Hamas-Turkey Alliance vs Israel

Why Hamas Supports Turkey's Invasion of Northern Syria

by Omer Demir

• The American pullout from the area, which borders on Turkey, was evidently perceived by Erdoğan as a green light for an invasion for which he had been waiting for nearly a decade.
  
  
• Hamas, like Turkey, not only seeks Israel's destruction, but also has close ties with the Erdoğan government.
  
  
• Like its terrorist counterparts across the Middle East, many of which are funded by the Iranian regime, Hamas aims to annihilate Israel not only for being a Jewish state, but for sharing American values of freedom and democracy. In Hamas's eyes, the Kurds are an extension of that Western alliance.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Ankara views the Kurds in northern Syria as PKK-affiliated terrorists who, for wanting freedom, are regarded as a serious threat to Turkish national security. Eliminating Kurdish autonomy has been a key priority for Erdoğan since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
  
  
  
  
  The American pullout from the area, which borders on Turkey, was evidently perceived by Erdoğan as a green light for an invasion, for which he had been waiting for nearly a decade. 
  
  
  Although there is no doubt about the devastating effect that this move is having and will continue to have on the Kurds, there is a question about whether and to what extent it will affect Israel, a neighboring country that has been a supporter of Kurdish independence and rightly fears an even greater Iranian power-grab in Syria.
  
  
  Israel's enemies, unsurprisingly, immediately championed Trump's announced exit and praised Erdoğan's invasion. Take Hamas, the terrorist organization that rules the Gaza Strip, for example.
  
  
  Hamas, like Turkey, not only seeks Israel's destruction, but also has close ties with the Erdoğan government. Hamas's military wing maintains an office in Istanbul, in spite of international pressure on Turkey to shut it down. During an official visit to London in May 2018, Erdoğan stated:
  
  
  "...I do not deem Hamas a terrorist organization. Hamas is one of the resistance movements working to liberate the occupied territories of the Palestinians."
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Hamas is clear about its radical Islamist agenda. Like its terrorist counterparts across the Middle East, many of which are funded by the Iranian regime, Hamas aims to annihilate Israel not only for being a Jewish state, but for sharing American values of freedom and democracy. In Hamas's eyes, the Kurds are an extension of that Western alliance.
  
  
  Hamas also praised Erdogan for his "support for the Palestinian cause and the rights of the Palestinian people" and expressed opposition to "the Zionist and US presence in the region."