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Hamas-Islamic State Conflict Intensifies in Gaza
(JNS.org) Yaakov Lappin - Islamic State-affiliated armed groups are challenging Hamas rule in Gaza and are seeking to topple the Hamas regime, which they accuse of lacking in jihadist spirit. Hamas prefers to build up its military wing, fill up its rocket depots and dig tunnels for future cross-border attacks, while smaller Salafi jihadist groups insist on armed conflict with Israel now. At its ideological core, Islamic State considers Hamas a counterfeit movement due to its willingness to embrace Palestinian nationalism. In Islamic State's worldview, all forms of nationalism are to be discarded in favor of a single global Islamic identity. If Hamas were to choose to crush the Salafi jihadists in Gaza, it could so "without difficulties," argued Prof. Boaz Ganor, founder of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya. "But they don't want to do this. It is comfortable for them to have a more extreme element than them in the Palestinian arena. This portrays Hamas as a rational and stabilizing force in the arena."