Israel Fostered the Rise of Hamas, Even After It Turned to Terrorism

by | Oct 11, 2023

Israel Fostered the Rise of Hamas, Even After It Turned to Terrorism

by | Oct 11, 2023

flag of hamas on military uniform (collage).

Flag of Hamas on military uniform (collage).

In the aftermath of Saturday’s terrorist and military attacks on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “The forces of civilization must support Israel in defeating Hamas…In fighting Hamas, Israel is not only fighting for its own people, it is fighting for every country that stands against barbarism.”

Those sentiments are quite different from ones Netanyahu privately shared in 2019.

“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas,” Netanyahu told Likud Party legislators. Doing so would help prevent the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) from ruling Gaza and giving Palestinians a relatively moderate, unified voice at the negotiating table. “This is part of our strategy—to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”

Israel’s reckless exploitation of Hamas is as old as the group itself. Indeed, decades before Netanyahu’s closed-door candor, the Israeli government pushed Hamas into its initial prominence, with direct and indirect financial support.

Throughout the 1970s, Israel’s nemesis was the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In stark contrast to Hamas—which emerged from the Muslim Brotherhood—the PLO was a secular, leftist organization, led by Yasser Arafat, who headed the PLO’s Fatah faction.

As a former senior CIA official told UPI’s Richard Sale in 2001, Israel’s initial boosting of Hamas “was a direct attempt to divide and dilute support for a strong, secular PLO by using a competing religious alternative.”

Islamist groups began rising in prominence in Gaza in the wake of the 1967 War, as they undertook educational, cultural, social and infrastructure initiatives to make life better for Palestinian refugees there.

When it first registered with Israeli authorities in 1978, Hamas was led by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a half-blind, wheelchair-bound Muslim cleric who launched schools and clinics throughout Gaza. Israel backed his efforts, and also approved the founding of the Islamic University of Gaza…which would go on to become an extremist hub deemed worthy of Israeli bombs.

Israeli Brigadier General Yitzhak Segev, who was governor of Gaza and in frequent touch with Yassin, told the Wall Street Journal that he fully grasped Yassin’s ultimate aims—to replace Israel with an Islamic state—and the dangers of the Hamas ideology. However, at the time, Israel prioritized undermining the PLO-leading Fatah.

In the wake of Iran’s 1979 revolution that saw a secular, U.S.-backed regime replaced with an Islamic republic, Hamas and other Islamists grew more popular, ambitious—and violent.

Regardless, Israel’s financial backing continued, a U.S. intelligence source told UPI, saying the support now had an additional rationale—to gain intelligence and identify the most dangerous of Hamas members.

Continue reading this article at Stark Realities

Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey

STARK REALITIES WITH BRIAN McGLINCHEY is a Substack newsletter that undermines official narratives, demolishes conventional wisdom and exposes fundamental myths across the political spectrum. McGlinchey has spoken at the national conference of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, and has appeared on the Scott Horton Show, Tom Woods Show and Ron Paul Liberty Report. Receive new Stark Realities posts via email

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