Looming slaughter in Gaza

https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs5746/files/2023-10/the-hamas-network-in-america.pdf

Vidino • October 2023
The Hamas Network in America

The Program on Extremism at George Washington University provides analysis on issues related to
extremism.
The Hamas Network in America
Hamas in America
Individuals and networks providing various forms of support for Hamas have been active in America
for decades.1 Small numbers of Palestinians who belonged to Muslim Brotherhood networks in the
Gaza Strip and the West Bank, in fact, arrived in the US since the 1960s to study at American universities
or as immigrants/refugees (Hamas, as its charter states, is “one of the wings of the Muslim
Brotherhood in Palestine”2).
Over time, from the official foundation of Hamas in 1987 onwards, this network increasingly organized
itself, creating a relatively large set of public-facing organizations devoted to activities such as funding,
lobbying, education and dissemination of propaganda. Since the US government first designated
Hamas as a terrorist organization in 19973, US authorities have conducted several activities to clamp
down on this network, including deporting and prosecuting Hamas operatives and shutting down
multiple front organizations.
Materials introduced as evidence by the government during these procedures represent an unique
treasure trove of information on the otherwise extremely secretive network of Hamas operatives in
America.4 Drawing largely from internal Hamas documents seized by the FBI and wiretaps of
conversations among Hamas operatives conducted by the FBI and introduced as evidence during the
2007 terrorism financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation, a Texas-based charity U.S. authorities
accused of financing Hamas5, this report seeks to outline the history and evolution of the Hamas
network in the US from its early days.

 

Meanwhile the slaughter has arrived. It no longer looms.

 

Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel said Tuesday that its ground forces were battling Hamas fighters deep inside Gaza’s largest city, signaling a major new stage in the month-old conflict, and its leaders foresee controlling the enclave's security after the war.

The push into Gaza City guarantees that the already staggering death toll will rise further, while comments from Prime Minister

about controlling Gaza’s security for “an indefinite period” pointed to the uncertain endgame of a war that Israel says will be long and difficult.