Fighters entering on scooters and motorcycles. Committing massacres among innocent civilians, including children and the elderly. Kidnapping women and parading them through the streets. Creating videos of their training as well as their killings.
When details of the Hamas invasion from Gaza into Israel became known, I was constantly reminded of ISIS in Iraq. First in Mosul, where a column of vehicles with black flags quickly captured the city in June 2014. Then in Sinjar, where ISIS fighters invaded a few months later, killing thousands of men, children, and older women. Later in the Christian towns of the Nineveh valley, they entered on motorbikes.
And then the videos. Those of the paragliders who were part of the Hamas operation are just as slick and well-edited as those from ISIS in the days before the Iraqi army and international coalition brought the group to its knees. Designed to recruit new members – and they did it well. Only the nasheed are missing with Hamas; the “hymns of Jihad,” sung texts praising Allah. The recordings that Hamas fighters made of their killings are even more graphic than the ISIS videos of beheaded Yazidi men.
Prosecutors
Just as prosecutors use these kinds of images to convict members of ISIS (and other radical Muslim groups in Syria), the videos from Hamas, often shared via the social media of the victims themselves, are self-incriminating. It seems reckless. But both groups share the ultimate goal of reaching paradise by dying as a shahid (martyr). Such a video can’t harm you there anymore.
Both clearly have no regard for human rights. Kidnapping innocent civilians is also a tactic we’ve seen from ISIS. Of the over six thousand Yazidi women, about a third are still missing, and many Shiite women abducted in Tal Afar have never been found. The rapes that Israeli women have been victims of at festival grounds before they were killed or kidnapped also remind us of ISIS. This is because the groups’ view of humanity aligns: only true believers have value, everyone else can be discarded – unless they convert.
Hamas claims it wants an Islamic state in Palestine (including Israel), and after, in the entire world. ISIS established one that covered part of Syria and a third of Iraq and set up branches in many other countries. Both are guided by the same Salafist believes, viewing anyone of a different faith as an infidel and worthless. They base themselves on interpretations from the early days of Islam, of the Prophet Mohammed, his followers, and the first rulers.
Small Group
It’s a relatively small group within Islam, which also evokes aversion among Muslims – however, this doesn’t always lead to a clear position externally. Apart from the politics – here against Israel, in 2014 against the corrupt Shiite regime in Iraq – it is primarily the verbally professed battle for Islam that makes it so difficult for many Muslims to distance themselves from it. ISIS brandished the rescue of Muslims from the hands of Assad in Syria. Hamas has a bigger trump card: to regain Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque under Islamic control.
Not that the two seem to get along well with each other. Although there are reports of cooperation, several members of ISIS in Sinai declared Hamas to be the enemy in 2018. The background seemed to be a fraternal dispute, as members hop between the two groups.
What the two groups also have in common, and this also applies to their big brother Al-Qaeda, is pragmatism. Even though they see Muslims who think differently as inferior, it is not a problem to cooperate with them. ISIS did that especially with Turkey. And while for ISIS Shiite Iran is the enemy, Hamas and Al-Qaeda work with it. Even though they also see Shiites as apostates.
All three are good at exploiting frustration and (perceived) victimhood. ISIS recruited Iraqi Sunnis who felt like second-class citizens under the Shiite government and Muslim migrants who felt alienated and discriminated against in their new country. Al Qaeda recruited among dissatisfied Muslims who felt oppressed. Hamas had an easy breeding ground in the ‘open-air prison’ of Gaza, where many had lost family members or spent long years in Israeli prisons.
Warnings
The security services in Iraq had been warning for some time about the danger of ISIS, which had set up camp not far from Mosul. But Baghdad did not listen. The then-Prime Minister Maliki ignored all warnings. He even thought that with an ISIS invasion, Mosul would get what it deserved.
In Israel, the invasion on Saturday came as a total surprise. The policy was actually to grant more residents from Gaza work permits in Israel as a kind of safety valve. The government was lulled by the relative peace, and warnings were also brushed aside here. Meanwhile, Hamas had been busy for almost a year preparing the operation.
Preparations
While ISIS was preparing to take over part of Iraq by mainly training in Syria, where a vacuum had arisen due to the civil war, Hamas, strangely unnoticed, built a fake village in Gaza for military training. Paragliders flew their training rounds under the radar. The picture is not yet entirely clear, but it is certain that Iran was involved in the planning and supplied weapons. ISIS received (in Syria) trainloads from Turkey.
Hamas has certainly looked to ISIS for inspiration. Unfortunately, they have not learned from ISIS’ mistakes. In 2014 in Mosul, it took a number of Asian construction workers prisoner, which had nothing to do with their goals. Except for a Bangladeshi who turned out to be Muslim and was released, from the rest, nothing has been heard. In Israel, also, an Asian worker has fallen into the nets of Hamas. And that’s just as bad publicity.
Because Hamas claims that it is about the freedom of the Palestinians. While from the Gaza Strip reports came of huge infringements of freedom. There have been no elections for years. There is strict censorship and control. Openly criticizing Hamas is extremely dangerous; recently, a demonstration for more freedoms was brutally dispersed. There are reports of tortures and maltreatments of prisoners. From the ISIS caliphate, we now know that things were just as tough there.
Turkey
While Iran is mainly mentioned in the Hamas operation as the evil mastermind that recently in Beirut gave the green light for its execution, Turkey also plays a role here. In both countries, people took to the streets to celebrate the attack on Israel.
Ankara has given Hamas all the space in recent years to operate openly from Turkey. The Turkish government openly stated that for them, the group is not a terrorist organization. There are reports that Turkey also helped Hamas purchase rockets.
On the other hand, Hamas is said to support the Turkish policy regarding the Kurds. It is a notable timing that Ankara is currently conducting a large-scale attack on Kurdish targets in Syria. Using a PKK suicide bombing in Ankara as an excuse, Turkey has targeted 145 locations in Kurdish-controlled areas in Syria within 72 hours.
Contrast
The main targets are energy plants, drinking water supplies, oil fields, dams, and other infrastructures. The bombings seem mainly intended to cripple the Kurdish administration, which Ankara accuses of having ties with the PKK. There’s a striking contrast: while the world is preoccupied with Israel and Hamas, it remains silent about Turkish aggression. Is it because Turkey is a NATO ally?
Perhaps it’s mainly because the world struggles to focus on multiple crises at once. And the situation between Turkey and the Kurds has a recurring pattern just like that between Israel and the Palestinians. This seems to suggest that Turkish president Erdogan will gladly capitalize on the distraction the recently flared-up conflict provides. And that he will continue attacking the Kurds as long as it allows him to, even with the option of a new invasion in Syria in the wings.
