Hamas
Palestinian Islamist political and military organization From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Hamas (Arabic: حَمَاسُ, romanized: Ḥamās), an acronym of its official name, Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya (Arabic: حَرَكَةُ الْمُقَاوَمَةِ الِاسْلَامِيَّةِ, lit. "Islamic Resistance Movement"), is a reactionary Palestinian Sunni Islamist political movement in Gaza, with a history of terrorism[37] and antisemitism[38] despite its relative popularity in the Middle East.[39]
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On October 7, 2023, Hamas took the lead in a series of attacks on Israel,[37] seen by some scholars as the worst massacre of Jews since the end of the Holocaust.[40] Under the 2025 Gaza war ceasefire, Hamas is supposed to keep the Gaza Strip as the IDF withdrew.[41]
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Name
Hamas is an acronym of the Arabic phrase Arabic: حَرَكَةُ الْمُقَاوَمَةِ الِاسْلَامِيَّةِ, or Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya or "Islamic Resistance Movement".
History
Hamas was started in 1987 by Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi after the beginning of the First Uprising against Israeli violence and occupation. It started as the Gaza branch of the Muslim Brotherhood organization in Egypt. In the 2006 legislative election, the party received 74 out of 132 seats in parliament by campaigning on clean government without corruption and affirming Palestinians' right to defend against Israeli occupation.[dubious ]
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Ideas
The party has supported the reestablishment of the Land of Palestine in all historic land, which includes the West Bank, Gaza, and the State of Israel.[42] The 2017 Hamas Charter stated that the party's struggle was with Zionists and Israeli terrorists.[clarification needed] In 2018, the United Nations voted to reject an American claim to condemn Hamas. Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told the Reuters news agency, "Rejecting the American drafted resolution against the resistance represents a blow to the American administration and reaffirms the legitimacy of the resistance."
Controversies
Violence
Hamas is known for terrorist attacks on Jewish targets worldwide. Because of its history of suicide bombings and rocket strikes on civilians in Israel,[43] the United States, European Union and several countries call it a terrorist organisation. Particularly, Jordan has banned the group.[44]
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Antisemitism
Antisemitism is also widespread among the Hamas and their supporters.[38] As per scholar Esther Webman, strongly antisemitic rhetoric is frequently found in Hamas leaflets, which tend to equate Jews with Zionists to incite terrorism against Jews.[45]
The Hamas' Charter frames the group's raison d'être as being "against the Jews [...] Israel, Jews and Judaism [are a] challenge to Islam and the Moslem people" and makes it clear that[38]
The Day of Judgment will not come until Moslems fight the Jews [...] The stones and trees will say O Moslems [...] there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.
The Hamas' Charter also blames the Freemasons, French Revolution, Russian Revolution, WWI and WWII on a "Jewish Zionist conspiracy."[38] In August 2003, senior Hamas official Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rantisi wrote in the Hamas newspaper Al-Risala:[46]
It is no longer a secret that the Zionists were behind the Nazis' murder of many Jews, and agreed to it, with the aim of intimidating them and forcing them to immigrate to Palestine.
In August 2009, Hamas forbade Palestinian children from studying the Holocaust, demonized by the Hamas as "a lie invented by the Zionists."[47]
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Election
In early 2006, Hamas won a clear victory in the vote for the Palestinian legislative election. Voters saw Hamas as an alternative to exchange the long-ruling Fatah party, the main part of the PLO. This was due to how Fatah had not improved the Palestinian people's conditions and instead allegedly worsened conditions by corruption. There have been no elections since 2006.
Support
As of 2021, Qatar had given $1.8 billion in support to Hamas.[48] Iran provides up to $100 million per year to Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and PFLP-GC.[49]
Local work
 | An editor thinks that this article may not be neutral. (February 2025) |
Hamas has shown its organizational ability by building health, education, and social services to help the population in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where there are many poor people. Their efforts ended up increasing support to Hamas. In the first half of 2007, Hamas gained political control of the Gaza Strip, while Fatah keeps its headquarters in the West Bank.[42]
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Notes
References
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