There is clear involvement of Hamas’s political leaders in carrying out attacks against innocent Israelis; also clear are the Hamas links to, and funding from, Iran. It is important to proscribe Hamas as a whole as a terrorist organisation, and not just its military wing.
Hamas is a radical Islamist terrorist organisation, the Palestinian equivalent of Islamic State. It aspires to take control and impose sharia law throughout all areas of the Palestinian Authority, including the West Bank.
Hamas staunchly opposes peace and coexistence, with its stated goal being the destruction of Israel. Instead of providing for the welfare of Gaza’s citizens, Hamas uses its resources to increase its military capabilities, benefit its own members, and pursue its goal of wiping the Jewish state off the map.
Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 in a violent coup, throwing Palestinian political opponents off high-rises and publicly executing others in order to consolidate its own power. In the 14 years since, Palestinians in Gaza have essentially had all their democratic and human rights stripped away.
Protests against the failing economy and electricity shortages that Hamas presides over are responded to with beatings, arbitrary arrests and torture.
As its overtly antisemitic and anti-Western charter makes clear, Hamas’s primary goal is to “obliterate” Israel “through jihad” and extend its Islamic rule “from the river to the sea”.
To achieve this end, Hamas has fired more than 27,000 rockets and mortar bombs at Israeli civilians since 2001, including more than 4300 in May this year alone.
Not only does Hamas target innocent Israelis, it also fires its rockets at Israel from residential areas in Gaza. Firing at civilians from within civilian areas is a double war crime, and Hamas does it for one reason: to maximise Palestinian deaths in order to provoke misguided condemnations of the Jewish state and stoke anti-Israel sentiment across the world.
The harm that Hamas inflicts on its own people extends beyond the borders of Gaza. According to media reports, weapons stored in the basement of a Hamas-controlled mosque in southern Lebanon exploded in a fire earlier this month, killing and injuring numerous people. Hamas has yet again demonstrated its contempt for human life, including that of the Palestinians.
Last month, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister, Karen Andrews, accepted the recommendation of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security to list the entirety of Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.
This sent a strong message that Australia will not tolerate these Iran-backed terrorists. Now it is time to list Hamas, in its entirety, as a terrorist organisation.
Israelis and Palestinians deserve to live in peace. Hamas stands firmly against peace and democracy. Thirty-four years after its establishment, Hamas still represents one of the most significant obstacles to achieving peace and regional security.
Whoever aspires towards peace must understand and recognise that Hamas is a disaster. It is an extremist terror organisation that poses a threat to the Palestinian Authority, a danger to any prospect of peace, and seeks to obliterate Israel.
We simply cannot leave Gaza in the hands of Hamas. Rather, we must focus our efforts on the “economy in return for security” vision outlined by Israel’s Foreign Minister, Yair Lapid.
To create stability and the prospect for a better life for both Gaza and Israel, we must take action towards increasing international investment in Gaza, rehabilitating its infrastructure, cultivating other economic projects, and strengthening the Palestinian Authority.
Ron Gerstenfeld is charge d’affaires at Israel’s embassy in Canberra.