(Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies-Bar-Ilan University) Lt.-Col. (res.) Dr. Shaul Bartal - Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh boasted at this month's celebration of the organization's 31st anniversary that Hamas has succeeded in rallying the Palestinians behind a national political plan to end the "Zionist occupation" and derail President Trump's "deal of the century," viewed as a Zionist-American conspiracy to undermine the Palestinian national struggle. Hamas makes no effort to disguise its ultimate goal of establishing a Palestinian state on Israel's ruins. The glaring failure of the UN to condemn Hamas' countless war crimes (firing rockets at Israeli civilians or straightforward terror attacks) has reinforced its belief that its actions are considered by the international community to be legitimate. Hamas boasts that it has carried out numerous "acts of resistance," including "dozens of shooting operations as well as hundreds of stabbing, car ramming and firebomb attacks that killed and wounded the enemy." The writer is a research associate at the BESA Center.
2018-12-27 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive