Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Thursday hailed the Australian government’s decision to designate Gazan militant group Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
Bennett thanked his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, for taking the action following previous discussion on the matter. “I thank Australia for standing strong in the face of terror and for remaining a strong and true friend of Israel,” he said.
Australia’s upcoming decision to designate Hamas as a terror group in its entirety, is an important one.
— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) February 17, 2022
Here’s why: pic.twitter.com/zFQjF5niZj
On Thursday, Australia said that it would designate the entire Hamas organisation as a terrorist organisation. While Hamas’ military wing, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam brigades, was recognised as a terror group by Australia, it had not made the same application for Hamas’ political wing.
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews made the announcement and told reporters that she had told all state governments to finalise the decision as soon as possible. “The views of Hamas and the violent extremist groups listed today are deeply disturbing, and there is no place in Australia for such views,” Andrews said. She added that it is “vital that our laws target not only terrorist acts and terrorists, but also the organisations that plan, finance and carry out these acts.”
The designation will place Hamas under the Australian criminal code and criminalises the provision of financial aid or any support to Hamas. Some offences carry a 25-year jail term.
The Australian Criminal Code designates an organisation as a terrorist outfit if it satisfies two conditions. One, the group is “directly or indirectly engaged in, preparing, planning, or assisting” and two, it has a history of advocating terrorist acts. In this respect, Australia accuses Hamas of both planning and advocating terrorist acts against Israel.
“Hamas’ attempts to paint itself as “legitimate” are a farce. And they’re not fooling anyone,” Bennett said. “Hamas has fired tens of thousands of rockets towards Israeli homes and schools, and it’s responsible for the murder of many Israelis and the deaths of many Palestinians in Gaza,” he added.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid also commended Australia for the “important” decision. Lapid tweeted that the Israeli Foreign Ministry “is leading, together with additional partners, an international effort targeting terrorist organisations.”
I commend Australia for its important decision to declare the entirety of Hamas as a terrorist organization. This declaration will make joining or assisting Hamas a criminal offense in Australia.
— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid🟠 (@yairlapid) February 17, 2022
Hamas, on the other hand, condemned Australia’s decision, calling it biased. In a statement released by the group on Thursday, it said that the decision violates the [Palestinian] peoples’ right to self-determination, and resisting the occupation.” It also blamed the Australian government for showing “double standards” for supporting a “racist occupation.”
“The Australian government’s label contradicts international law which guarantees the right of peoples to resist the occupier and ignores the oppressive practices of the occupation against the Palestinian people as documented by international human rights reports,” the statement read, referring to Amnesty International’s recent report labelling Israel as an “apartheid state.”
Hamas, a self-declared “Islamic resistance movement,” was founded in 1987 to wage an armed struggle against Israel to liberate Palestine. Following its victory in the 2006 Gaza parliamentary elections over rivals Fatah, Hamas seized complete control of Gaza in 2007 by ousting the Mahmoud Abbas-led Fatah party from the enclave after a short but violent civil war.
Before 2017, Hamas considered the Palestinian territories and Israel to be part of a Palestinian state. The group accepted the pre-1967 borders for a future Palestinian state for the first time in 2017, marking a significant change in its approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, it has not recognised Israel and calls it the “Zionist enemy.”
In recent months, Australia and Israel have sought to improve security ties. In November, Bennett met with Australian PM Morrison in Scotland on the sidelines of the UN Climate Conference and urged him to recognise Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation in its entirety.
Moreover, in December, FM Lapid said that Israel is keen on deepening strategic ties with Australia and the Five Eyes Alliance, which includes Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. The Alliance focuses on intelligence cooperation and Israel has expressed interest in cooperating with the grouping in light of its conflict with Iran.