October 15, 2021
A bipartisan Parliamentary committee has recommended Australia list the militant Palestinian political party Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) on Thursday recommended Australia proscribe Hamas as a terrorist organisation, as other western democracies have done.
Hamas’s paramilitary arm, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, have been deemed a terrorist organisation in Australia since 2003, but the recommendation from the committee would encompass the entire Hamas movement.
Australia’s current listing refers to Hamas as fusing Palestinian nationalism and Sunni Islamist objectives.
“Hamas’ overarching goal is to ‘liberate Palestine’ by establishing an independent Palestinian state — comprising Gaza, the West Bank and Israel — guided by Islamic principles and destroying Israel as a political entity in the process,’’ it states.
Domestic spy agency ASIO had supported listing Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
The PJCIS yesterday handed down a report relisting five organisations as terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code – al-Shabaab, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
It went further with Hamas, calling for the organisation’s listing in its entirety, as it did in June when it called for the listing of Hezbollah’s External Security Organisation be expanded to the whole organisation of Hezbollah, a Shia group based in Lebanon.
Committee chair Senator James Paterson said that it was clear from evidence received during the review that the entire organisation of Hamas met the definition of a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code.
“Currently, the US, Canada and the EU list the whole organisation of Hamas as a terrorist organisation under their respective proscription regimes,’’ he said.
“The expert evidence provided to the committee overwhelmingly rejected the idea that Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades operates independently from the rest of the organisation.
“There was agreement that Hamas operates as a singular entity with overlapping personnel, finances and structure. In addition, leaders of Hamas have repeatedly made statements which meet the advocacy test for terrorist listing, including direct incitement of acts of violence against Jewish people,’’ he said.
