conversion to
Islam.

3. Hamas Biggest State Sponsor Over the Years has Been Iran.
Though Hamas is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, and though in different periods it also
received help from Saudi Arabia, it has received a large chunk of its funding since its founding from Iran.
Irans support for Hamas was reported in the early 1990s. Though Iran reportedly resumed relations
with Hamas in late 2013, in recent years it had significantly reduced its funding due a dispute over the
Syrian conflict. Turkey reportedly stepped into the breach and started funding Hamas in Irans absence.

4. To Get Rid of Fatah in Gaza, Hamas Tossed Handcuffed Prisoners Out of Buildings.
Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006. After consolidating its power in Gaza,
in June 2007, Hamas violently expelled Fatah from Gaza. The violence included executions,
kneecappings and even tossing handcuffed prisoners off tall apartment towers. In January 2009,
following Operation Cast Lead, Hamas again killed and attacked scores of Fatah members still residing
in Gaza.

5. Hamas Is Committed to Destroying Israel.

In the eight years since he was elected Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh has regularly
promised to destroy Israel. In 2010, for example, he said:
Palestine is from the sea to the river, from Rosh HaNikra to Rafah. The siege will not change our belief,
wars dont cause people give up resistance and resistance leaders. We will not recognize! We will not
recognize! We will not recognize Israel!
(In November 2013, Haniyehs critically ill granddaughter was treated in an Israeli hospital.)
Just last week, Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar denied that Hamas has given up its resistance
(i.e., terrorism) and said it is necessary to adopt a program of resistance in all its tools to expel Zionist
occupation.

6. Hamas Was Using Suicide Bombing as a Terror Tactic a Decade Before 9/11.
Hamas has developed a system of indoctrination starting with the youth. Hamass school system teach
martyrdom as a goal for children. Whats taught in schools is reinforced by military training of
children and even childrens entertainment. Those chosen to perpetrate terror attacks are given special
training to dedicate themselves to destruction even at the cost of their own lives. This indoctrination
made Hamass revolutionary use of suicide bombing possible.
In April 1994, Hamas escalated its post Oslo terror killing eight people in Afula with a car bomb and five
in Hadera with a suicide bomber. In early 1996, at least 69 Israelis were killed in four separate suicide
bombings over a ten day period. Suicide bombings were a hallmark the so-called Aqsa intifada killing
hundreds of Israelis. Among the most shocking the were the August 2001 bombing of Sbarros in
Jerusalem in which 15 people, mostly children were killed, and the March 2002 bombing of a Passover
Seder in the Park Hotel in Netanya, which killed 30 and injured 140 more.

7. Hamas Strangles Palestinians Suspected of Working with Israel.

In 1993, the New York Times published The Hamas Way of Death, a chilling account of a member of
Hamas who killed those he suspected of helping Israel.
When we execute a collaborator in public, we use a gun. But after we abduct and interrogate a
collaborator, we cant shoot him to do so might give away our location. Thats why collaborators are
strangled. Sometimes we ask the collaborator, What do you think? How should we execute you? One
collaborator told us, Strangle me. He hated the sight of blood.

8. Hamas has Launched the Vast Majority of Rockets at Israeli Civilians in the South.
Since 2005, Hamas has fired over 8000 rockets into Israel. The rocket attacks have precipitated two
Israeli wars, Cast Lead in 2008 and Pillar of Defense in 2012 to prevent the threat to Israels south. An

estimated 3.5 million Israelis live within range of Hamas rockets. Hamas currently has an
arsenal estimated to consist of hundreds of missiles.

9. Hamas is in Very Hot Legal Water.

Using evidence collected by the IDF it has been possible to trace that funds that enable Hamas and
other terrorists to commit mayhem. This has, in turn, allowed victims of Hamas to seek legal remedies
against organizations that have funded Hamas, including rulings against them in the United States and
Israel. The prospect of formal unity with the PA could open the door to continued litigation and the
turning over of Palestinian assets to terror victims. It could also open up the PA to liability for
ongoing war crimes committed by Hamas.

10. Hamas Kidnapped Gilad Shalit and Recently Recommitted to Kidnapping IDF Soldiers.
Hamas kidnapped Gilad Shalit by building a tunnel from Gaza into Israel. Two soldiers, Lt. Hanan Barak
and Staff Sgt. Pavel Slutzker, were killed in the attack. Hamas has been attempting
to build more tunnels recently as a means of attacking Israel. Fortunately, they have been detected and
destroyed. Even with these setbacks, Hamass leadership declared last week that kidnapping soldiers is
a top priority.