THANK YOU, AUSTRALIA!

Australia has announced that it will list the entire Hamas movement as a terrorist organization. Canberra had previously only designated Hamas’s military wing, the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, as a terrorist group, but the new designation includes the whole organization – including the government of the Gaza Strip.

JPost With this move, Australia is following in the footsteps of the United Kingdom, which applied the same designation in November. James Paterson, who chairs the Australian Parliament Intelligence and Security Committee, said “any Australian supporting Hamas could be committing a serious crime – a powerful deterrent to make Australia safer.” 

The designation will place restrictions on financing or providing support to Hamas, with violations carrying a prison sentence of up to 25 years. 

“The views of Hamas and the violent extremist groups listed today are deeply disturbing, and there is no place in Australia for their hateful ideologies,” said Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews. “It is vital that our laws target not only terrorist acts and terrorists, but also the organizations that plan, finance and carry out these acts.”

A person found guilty of a terrorist offense in Australia may face up to 25 years in prison, according to the Australian Attorney-General’s Department, and an offense might include being a member of, training, recruiting or directing activities of a terrorist organization. Other offenses include receiving and/or acquiring funds from or for a terror organization.

 Australia’s bold move is the latest in a worldwide trend to recognize Hamas for what it really is, despite its claims of political legitimacy since become the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip following its victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections and the 2007 Battle of Gaza.

In 2014, Amnesty International released a shocking report into Hamas forces in Gaza committing “serious human rights abuses, including abductions, torture, and summary and extrajudicial executions of Palestinians”.

Hamas, it should be recalled, was founded in 1987 just after the First Intifada began, as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas was founded to liberate all of Palestine, including modern-day Israel, in order to establish an Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett welcomed the Australian move:

“Thank you to our Australian partners for designating the entirety of Hamas as a terrorist organization – including its “political” wing, which plans, finances and conducts terror activities,” said Defense Minister Benny Gantz. “Hamas targets civilians, threatens the State of Israel, and holds Gaza residents hostage.”