Hamas to recognize Israel? Part of terror group’s deceitful plans

Mousa Abu Marzouk made comments in an interview with Al-Monitor this week. The comments were portrayed as Hamas considering “Israel recognition.”

In fact, nothing of this sort has taken place, and it is part of the Hamas attempt to portray itself as moderate in English while it not only commits genocidal acts when it has the power, but it pushes global extremism against Israel and Jews. Selling Hamas as willing to moderate is one phase in the strategic agenda of the group as it has its sights set on the West Bank and the region.

The comments by Abu Marzouk were characterized as a “shift” for Hamas by Al-Monitor. “In an interview with Al-Monitor, senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk suggested the militant group would adhere to the Palestine Liberation Organization’s stance on Israel.”

Bait and switch

This is a form of charlatanism by Hamas and a bait and switch. Hamas itself continues to hold more than 130 hostages in Gaza and carried out the most brutal mass murder against Israeli civilians in Israel’s history recently. Hamas is so brutal and genocidal that its attack on October 7 also targeted foreign workers and tourists, the organization spared no one. Hamas, like some other historic terrorist groups, like to benefit from the privilege these groups get from media, where they have an “armed wing” and a “political” wing.

There is no such thing as an “armed wing” of a terrorist group, any more than a country’s army is its “armed wing.” Terrorist groups nevertheless benefit from this by massacring people with one hand and then sending their leaders to appear on Western media channels.

Hamas has done this for years, appearing on Al-Jazeera in Doha, where Hamas leaders are based, or sending Hamas members to talk to UK or US media. At such meetings, they have crafted talking points that make Hamas seem open to negotiations. For instance, they pretend that Hamas might be willing to adopt the stance of the Palestine Liberation Organization and, therefore, recognize Israel.

Of course, the real goal here is not for Hamas to recognize Israel, but rather for Hamas to grow its presence in the West Bank. A recent poll has found that after October 7, Hamas is gaining in popularity in the West Bank.

In order for Hamas to come to power in the West Bank, it needs to get out from under sanctions in the West and to sell itself as a potential peace partner.

So, what’s really going on here? Hamas’ Abu Marzouk told Al-Monitor, “You should follow the official stance. The official stance is that the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] has recognized the State of Israel.” He was also quoted as saying “Israelis deserve rights, but not at the expense of others.” Al-Monitor correctly noted that he was speaking from his officer in Doha, where he “struck a careful tone on Israel some two months after his group carried out the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.”

How can a group carry out a genocidal attack one day and then pretend to accept the same people it just massacred the next? It can’t. Hamas hasn’t disavowed the October 7 attacks. Many countries that Hamas works with, such as Iran, Turkey, Russia, Qatar, and others, have not condemned October 7. Clearly, if the goal of Hamas was to reach an agreement, it and its backers and hosts would disavow October 7.

Abu Marzouk cannot be believed

Ksenia Svetlova, a former member of the Knesset who is now the Executive Director of ROPES, the Regional Organization for Peace Economics and Security, posted on social media about how Abu Marzouk cannot be believed.

Svetlova, who is also a Senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, wrote that people should not “fall into this trap” regarding this story. “I had the chance to interview Abu Marzouk twice for the first time in Moscow in 2006. Bringing some quotes from there – because everything has already been said before,” she wrote.

She notes how Abu Marzouk and Hamas have tried to portray themselves as democratic and open to compromise in the past. However, their actions are always the opposite, such as when they took over Gaza and murdered their opponents. “Abu Marzouk is one of the most experienced Hamasniks. He knows how to talk,” Svetlova notes.” He also understands very well the international situation and the pressure on Israel. When he releases this interview to Al-Monitor, the goal is clear – once again, to involve the Arab countries in intra-Palestinian reconciliation, which of course, will require Hamas to remain in Gaza. The instructions come from Qatar.”

Abu Marzouk has done this for decades. Hamas has always had officials it uses to work with those inclined to believe the group. Sometimes, it is Abu Marzouk, Ghazi Hamad, or others. It is part of a wider ideological concept within many Muslim Brotherhood-linked movements in the region. They sell themselves as being into “democracy” until they come to power, and then they create dreadful authoritarian murderous regimes that feed on conflict and oppression. Hamas has a strategic goal.

October 7 was one phase of this goal. It wanted to carry out a massive attack to get attention and create so much slaughter that Israel would be forced to invade Gaza. Then, it would use the invasion to mobilize global protests against Israel and get Russia, Doha, China, Turkey, Iran, and others to either support or excuse Hamas’ actions. It would then mobilize backers in the West to assault Jews.

Furthermore, it would leverage Israel’s invasion of Gaza to increase Hamas’s influence in the West Bank and end Hamas’s isolation in Gaza. Then, it would get a ceasefire in Gaza so it could hang on to part of Gaza and fight a war of attrition while Hamas operationalizes proxies around the region against Israel and the US. Selling Hamas as willing to moderate is one phase in the strategic agenda.

Seth Frantzman is the author of Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machine, Artificial Intelligence and the Battle for the Future (Bombardier 2021) and an adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies.