Hamas operatives who have directed attacks from their offices in Istanbul continue to receive VIP treatment by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan even as he intensively courts Israel. Some of the Islamic terrorist movement's senior leaders have even been granted Turkish citizenship.
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The indictment of Khaled Sabah and his sons – Hamas leaders from east Jerusalem – tells the same story that has been told many times before and in detail by the media: The terrorist organization's interlocutors, operatives, and financiers in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem have been Erdogan's welcome guests for many years. He has only pretended to keep them out of his orbit.
Zacharia Najib, a Hamas leader in Turkey, met Sabah in the past and attempted to recruit members of the Shu'afat Refugee Camp to assassinate former Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, former MK Yehudah Glick, and former Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh.
Mahmoud Atun, Majed Abu Katish, Musa Azari – who are also among the leaders of Hamas in Turkey and were involved in the 1992 abduction and murder of Israeli border policeman Nissim Toledano – remotely ran a Hamas cell in Jerusalem to turn the upcoming month of Ramadan into a bloodbath.
The Da'wah – Hamas' well-known organizational system of education, religion, medicine, and welfare – is far from innocent. "This economic body, although with an allegedly humanitarian purpose, is intended to expand the base of public support for the terrorist organization and create economic dependence on it among the population, as well as solidarity and commitment to its path and values," Judge Amnon Cohen once said of Da'wah.
Its ways and values – if anyone needs a refresher course – are the destruction of Israel and the spread of Islam worldwide. Charges against Hamas leaders in Jerusalem also reveal a link between Hamas and the illegal northern branch of the Islamic Movement. It is unclear why Israel continues to ignore the branch's activities in the country, especially after the indictment, instead of imprisoning its members and anyone who operates on its behalf.
The highlight of Hamas' activity in Jerusalem – orchestrated from Turkey – was to take place on Temple Mount, with a great commotion that would ignite and set Jerusalem ablaze and later Judea and Samaria. This would cause a third, fourth, or fifth intifada. Depends on how you count.
Turkish money is the catalyst that Hamas in Turkey and Jerusalem hoped would jolt the train of protest into action. The story of Sabah and his sons reveals the dark side of east Jerusalem's Sur Baher neighborhood. Despite growing cooperation and integration with Israel by its residents, Hamas has been operating in the village for years.
Sur Baher is a case study that illustrates the fierce competition between Hamas and religious extremism on the one hand, and reconciliation with the government and Israeli sovereignty in east Jerusalem.
Israel must do its utmost to embitter the lives of Hamas members in Jerusalem while promoting the integration of the city's Arabs. This has a great effect in day-to-day life, especially in the fields of trade, economy, and health.
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