hamas Archives

Suspicions of Turkey, Hamas alliance stoke fears in Israel

March 5, 2015 By administrator

By Paul Alster, foxnews

Turkish President Erdogan hosting Hamas leaders Khaled Mashaal

Hamas, the terrorist group perpetually at odds with Israel, has found a willing patron in Turkey, say critics, who allege the NATO member has rolled out the red carpet for the Jewish state’s longtime nemesis, whose official headquarters are now in Istanbul.

Kicked out of Damascus in Syria amid deteriorating relations with the Assad regime, Hamas’ top leadership has established a new office in Istanbul called the ‘West Bank and Jerusalem Headquarters.” With the approval of the Turkish authorities, Salah Al-Arouri, one of the founders of the Al Qassam Brigade (Hamas’ military wing), and who served 15 years in jail in Israel for terrorist offenses, has been directing Hamas’ efforts in the West Bank to overthrow the Palestinian Authority and attack Israel at the same time.

“Turkey has become a Hamas hotbed, and members of the organization’s military wing are undergoing military training on Turkish soil, with the knowledge, support, and assistance of the local authorities,” leading Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot reported last week. “The U.S. administration has appealed in recent months to the Turkish government to prevent Hamas military activity in its territory, arguing that Turkey is a member of NATO and that Hamas is viewed by most NATO members as a terrorist organization. The appeals have gone unanswered.”

“We have expressed worry and displeasure at the fact that Turkey is hosting on its territory high level Hamas officials.”- Emmanuel Nachshon, Israeli Foreign Ministry

In recent years, Turkey was seen as a key player in bridging relations between the West and the Arab world. In 2011, on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a speech at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, announced the launch of a new global counterterrorism forum.

“We’re bringing together traditional allies, emerging powers, and Muslim-majority countries,” Clinton declared, “around a shared counterterrorism mission in a way that’s never been done before. Turkey and the United States will serve as founding co-chairs and we will be joined by nearly 30 other nations.”

The choice of Turkey as co-chair raised concerns at the time, fears that have been stoked in the three-and-a-half years since. Turkey has been accused of a blind-eye policy regarding Western jihadists moving across its border with Syria, while being increasingly critical of Israel and enthusiastically backed by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s courtship of Hamas, which also enjoys support from Qatar and Iran, came before and during the terrorist group’s 50-day war with Israel last summer. Israel has expressed to allies its concern about Turkey’s role, but Turkish support of Hamas has only become more blatant.

“This is not a new phenomenon,” Emmanuel Nachshon, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told FoxNews.com. “We have expressed worry and displeasure at the fact that Turkey is hosting on its territory high-level Hamas officials. We also are extremely worried that this would serve as the basis for the preparation of terrorist acts. These are messages that we have conveyed to Turkey, either directly or through third parties. If you recall, a few months ago the Hamas plot to take over the West Bank was orchestrated, most probably, by Hamas in Turkey.”

Speaking from Turkey last August, Al-Arouri appeared to admit that it was on his instructions that the three Israeli teenagers, whose kidnapping and murder ignited the summer war between Hamas and Israel, were snatched and murdered.

Reports suggest that no less than 20 of the key Hamas terrorists released in return for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in October 2011 are now working alongside Al-Arouri in Istanbul and are active in recruiting and training West Bank residents to return to commit terrorist acts. However, not only is Turkey providing safe haven and material support to Hamas, but the Turks are allegedly also actively involved in the terror training.

“According to Israeli security sources, Turkish intelligence is helping the military wing of Hamas in Turkey,” Yoni Ben Menachem, senior Middle East analyst for the Jerusalem Center of Public Affairs, told FoxNews.com.

As for media speculation that Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal had also moved to Turkey, Ben Menachem says this is most definitely not the case.

“Meshaal has not left Qatar,” he said. “The reports were untrue; this was just spin. He remains in Doha. After King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia’s recent death, the new King Salman is more supportive of Hamas and of Qatar, so Meshaal is staying in Qatar. Hamas is just using the Turkish co-operation.”

While Turkey embraces Hamas, the nation may not even be Hamas’ military leadership’s first choice for a location of exile.

“Even Hamas, which the [Erdogan’s] AK Parti government quite values, is reluctant to carry its leadership to Turkey, firstly because it would rather choose an Arab country and [is] not keen on the idea of Turks leading Arabs, and secondly because it would like to be in an environment that has links with the West and Israel,” Murat Yetkin wrote last week in Hurriyet, Turkey’s leading daily newspaper.

