Intelligence provided to the British government by Shin Bet officials was instrumental in Britain’s decision last week to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization and illegalize support for the group.
Channel 12 News reported on Saturday night that several officials from Israel’s domestic security agency had been to Britain in recent weeks to meet with their British counterparts.
The report said he provided intelligence on several individuals in key positions in the terrorist group, as well as on funding mechanisms.
Britain’s terror designation comes as a major blow to the Islamist group, which conducts significant fundraising operations there, Channel 13 reports.
Britain banned the terrorist group’s military wing – the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade – in 2001. But Hamas’ political leadership was technically clear so far.
Channel 13 reports that this has enabled Hamas to raise funds that were given to institutions including the Islamic University of Gaza, a major facility to advance technology used in the development of Hamas missiles and other weapons. Was.
The report also said Israel had been working with the UK for a long time to impose sanctions, but the final decision was made after talks between Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his British counterpart Boris Johnson earlier this month . had gone. On the sidelines of Glasgow Environment Summit.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson attend an evening reception to mark the opening day of the COP26 United Nations Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Monday, November 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, Poole)
Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel, who is in charge of domestic security, said on Twitter on Friday that she had “worked to prosecute Hamas as much as possible.”
The ban, which must be approved by parliament, would make it illegal in the UK to be a member of Hamas or express support for the group, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
The government said it expected the ban order to be approved by Parliament within weeks and would be effective from November 26.
Hamas reacted angrily to the decision, with spokesman Hajim Qasim calling it “a new crime committed by Britain against our Palestinian people”.
Explaining the decision, Patel wrote that Hamas has “significant terrorist capability, including access to extensive and sophisticated weapons as well as terrorist training facilities.”
According to The Guardian, “We have taken the view that we can no longer separate the military and the political side.” “It is based on a wide range of intelligence, information and is also linked to terrorism. Its gravity speaks for itself.”
Israel has welcomed the move. Bennett praised the decision, saying there was no distinction between the terrorist group’s political leaders and its armed wing.
“Hamas is a terrorist organization, plain and simple. The ‘political wing’ enables its military activity. Same terrorist – only in suit,” he tweeted.
Hamas terrorist group leader Yahya Sinwar holds the baby of a member of the al-Qassam brigade killed in recent fighting with Israel during a rally in Gaza City on May 24, 2021. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP)
Rights groups have consistently stated that indiscriminate Hamas rocket attacks targeting Israeli cities do not comply with the laws of war, and thus constitute a potential war crime.
The United States and the European Union already consider Hamas to be a terrorist group that seeks to destroy Israel. Founded during the First Intifada, the organization became notorious for masterminding dozens of bloody suicide attacks against Israel.
Islamists took control of Gaza in 2007 during a civil war with their Fatah rivals, who control the Palestinian Authority. Since then, Hamas has fought frequent wars with Israel and has launched thousands of rockets into Israeli cities.
A group of so-called Palestinian “resistance” factions, including Hamas, announced they would hold an emergency meeting on Saturday in response to the announcement.
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