1) MEMRI provides a translation of an interview with a senior Hamas official.
“Senior Hamas official Ali Baraka said in an October 8, 2023 interview that aired on Russia Today TV that Hamas had been secretly planning the invasion of southern Israel for two years, even as it was making it seem like it was busy governing the Gaza Strip. He explained that this is the reason Hamas did not join the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in its previous round of fighting against Israel. He said that Hamas notified its allies in other Palestinian factions, in Hizbullah, in Iran, in Turkey, and in Russia only after the invasion started, and he stated that any prisoner exchange deal should involve Hamas prisoners held in the United States. Later in the interview, Baraka said that Hamas has a license from Russia to locally produce bullets for Kalashnikovs, that Russia sympathizes with Hamas, and that it is pleased with the war because it is easing American pressure on it with regard to the war in Ukraine.”
2) Palestinian Media Watch brings documentation of ‘Hamas calls on Gazans to be human shields’.
“…Hamas has called on Gazans not to leave their homes when Israel warns about bombings.
While the Israeli army has been notifying Gazan civilians to leave their homes and seek safety elsewhere before Israel attacks terrorists or terror infrastructure in their apartment buildings, Hamas’ Interior Ministry is calling on Palestinians to remain in their homes to serve as human shields.”
3) The Alma Research Center reports on ‘The history of relations between Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas’.
“The relationship between Iran and Hamas began in the early 1990s, three years after Hamas was founded. Over the years, Hamas enjoyed Iranian financial support for its smuggled weapons, which intensified when Hamas came to power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007. After Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, Iran and even Hezbollah began aiding Hamas to develop its own weapons. Khaled Mashal, former leader of Hamas’ political bureau, stated in 2007 that “Hamas is the spiritual son of Khomeini (the founder of the Islamic Revolution in Iran).”
4) WINEP provides analysis of ‘International Reactions to the Hamas Attack on Israel’.
“Around the globe, representatives of approximately a hundred countries have reacted to the war in varying ways. At least forty-four nations have publicly expressed their unequivocal condemnation of Hamas and explicitly decried its tactics as terrorism. Others, including regional players such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria, and Iraq, have placed responsibility on Israel for the attacks. Approximately twenty countries have explicitly stated that Israel has the right to defend itself, while others have called for an immediate de-escalation of violence.”
5) At the Fathom Journal, Alan Johnson documents ‘‘Progressives’ and the Hamas Pogrom: An A-Z Guide’.
“Faced with the Hamas pogrom how did ostensible progressives in the West respond? In many cases, by cheering it on as… ‘resistance’. Going from bad to worse, the pogrom was met with rationalisations, lawyerly defences, outright support, exultation and, all over the world, rallies in defence of… the pogromists.”