Paul Alster is an Israel-based journalist. Follow him on Twitter @paul_alster and visit his website: www.paulalster.com

Israel claims ‘foiled Hamas attacks’ were planned in Turkey

November 27, 2014 By administrator

REUTERS / JERUSALEM

Israel said on Thursday it had foiled plans by Hamas to attack Israelis in Jerusalem’s largest football stadium, other parts of the city and the occupied West Bank, though Hamas said it had no information on the allegations.

Israel’s Shin Bet security service claimed it had arrested 30 members of the group in September, some of whom had received weapons and explosives training from Hamas militants in Jordan and the Gaza Strip.

Planning for attacks against Israeli targets, including Jerusalem’s Teddy football stadium and the city’s light railway, was carried out by Hamas officials in Turkey, Shin Bet added in a statement.

In the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is dominant, a spokesman for the group said: “We have no information about these Israeli claims … It is clear Israel wanted to create a new story to divert the world’s attention away from the escalation in Jerusalem.”

Violence has surged in recent weeks in Jerusalem amid high tensions over access to a holy site in an Israeli-annexed part of the city where Al-Aqsa Mosque now stands and Biblical Jewish Temples once stood.

On Sunday, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian near the border, the first such fatality since a 50-day Gaza war ended in August. The man’s family said he was searching for songbirds to sell in local markets.

Israel has long designated areas near the frontier a no-go zone for Palestinians. The Palestinians seek Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza — lands captured and occupied by Israel after the 1967 war — for their future state. Already troubled peace talks between the two sides broke down in April.

Palestinian Authority accuses Hamas of plotting against it from Turkish headquarters

November 22, 2014 By administrator

By Paul Alster

Hamas supporters rally in the West Bank, where Palestinian Authority officials say the terror group is seeking to undermine it, with help from an operative in Turkey. (Reuters)

Israel and Egypt have Hamas pinned inside Gaza after destroying hundreds of tunnels leading out of the Palestinian enclave, but the terrorist group is coordinating its efforts in the West Bank with logistical help from a command center more than 500 miles away in Turkey, according to Palestinian Authority officials.

The PA and the Jewish State are mutually convenient bedfellows in their opposition to Hamas, which has conducted a campaign of terror against Israel and seeks to destabilize the West Bank. While the PA officially remains Hamas’ so-called “governing partner” in the Palestinian territories, new accusations that Hamas’ efforts are guided by its Turkey-based commander Salah al-Aruri have exposed the growing and violent rift between the two groups.

Now, the PA has gone on record as accusing al-Aruri of planning multiple attacks that have been foiled recently by Israel, resulting in the arrest of dozens of Hamas operatives in the West Bank. Those arrests, likely coordinated with PA security services who themselves allegedly foiled a planned coup by Hamas in the West Bank this summer, may have included the cell which, it was revealed on Thursday, had been planning to assassinate Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman in August in an RPG missile attack.

“The officials added that several Hamas operatives connected to the recently uncovered network were also being held in PA detention facilities.”

– Times of Israel

“The officials accused Turkey as well as Qatar — the current home of Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal — of enabling Hamas to operate freely within their territories to carry out attacks against Israel and undermine the Palestinian Authority,” Friday’s Times of Israel revealed. “The officials added that several Hamas operatives connected to the recently uncovered network were also being held in PA detention facilities.”

Despite the recent serious escalation in lethal incidents in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and further afield in Israel, including this week’s brutal murder of four rabbis and a policeman at a synagogue in the capital, Israeli and Palestinian Authority security forces still have shared mutual interests in combating radical Islamist terrorists groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and others.

“There is regular cooperation between the Israeli and Palestinian police which is continuing despite the terrorist attacks that have taken place,” Mickey Rosenfeld, spokesman for the Israeli Police, told FoxNews.com.

It was Al-Aruri who on Aug. 20, speaking at the World Conference of Islamic Sages in Turkey, admitted that Hamas had instigated the “heroic action carried out by the al-Qassam Brigades [the military wing of Hamas], which captured three settlers in Hebron.” The three teenage boys were kidnapped and brutally murdered by Hamas operatives, an incident that triggered the spiral of violence – including the retaliatory murder of a Palestinian teenager by Jewish settlers – that led to the vicious 50-day war in Gaza this summer.

Hamas appears to have been given a free hand to operate out of Turkey and Qatar, both of whom are close U.S. allies, and neither of whom deem Hamas a terrorist organization. Regional critics say the Obama administration has allowed its efforts to broker peace in the Middle East to be consistently undermined by its own Turkish and Qatari allies, who provide safe haven for Hamas leaders and funding for terrorists bent on undermining a negotiated settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.

