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UK Paper Attempts to Understand the ‘Real Hamas’
“What is the real Hamas?” is the question that journalist Joshua Leifer seeks to answer in a 6,000-word Guardian feature that examines the evolution of Hamas and explores the capacity in which the terror group could have a hand in governing the Gaza Strip after the war.
The piece opens with Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin — described as an “architect” of the deal to free kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011 — who until the October 7 Hamas massacre had kept in almost constant contact with Hamas leadership, including senior official Ghazi Hamad.
Readers could be forgiven for thinking that Baskin is an influential figure in Israeli politics, a perception that contrasts sharply with reality. His view that Hamas could have been a potential partner for peace was not widely shared.
Glossing over the opinions of counter-terrorism experts and US and Israeli security analysts, all of whom see Hamas as a group “defined by its violent hostility to Israel’s existence,” Leifer quickly turns to an “opposing, more heterogeneous camp, comprised of academics and thinktankers, many of them Palestinian” who view Hamas as a “multifarious, complex political actor, divided between radical and moderating tendencies.”
These heterogeneous, Palestinian viewpoints comprise the bulk of the piece.
Sins of Omission
However, the major sin committed by Leifer is one of omission. It’s what he doesn’t say that is particularly striking.
For example, readers are introduced to “Palestinian scholar” Tareq Baconi, who dispels the notion that Palestinians are not broadly supportive of Hamas:
But if “Hamas were to disappear tomorrow,” he said, the Israeli blockade on Gaza and military rule in the West Bank would remain. “There’s this tendency to suggest that this is a war between Israel and Hamas rather than a war between Israel and Palestinians, which places Hamas outside of Palestinians,” he added. “It’s an inability to address the political drivers animating Palestinians.’”
It is a point that Leifer initially steers away from, although he acknowledges later the simple fact that the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank (71% according to the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research) believe the October 7 massacre was justified.
Leifer’s presentation of Baconi as a moderate, thoughtful voice deviates from the reality that Baconi has previously justified Palestinian terrorism against Israeli civilians, whom he has deemed “settlers.”
Then there is the way Leifer uses the fanaticism of Hamas to make other Palestinian political factions seem less extreme.
Khaled Elgindy, a former adviser to the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership on negotiations with Israel, is quoted saying that he thinks Hamas would have to be a part of a postwar settlement, primarily because he “believes that Palestinian politics could contain Hamas’s rejectionism alongside the Palestinian Authority’s cooperation with Israel, just as Israeli politics includes parties that support and those that oppose engagement with the Palestinian Authority.”
Remarkably, Leifer failed to challenge the risible claim that Hamas is the only driver of Palestinian rejectionism when the Palestinian Authority has repeatedly turned down agreements that would have seen the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Trust @guardian to turn a tragic traffic accident into a charge that “an Israeli truck killed four Palestinian workers.”
But that’s only one problem with the newspaper’s long read about Hamas. https://t.co/4xVlGWU4i7 pic.twitter.com/C1KNg5XLoG
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 21, 2024
The brief history of Hamas that appears midway through the piece also contains some worrying omissions.
Readers are told that the group was formed “against the backdrop of the first intifada, the popular Palestinian uprising [that] ignited when an Israeli truck killed four Palestinian workers in Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp.”
But readers are not told that the truck crash was a tragic accident caused by a mechanical failure.
Readers are told how Sheikh Ahmad Yassin was the group’s “spiritual leader” and that he was “diminutive and softly spoken.”
But readers are not told that Yassin called suicide bombing a “religious obligation” and was a terrorist mastermind.
Readers are given the opinion of Azzam Tamimi, who is merely described as an “author” of a book about Hamas.
But readers are not told that Tamimi could more accurately be described as a Hamas supporter who once argued Palestinian suicide bombings are for a “noble cause,” and that he would also perpetrate one if he “had the opportunity.”
