Hamas reasserted its iron fist over Gaza, first by cracking down on Jund Ansar Allah, then banning journalists from Rafah and starkly warning Palestinians: don't talk to reporters.
As the dust settles, media analysis comparing Al-Qaida’s global jihad to Hamas’s perceived localized resistance overlook Hamas ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, ties enshrined in article two of the Hamas charter.
The Brotherhood, Hamas, and Al-Qaida share a common goal. As Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi explains:
The Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Qaeda differ regarding tactics but share a common strategy. Al-Qaeda favors an implacable jihad to destroy the economies of the Western countries. The Muslim Brotherhood supports terrorism and jihad against foreign presence in the Islamic world, but its top priority is constructing a Muslim infrastructure in the West which will slowly but surely enable it to rule during the 21st century. As far as the final goal is concerned, there are no policy differences between al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood. The two organizations have the same objective: to place the entire world under an Islamic caliphate.
Muslim Brotherhood branches are players throughout the world, making news in Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Sudan, Somalia, even the U.S.
Which means you’re not getting the full picture when reporters like the Christian Science Monitor’s Eric Cunningham write:
Hamas is a militant Islamist organization but also a nationalist group largely focused on the creation of a Palestinian state and opposition to Israel. The US calls it a terrorist organization and its rival, the secular Fatah party, says it wants to impose Islamic rule on the Palestinians.
So who gets the virgins in this turf war?