Talking to the Al Monitor website in August, a Turkish diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested that Turkey’s support for Hamas is basically because the regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan failed diplomatically some time ago to influence its neighbors in the region, so has decided to find other ways in which to wield power.

“Trying to be a major actor in the Middle East and having felt betrayed multiple times, the Erdogan administration decided we have to be Middle Eastern, which means non-state entities should be considered as serious actors, partners, enemies, and allies.” Al Monitor’s Turkish correspondent, Pinar Tremblay, added, “Turkey’s support for Hamas – along with Qatar – hampers Israel’s ability to isolate Hamas. The Turkish government has been rather frank and “proud” of its engagement with the organization, despite all [the] financial and political repercussions.”

The policy of siding with Hamas, experts suggest, may also be a way for both Turkey and Qatar to continue their campaign against Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has clamped down hard on the Muslim Brotherhood, parent organization of Hamas, declaring the Brotherhood an illegal organization and arresting countless of its members.

El-Sisi has taken firm action against Hamas in Gaza, closing the key Rafah crossing and establishing a buffer zone on Egypt’s northern Sinai border with Gaza in an attempt to stop infiltration into Egypt by Hamas terrorists – backed by Turkey and Qatar – and the trafficking of weapons, missiles, and Islamic extremists in both directions.

Paul Alster is an Israel-based journalist. Follow him on Twitter @paul_alster and visit his website: www.paulalster.com.

Israel accuses Turkey of aiding Hamas coup plan against Mahmoud Abbas in Judea and Samaria.

October 25, 2014 By administrator

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has implied that Turkey was responsible for Hamas’ alleged preparations for a coup against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. “Turkey is playing a cynical game,” Ya’alon told US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on Oct. 21, criticizing Turkey for the support it provides to Hamas. “Hamas moved its terror headquarters from Damascus to Istanbul, in Turkey, a NATO member, where it is represented by Saleh al-Arouri, who orchestrates terrorist attacks against Israel from there and attempted to instigate a coup against Mahmoud Abbas in Judea and Samaria.” report Al monitor

Fadi al-Husseini, Palestinian Embassy spokesman in Ankara, however, told Al-Monitor that the Palestinian side has no knowledge of any Hamas coup preparations against Abbas. “We also heard about this alleged coup preparation from the media. The Israeli media also link the death of three Israeli teenagers to Arouri, but there is so far no evidence that Hamas was involved in these incidents,” Husseini said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explicitly blamed Hamas for the teenagers’ deaths. “These teenagers were kidnapped and the kidnapping was carried out by Hamas members. Hamas denials do not change this fact,” he said June 15.

Netanyahu also said, “Those who perpetrated the abduction of our youths were members of Hamas — the same Hamas that Abu Mazen [Abbas] made a unity government with. This has severe repercussions.” Indeed, Israel began its Gaza operation in July 2014, killing more than 2,000 Palestinians.

“We see that Israel is increasingly sliding away from the peace process. They do not trust the Palestinian side as a real peace partner, nor do they have any trust in the United Nations body — specifically the UN Human Rights Council,” said Umut Uzer, an associate professor at Istanbul Technical University’s department of humanities and social sciences. “It is no longer even possible to expect a return to a more balanced politics toward Israel. Neither side has any trust left. Turkey has clearly sided with the Palestinians, but the current government here has also taken the side of the Palestinians favoring Hamas.”

Uzer said that although the Turkish government clearly sides with Hamas and considers it the legitimately elected representative of the Palestinian people, it conveniently forgets about Hamas’ terrorist activities. Uzer explains this approach as a part of the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) ideological and emotional attachment to the group.

“Having said that, frankly speaking, it is a misconception to suggest that the Turkey-Israel relationship soared due to [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan coming to power. One needs to admit that this relationship has no real counterpart on the Turkish streets. It was put together with a bureaucratic intention considering the country’s interests,” Uzer said. “Yet Turkey’s liberal, left and secular crowds are also sensitive about the Palestinian cause. They see the Palestinians as victims of World War II, and they would like to see their suffering come to an end. It is to say that, even if Erdogan were not in power, the relationship between these two countries would not show any real progress in the absence of a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians resolving this issue once and for all.”

