Fathi Ahmad Hamad ( ar, فتحي أحمد حماد, also spelled Fathi Hammad; born 3 January 1961,
Beit Lahia
Beit Lahia or Beit Lahiya ( ar, بيت لاهيا) is a city in the Gaza Strip north of Jabalia, near Beit Hanoun and the 1949 Armistice Line with Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the city had a population of 59 ...
, northern
Gaza) is a political leader of
Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
, a member of the
Palestinian Legislative Council
The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is the unicameral legislature of the Palestinian Authority, elected by the Palestinian residents of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It currently comprises 132 members, e ...
.
In April 2009, he was appointed
Interior Minister
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
in the Hamas administered
Gaza Strip
The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...
, replacing
Said Seyam
Said Seyam ( ar, سعيد صيام; 22 July 1959 – 15 January 2009), first name also spelled Saeed and Sayed and last name also spelled Siam, was the interior minister of the Palestinian government of March 2006. He joined Hamas and became ...
who had been assassinated by
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
during the 2008-09
Gaza War.
[''Hamas officially announces Fathi Hamad new Interior Minister''](_blank)
Palestinian Press, 27 April 2009[''New Hamas cabinet approved by lawmakers'']
Ma'an, 27 August 2012 He ceased being Interior Minister in June 2014 on the formation of the
Fatah-Hamas unity government.
In September 2016, Hamad was designated a
terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
by the US
State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
and added to its global terrorist list, meaning that US citizens and companies are banned from doing business with him, and any property he holds in areas under US jurisdiction are frozen.
Career
Hamad became a
Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
-affiliated member of the
Palestinian Legislative Council
The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is the unicameral legislature of the Palestinian Authority, elected by the Palestinian residents of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It currently comprises 132 members, e ...
in 2006, representing his home town of
Beit Lahia
Beit Lahia or Beit Lahiya ( ar, بيت لاهيا) is a city in the Gaza Strip north of Jabalia, near Beit Hanoun and the 1949 Armistice Line with Israel. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the city had a population of 59 ...
in northern Gaza. He also leads the Hamas Public Affairs Department and the chairman of al-Ribat Communications and Artistic Productions - a Hamas-run company which produces Hamas's radio station,
Voice of al-Aqsa, its television station,
Al-Aqsa TV
Al-Aqsa TV ( ar, قناة الأقصى) is a television channel run by Hamas, which is based in the Gaza Strip. Its programs include news and propaganda promoting Hamas, children's shows (such as ''Tomorrow's Pioneers'', that promotes violence ...
and its bi-weekly newspaper, ''The Message''.
In 1983, Hammad joined the
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...
. He is the Founder and Vice President of Dar Al Quran.
In November 2009, Waad, a Gaza charity headed by Hamad, offered a $1.4 million
bounty
Bounty or bounties commonly refers to:
* Bounty (reward), an amount of money or other reward offered by an organization for a specific task done with a person or thing
Bounty or bounties may also refer to:
Geography
* Bounty, Saskatchewan, a g ...
to any
Arab citizen of Israel
The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...
who
abducts an Israeli soldier. While Palestinian militant groups have frequently called on Arab-Israelis to capture soldiers, this marked the first time money had been offered.
A speech made by Hamad, broadcast on Al-Aqsa TV in February 2008, has been used as evidence by Israel and others that Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups make use of
human shields
A human shield is a non-combatant (or a group of non-combatants) who either volunteers or is forced to shield a legitimate military target in order to deter the enemy from attacking it. The use of human shields as a resistance measure was popula ...
.
In an interview which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on 14 December 2010 (as translated by
MEMRI
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI; officially the "Middle East Media and Research Institute") is a nonprofit press monitoring and analysis organization co-founded by former Israeli military intelligence officer Yigal Carmon and ...
), Hamad stated that Hamas receives support.
In a speech broadcast on
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
ian Al-Helma TV on 23 March 2012, Hamad condemned Egypt over the fuel shortage in the Gaza Strip, and stated, "Half of the Palestinians are Egyptians and the other half are Saudis."
In March 2018, it was reported that Hamad is a senior Hamas official who opposes
reconciliation with Fatah, and urges a resumption of war against Israel. He has been implicated in the assassination attempt on prime minister
Rami Hamdallah
Rami Hamdallah ( ar, رامي الحمد الله, Rāmī al-Ḥamd al-Lāh; born 10 August 1958) is a Palestinian politician and academic. He is the former prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority and president of An-Najah National ...
.
In July 2019, Hamad urged members of the
Palestinian diaspora
The Palestinian diaspora ( ar, الشتات الفلسطيني, ''al-shatat al-filastini''), part of the wider Arab diaspora, are Palestinian people living outside the region of Palestine.
History
Palestinian individuals have a long history of ...
to kill "Jews everywhere". His comments were characterized as
incitement to genocide
Incitement to genocide is a crime under international law which prohibits inciting (encouraging) the commission of genocide. An extreme form of hate speech, incitement to genocide is considered an inchoate offense and is theoretically subject ...
by
Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) is an American non-profit pro-Israel media-monitoring, research and membership organization. According to its website, CAMERA is "devoted to promoting accurate and balanced ...
and the
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating anti-Semitism, tolerance educat ...
.
His rhetoric was widely condemned by other Palestinians and he later stated that he supports the Hamas policy of only targeting Jews in Israel.
Personal
Hamad's ill three-year-old daughter was sent to
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
for medical treatment through the Israeli-controlled
Erez Crossing. For initial medical treatment, she was first sent to
Barzilai Hospital
Barzilai Medical Center ( he, מרכז רפואי ברזילי, ''Merkaz Refu'i Barzilai''; ar, مركز برزيلاي الطبي) is a 617-bed hospital in Ashkelon in southern Israel. The hospital serves a population of 500,000, including a ...
in the southern Israeli city of
Ashkelon
Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with ...
. Her subsequent transfer to Jordan was authorized by then Israeli defense minister
Ehud Barak
Ehud Barak ( he-a, אֵהוּד בָּרָק, Ehud_barak.ogg, link=yes, born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli general and politician who served as the tenth prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Labor Party until Jan ...
and the then IDF Chief of General Staff
Gabi Ashkenazi
Gabriel "Gabi" Ashkenazi (; born 25 February 1954) is an Israeli politician and former military leader. He previously served as the Foreign Minister of Israel, Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was the Chief of General Staff (Israel), Chief of Ge ...
, at the request of the Jordanian king
Abdullah
Abdullah may refer to:
* Abdullah (name), a list of people with the given name or surname
* Abdullah, Kargı, Turkey, a village
* ''Abdullah'' (film), a 1980 Bollywood film directed by Sanjay Khan
* '' Abdullah: The Final Witness'', a 2015 Pakis ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamad, Fathi Ahmad
Living people
1961 births
Palestinian militants
Hamas members
People from the Gaza Strip
Members of the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council
Government ministers of the Gaza Strip
Interior ministers of the Palestinian National Authority
Palestinian politicians
Mass media in the State of Palestine
Palestinian Legislative Council
Islamic University of Gaza alumni
Individuals designated as terrorists by the United States government
Individuals related to Iran Sanctions