Leifer’s piece is illuminating at points, including his brief exploration of the theory that a major reason for Israel’s failure to prevent October 7 stemmed from not taking Hamas’ maximalist rhetoric seriously. However, the devil is in the details, and Leifer’s omission of critical facts undermines what could have been a comprehensive understanding of Hamas.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
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Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday
US President Donald Trump attends the Saudi-US Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
US President Donald Trump’s order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States goes into effect at 12:01 am ET (0401 GMT) on Monday, a move the president promulgated to protect the country from “foreign terrorists.”
The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The entry of people from seven other countries – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela – will be partially restricted.
Trump, a Republican, said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security, have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, as well as inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.
He cited last Sunday’s incident in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new curbs are needed. But Egypt is not part of the travel ban.
The travel ban forms part of Trump’s policy to restrict immigration into the United States and is reminiscent of a similar move in his first term when he barred travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Officials and residents in countries whose citizens will soon be banned expressed dismay and disbelief.
Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to US citizens in response to Trump’s action.
“Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and its pride,” he said in a Facebook post, referring to countries such as Qatar, which gifted the U.S. a luxury airplane for Trump’s use and promised to invest billions of dollars in the U.S.
Afghans who worked for the US or US-funded projects and were hoping to resettle in the US expressed fear that the travel ban would force them to return to their country, where they could face reprisal from the Taliban.
Democratic US lawmakers also voiced concern about the policies.
“Trump’s travel ban on citizens from over 12 countries is draconian and unconstitutional,” said US Representative Ro Khanna on social media late on Thursday. “People have a right to seek asylum.”
The post Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a member of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in southern Syria’s Mazraat Beit Jin, days after Israel carried out its first airstrikes in the country in nearly a month.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the strike.
Israel said on Tuesday it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles towards Israel for the first time under the country’s new leadership. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz held Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa accountable.
Damascus in response said reports of the shelling were unverified, reiterating that Syria does not pose a threat to any regional party.
A little known group named “Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades,” an apparent reference to Hamas’ military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024, reportedly claimed responsibility for the shelling. Reuters, however, could not independently verify the claim.
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Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg
FILE PHOTO: Activist Greta Thunberg sits aboard the aid ship Madleen, which left the Italian port of Catania on June 1 to travel to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, in this picture released on June 2, 2025 on social media. Photo: Freedom Flotilla Coalition/via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told the military on Sunday to stop a charity boat carrying activists including Sweden’s Greta Thunberg who are planning to defy an Israeli blockade and reach Gaza.
Operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the British-flagged Madleen yacht set sail from Sicily on June 6 and is currently off the Egyptian coast, heading slowly towards the Gaza Strip, which is besieged by Israel.
“I instructed the IDF to act so that the Madleen .. does not reach Gaza,” Katz said in a statement.
“To the antisemitic Greta and her Hamas-propaganda-spouting friends, I say clearly: You’d better turn back, because you will not reach Gaza.”
Climate activist Thunberg said she joined the Madleen crew to “challenge Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes” in Gaza and highlight the urgent need for humanitarian aid. She has rejected previous Israeli accusations of antisemitism.
Israel went to war with Hamas in October 2023 after the Islamist terrorists launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing more 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to the enclave.
Katz said the blockade was essential to Israel’s national security as it seeks to eliminate Hamas.
“The State of Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade on Gaza, whose primary purpose is to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas,” he said.
The Madleen is carrying a symbolic quantity of aid, including rice and baby formula, the FFC has said.
FFC press officer Hay Sha Wiya said on Sunday the boat was currently some 160 nautical miles (296 km) from Gaza. “We are preparing for the possibility of interception,” she said.
Besides Thunberg, there are 11 other crew members aboard, including Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.
Israeli media have reported that the military plans to intercept the yacht before it reaches Gaza and escort it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The crew would then be deported.
In 2010, Israeli commandos killed 10 people when they boarded a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, that was leading a small flotilla towards Gaza.
The post Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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