Islamist Terror Includes Hamas

The Fellowship  |  March 24, 2017

In the wake of this week’s horrific attack in London – just the latest of such violence to strike Europe and elsewhere – terrorist groups like Hamas attempt public makeovers to distance themselves from such acts. But JNS’ Ben Cohen writes that the Gaza-based terror organization’s core principles of violence and hatred for Israel remain:

As reports of the savage terrorist attack in central London March 22 emerged, it was clear pretty quickly that British authorities were dealing with an incident straight from the Islamist terror manual.

The weapons of choice in London were ordinary consumer goods that are easily refashioned for the purposes of murder. The car in which the kids are driven to school is also a makeshift tank that can be used for ramming pedestrians. The knife that chops a salad can also be a machete of sorts, used to hack down police officers and others who get in the way. This is what we saw in London this week, resembling what we saw in the French city of Nice in July 2016—where the weapon was a massive cargo truck, and the death toll was 86—and in Israel on many occasions, such as this past January, when a truck killed four and wounded 15 IDF soldiers in Jerusalem’s East Talpiot neighborhood…

As for the Palestinians of Hamas—spawned by the same Muslim Brotherhood whose path also leads to Islamic State—they are currently preparing a bid to convince the world of their newfound political moderation. An initiative like this one is poorly timed, as the Obama administration, which might well have been seduced, is out of office. Even so, it’s a consequence of important developments within Hamas that are worth taking note of…

The West has not reached a stage where it is willing to legitimize Hamas in exchange for a feeble commitment to “direct negotiations.” Terror attacks like that carried out in London make such a prospect even more remote. We should expect this latest makeover attempt by Hamas to dissolve without a trace. As for the security threat it poses, that remains very much intact.