Hamas Statements Belie Goldstone Claims About “Gaza Authorities”

Lower inscription: “Hamad: We hold routine meetings with the faction commanders to remove obstacles” (From the Safa News Agency Web site, Oct. 28, 2009, translated by Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center)

We earlier noted how, contrary to media reports, the Goldstone Report does not condemn Hamas for war crimes, and in fact seeks to draw a false distinction between the so-called “Gaza authorities,” or the Hamas political body, versus the military wing of Hamas.

A new release from the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center unmasks the Goldstone Report’s very thin veil, revealing the close ties and support given by the “Gaza authorities” to the Hamas fighters:

1. On October 28 Fathi Hamad, interior minister of the de facto Hamas administration, gave a speech at a conference in Gaza City sponsored by the Association of Factions and [Trade] Unions. In his speech he described the close ties between Hamas’ interior ministry and the terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip (“the resistance factions”), and the support it gave to the various organizations. The conference was attended by commanders of Hamas’ internal security forces operating in the Gaza Strip.

2. The following were the main points quoted by the Hamas-affiliated Safa News Agency, October 28, 2009:1

i) The [Hamas] interior ministry “coordinates with all the factions of the resistance in [the] Gaza [Strip]” [i.e., the terrorist organizations].

ii) The ministry makes every effort “to protect them and make it easier for them to carry out every aspect of their jihadist missions.”

iii) There is routine coordination between the interior ministry and the various organizations: “We routinely meet with the commanders of the factions [i.e., the terrorist organizations] to remove obstacles between us. We have ended the security coordination with the occupation [i.e., the Palestinian Authority’s security coordination with Israel] and have replaced it with jihadist coordination” [i.e., operational coordination to carry out terrorist attacks against Israel].

Regarding the Goldstone Report, the center observes:

The Goldstone Report quotes the claims made by the de facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip that there are no direct or indirect connections between it and the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and that it has no idea of what tactics are used by the “armed groups” (“The Mission also addressed questions regarding the tactics used by Palestinian armed groups to the Gaza authorities. They responded that they had nothing to do, directly or indirectly, with al-Qassam Brigades or other armed groups and had no knowledge of their tactics,” Page 134, Paragraph 439; and “…the Gaza authorities stated that they had ‘nothing to do, directly or indirectly, with al-Qassam or other resistance factions…’” Page 459, Paragraph 1668). Therefore, while it says that “[t]he Mission emphasizes the obligation of the Gaza authorities to respect international law…, and is of the view that this requires the prevention and prosecution of violations of international law occurring within its area of de facto governmental authority” (Page 471, Paragraph 1715), it also relieves the de facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip of responsibility by making it the task of the “Palestinian armed groups” which have “have failed in their duty to protect and respect civilians” (Page 473, Paragraph 1721). While the Report does condemn the indiscriminate rocket fire of the “armed groups” attacking the civilians in the south of Israel, and calls it a “war crime” which may be considered a “crime against humanity,” it does not place responsibility on the Hamas movement and the de facto Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, but rather on the “Palestinian armed groups” (Pages 473-4, Paragraph 1724).