Finding Hamas too “moderate,” hundreds of Palestinian terrorists are aligning with ISIS, which better represents their own murderous aspirations towards Israel.
Hundreds of Palestinian terrorists are abandoning the Hamas terror organization, which they deem too moderate, for the more extreme Islamic State (IS or ISIS) terror cells operating against Israel, Israel’s Channel 2 reports.
New details of the investigation of Ahmed Shada, the leader of the ISIS terror cell captured in Hebron in November, reveal the he was a Hamas member but had recently joined ISIS because he believed that Hamas was negligent in enforcing Muslim Sharia law.
Another cell member stated that “we believe that ISIS is better than Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA), who don’t do anything for the residents.”
The report quotes sources in Israel’s security system who estimate that hundreds of terrorists have left Hamas to join ISIS and are building their connections through social media networks.
The Shabak (Israel’s Security Agency) has cyber units monitoring Arab social media in an attempt to identify and capture these terror cells before they become active.
Shada, under interrogation, said: “It started around a year ago. I contacted Al-Nusra Front and ISIS activists through their Facebook pages. I intended to join them in the fighting in Syria against the Assad regime. After several conversations that I had with my friends in Hebron, I decided not to fly there and to establish an ISIS cell in Hebron.”
“Our goal was to establish a cell that would conduct attacks against the IDF and the PA,” Shada revealed, adding that Israel was not the only target. “We understood that Hamas isn’t doing the job. We downloaded from the ISIS site posters and pictures and distributed them to residents.”
‘The Tip of the Iceberg’
The cell had planned several attacks, including the abduction of an IDF soldier, and even detonated a bomb near an IDF unit. No one was injured in the attack.
ISIS has been successful in establishing an active unit operating out of the Gaza Strip. Security sources estimate that hundreds of Palestinians have joined ISIS units fighting in Syria and Iraq and that several were already killed in combat.
Israel also fears the threat posed by Israeli Arabs who have joined ISIS and return to Israel with combat experience and terror training.
“This cell is just the tip of the iceberg,” Channel 2 quoted a security source as saying. “There are terrorists who are tired of Hamas because it is portrayed as moderate and not aggressive and extremist enough against Israel…. They see ISIS as an organization that implements the Islamic Sharia law. Hamas is under great pressure because of this phenomenon, which is slowly eating away at its power. ISIS is entering into this vacuum.”
By: United with Israel
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