The affair that shakes Hamas: Did Israel try to assassinate senior Hamas figure Saleh al-Arouri? Lebanese and Palestinian media claim that Israeli intelligence services have managed to recruit an operative in Hamas' military-terrorist wing to monitor senior Hamas operatives abroad.
Three days ago, Khalil Abu Maza, the son of a respected Palestinian figure in Hamas circles in Gaza, was arrested in Sidon, southern Lebanon, on suspicion of spying for Israel. Abu Mu'azza allegedly tried to make contact in Turkey with the deputy head of Hamas' political bureau and the organization's strongman, Saleh al-Arouri. Following the reports and leaks to the media, al-Arouri was forced to issue an unusual statement in his own voice in which he referred to the affair that is currently stirring the organization, and tried to downplay its importance.
Salah al-Arouri, Photo: Arab Network
"His name is not Khalil, but Nur ad-Din Abu from Gaza. Four years ago, he left Gaza for Turkey and claimed that he was a member of the elite unit of the Al-Qassam Brigades and that he dealt with West Bank affairs," al-Arouri said, explaining that from the outset Abu from Gaza aroused his suspicions. "He didn't give any clear answers at first when asked who the officials he worked with were. After he managed to say one or two names, we immediately contacted those concerned in the West Bank and Gaza and they denied any contact with him, said he was a courier, did services." He also noted that Abu Mu'azza was a member of Hamas until he was expelled from the organization due to financial matters.
"He tried to talk to me in a mosque in Turkey, came to pray where I prayed, and came up to me after the prayer, held me and asked to talk to me. I said, 'Don't talk to me and don't ask how I'm doing, understood?' I asked him not to contact me again. He has not succeeded in giving the enemy (Israel) anything, neither from Gaza nor from Turkey. He didn't go into the organization's offices, didn't work a minute on West Bank affairs, and had no connection to anyone. He didn't deal with military matters in Lebanon either," al-Arouri said.
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Al-Aruri is in charge of the West Bank headquarters abroad, and in this capacity is responsible for financing, directing and arming terrorist squads throughout Judea and Samaria. Recently, threats were made in Israel about possible assassinations of senior Hamas figures, headed by al-Arouri. In response, he declared in media interviews that assassinations do not scare him and even made sure to distribute a picture of himself in military uniform sitting behind a desk with guns on it.
Al-Arouri has strengthened his ties with Hezbollah and Iran in recent years, and is considered one of the main contacts between them and Hamas. Yesterday, he held a tripartite meeting in Lebanon with the leaders of Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, where they discussed increasing the "armed resistance" and coordination between the terrorist organizations.
Azzam al-Ahmed from Fatah with Saleh al-Arouri from Hamas, in Cairo (archive), photo: AP
According to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, Israeli intelligence recruited Abu from Gaza through a special security operation that lasted some time, designed to get Hamas to send him from Turkey to Beirut.
"At one point, he served as a courier at a Hamas-affiliated military camp in Jabaliya, and in his testimony told investigators that he worked in the engineering unit of Hamas' Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades in the northern Gaza Strip. Later he was fully integrated into the organization's military wing and established a network of contacts inside and outside the organization. Israeli intelligence managed to recruit him for money and took advantage of his family's difficult situation. In order to justify the improvement in the economic situation, he was asked to say that he works with a charity in Turkey," the newspaper said.
"In Turkey, he made contact with senior Hamas figures who were there and used his father's connections to get close to a senior Hamas official living in Istanbul, through which he was able to reconnect with Hamas and get a job related to Izz ad-Din al-Qassam activities abroad. Then his handlers asked him to try to move to Beirut. After he arrived in Lebanon, Hamas provided him with a place to live in the same building as the organization's finance officer, and he began working within Hamas' secret units in Lebanon."
The Izz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades, photo: AFP
Israeli intelligence reportedly tasked it with monitoring the movements of young Hamas operatives leaving Judea and Samaria for Lebanon, and Israel even arrested several Hamas operatives in the Palestinian territories based on information from the organization. It was also reported that Lebanese security forces confiscated several computers in his apartment in Sidon, and that interrogations showed that he even helped thwart several operations in Judea and Samaria and helped recruit agents for Israel. After the Lebanese security forces informed Hamas that he had been arrested on charges of "spying for the enemy," the organization began carrying out investigations in the Gaza Strip.
He was reportedly allowed to speak to his family and denied any connection to them. The fact that al-Arouri was forced to come out publicly and address the affair attests to the degree of importance attributed to it in Hamas. However, it should be noted that there is no confirmation of this affair and the published information. Hamas opponents, for their part, use leaks and publications to defame the organization, claiming that Israeli intelligence has succeeded in planting agents in the organization's political and military leadership.
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