Hamas Operatives Charged with Targeting Jordan

By Aaron Mannes

Today, Jordan’s military prosecutor charged three Hamas operatives with planning attacks against Jordanian intelligence officers and Israeli targets in Jordan. Fellow CTblogger David Schenker wrote a backgrounder when the plot was discovered in May that discusses its implications on Jordanian politics where Hamas has a close relationship with the leading Jordanian opposition party, the Islamic Action Front.

This plot also highlights a disturbing possibility. As Hamas finds it increasingly difficult to hit Israel directly, they are more likely to hit Israel abroad or attack Israel’s allies. In 2003, Jamal Akkal, a Canadian-Palestinian, had been recruited by Hamas to strike Israeli and Jewish targets in the United States.

Egypt could also find itself a victim. The trio of bombings in the Sinai reportedly had links to Gaza-based terrorists. Here, the Egyptian government is playing a dangerous game in turning a blind-eye to the massive weapons smuggling under the Egyptian-Gaza border. Those tunnels go two ways and Egypt, with its own increasingly assertive Islamists, may suffer from this negligence.

Hamas’ increasing turn to terror outside of Israel proper dovetails with another dangerous trend. The ongoing chaos in Gaza and the West Bank has created a vacuum that has been filled by Iran and its Syrian and Hezbollah allies. Hamas has important assets that complement the capabilities of the Tehran-Damascus-Hezbollah axis and could also be pressed to expand its operating theater by its patrons.

(For previous articles on this issue see here, here, and here.)

Crossposted to ProfilesinTerror.

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