In the meantime, Ankara has kept quiet on Ya’alon’s accusation that Turkey was indirectly aiding Hamas’ preparations for a coup against Abbas. If proven, it would strike a significant blow to Erdogan’s strong condemnations of coup attempts, whether in Turkey, Egypt or elsewhere.

Since the deadly 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, Turkey and Israel’s political and diplomatic ties have soured. Some have speculated about a potential finalization of a deal, whereby Israel would give significant financial compensation to the families of those killed on board the Mavi Marmara. In turn, the countries would then reinitiate diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level. Ya’alon’s statement makes it clear that we are nowhere near that day.

Uzer argues that Turkey turning a complete blind eye to Hamas’ terror activities is not good for peace efforts in the region. “The United States is certainly the real partner that could influence Israel and move things around. Turkey could have helped things with its soft power, just like the AKP did in its first years,” Uzer said. “On the other hand, Israel is increasingly becoming isolated. … The political right is getting stronger in Israel, and that means there is currently no strong peace camp there.”

Embassy spokesman Husseini said that, in hindsight, Turkey and Israel’s soured political relationship does not serve the best interests of the Palestinian cause. “We wish to see more of our friends to carry our messages and talk to Israel,” Husseini said. “A good relationship between Turkey and Israel would have benefited the Palestinian cause and help end the conflict.”

By Tulin Daloglu

Columnist

Is Turkey Hamas’ new headquarters?

August 26, 2014 By administrator

By Pinar Tremblay, for al monitor

Hamas’ Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh (C) flashes a victory sign to his supporters in front of the cruise liner Mavi Marmara in Istanbul, Jan. 2, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Osman Orsal)

On Aug. 20, at the Association of Muslim Scholars conference in Istanbul, senior Hamas official Salach al-Aruri accepted the long-denied charges that Hamas had kidnapped the three Israeli teenagers on June 12. Their bodies were found at the end of June. From the very beginning, Israel said that the kidnapping and murders were carried out by Hamas.

All along, Hamas has denied its involvement vehemently. Al-Monitor’s Palestine Pulse reported that many Palestinians believe Israelis “orchestrated the kidnapping and murders” to justify an attack on the Gaza Strip. The same conspiracy theory was widely supported in Turkey, too. It is safe to assume that the majority of Turks do not believe the news of Aruri’s acceptance of involvement despite the video recording. Most Turkish pundits are convinced Hamas had no direct involvement, and that the kidnapping and murders of the three teenagers was nothing but an Israeli conspiracy.

However, speaking from Istanbul, Aruri asserted that the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades’ mujahedeen carried out the kidnapping to show solidarity with Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli prisons. In an interview with Yahoo News on Aug. 22, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal did not deny Aruri’s contention, and only emphasized that it was carried out without the knowledge of the political wing. Fars News Agency promptly denied the news about Aruri’s revelations as false.

Given all this, why does Turkey, a NATO member country, host Hamas operatives, have high-level meetings with them and support their rhetoric? Hamas is on the list of terrorist organizations of the United States, the European Union, Canada and several other countries, but not on that of the UN Security Council and it is not considered a terrorist organization in Turkey. Therefore, it is safe to say most, if not all, of Turkey’s Western allies considers Hamas a terror organization.

Max Abrahms, professor of political science at Northeastern University, who specializes in terrorism and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, told Al-Monitor, “Countries do not gain strategically by hosting terrorist groups. My research demonstrates empirically that terrorism is politically counterproductive behavior that erodes popular support for the political cause and results in a backlash from the target country. Hosting terrorist groups is thus a political liability. There is no strategic sense in supporting terrorist groups because the net strategic effect is almost always negative.”

Domestically, not many even ponder upon such questions with mainstream media boasting how Gazans thanked Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his support. Alptekin Dursunoglu, senior editor of Yakin Dogu Haber, which focuses on news exclusively from the Near East, told Al-Monitor, “I would say even if it may look like Turkey’s heart is with Hamas, its sword is with Abbas. Right now since almost all Palestinian factions appear to act together, I do not see this constituting a risk for Turkey in regard to its relations with the United States.” Dursunoglu explained how difficult it is to convince the Turkish public that Hamas might be planning a plot against the PA; indeed, most in Turkey would not be convinced that Hamas was behind the kidnappings even after a strongly alleged confession from its own senior leader. One of the strongest justifications as to why Turkey is hosting Hamas is because it has payoffs from the majority of the domestic audience. Turkish public opinion strongly sides with the suffering of the Palestinian people, and in the era of the Islamic State (IS) threat on its doorstep, it is not likely to consider Hamas a terrorist organization.

In addition, after multiple attempts at diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, Turkey has accepted that it has failed. It gradually switched its focus to supporting nonstate entities, and thus attempting to make inroads on its neighbors. One diplomat, who is not pro-AKP, told Al-Monitor, “Trying to be a major actor in the Middle East and having felt betrayed multiple times, the Erdogan administration decided we have to be Middle Eastern, which means nonstate entities should be considered as serious actors, partners, enemies and allies. Is there a country in the region that has not taken this road? Is it possible to survive ignoring these nonstate actors?”

This may indeed be the case. Even a few Turkish critics question whether “Turkey is replacing Iran” in being the latest supporter of Hamas. The issue that generates some degree of conflict with rules of engagement is because Turkey is also a member of various Western organizations such as NATO, which was not the case for the former supporters of Hamas, i.e., Syria and Iran. In addition, if the support for Hamas is just a part of “becoming an effective player in the Middle East,” it may be a strategy with mixed blessings as the latest PEW Research Center figures demonstrate that support for Erdogan dropped sharply in four of seven Middle Eastern countries. Interestingly, only in Israel are favorable views of Erdogan on the rise, from 14% to 16% — which is attributed to the Israeli Arabs — while in the Palestinian territories Erdogan’s favorability rating has gone down from 74% to 55%.

Turkey’s support for Hamas — along with Qatar — hampers Israel’s ability to isolate Hamas. The Turkish government has been rather frank and “proud” of its engagement with the organization despite all financial and political repercussions. Whether or not its support for Hamas will provide Turkey more regional influence is yet to be seen, but for now it is fair to assume expansion of Erdogan’s domestic powers would translate into further support for Hamas in the near future.

Pinar Tremblay

Contributor, Turkey Pulse

Pinar Tremblay is a doctoral candidate in political science at University of California, Los Angeles, and an adjunct faculty member at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She

Gaza crisis: Israel kills three top Hamas commanders

August 21, 2014 By administrator

An Israeli air strike on a house in Gaza has killed three senior Hamas military commanders as Israel vowed to continue its campaign, the BBC reports.

Mohammed Abu Shamala, Mohammed Barhoum and Raed al-Attar died in the air strike near the southern town of Rafah, Hamas told media.

They were among six people killed, Palestinian rescue services said.

Hostilities resumed on Tuesday, with each side blaming the other for the collapse of peace talks in Cairo.

Israel: Coup attempt in West Bank planned by Hamas official in Turkey

August 19, 2014 By administrator

By YAAKOV LAPPIN

Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian during clashes at a protest against Israeli military action in Gaza, in the West Bank village of Silwad, near Ramallah on Aug. 15. (Photo: Reuters, Mohamad Torokman)

August 19, 2014, Tuesday/ 02:15:07/ AP / JERUSALEM

Israel’s Shin Bet security service said Monday it had thwarted a Hamas coup attempt in the West Bank aimed at toppling Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, though it offered few details, claiming that the plot was planned by a Hamas official who is based in Turkey and “enjoys the support of local officials there.”

In recent months, the Shin Bet said it had arrested more than 90 Hamas operatives, confiscated dozens of weapons that had been smuggled into the West Bank and more than $170,000 aimed at funding attacks. It produced photos of the confiscated weapons and cash and a flowchart of the Hamas operatives who had been questioned.

The Shin Ben said the plot was orchestrated by senior Hamas official Salah Arouri, who is based in Turkey and enjoys the support of the local officials there. The idea was to set up cells in major West Bank cities. Hamas had no immediate comment to the claim.

Hamas overtook the Gaza Strip in 2007 from forces loyal to Abbas. It is currently negotiating in Cairo over a cease-fire to formally end the Gaza war.

A five-day cease-fire expires later Monday.

The monthlong Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 2,000 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, according to Palestinian and UN officials. Israel has lost 67 people, all but three of them soldiers.

The fighting was precipitated by Israeli arrests of Hamas members in the West Bank following the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers. The Shin Bet said it uncovered the coup plot due to information gleaned from the arrests.

The three teens – Eyal Yifrah, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel – were slain in June in the West Bank. Their killings were followed by the slaying of a Palestinian youth in what was a likely revenge attack.

The Gaza war began on July 8 with Israeli airstrikes. Nine days later, Israel sent in ground troops to destroy Hamas’ underground cross-border tunnels constructed for attacks inside Israel.

Also on Monday, Israeli troops demolished the homes of two militants suspected in the abduction and killing of the three Israeli teenagers and sealed up the home of a third.