Exiling Hamas Is a Good Idea, but to Where Matters
by Michael Rubin
Washington Examiner
January 9, 2024
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that Israel will only end its war on Hamas when the group ceases to exist in Gaza. It is a reasonable ambition. After all, the United States eradicated Puerto Rican terrorists who were once so bold to shoot up the U.S. Capitol. Vietnam ended the Khmer Rouge's brutal and racist reign of terror in Cambodia. In 1970, King Hussein, the father of current King Abdullah II, expelled the Palestine Liberation Organization after it tried to seize power.
Hussein's move returned stability to the kingdom, but it condemned Lebanon. Not only did the PLO turn their guns on Lebanese, but repeated PLO terrorism against Israel also precipitated the Jewish state's 1982 invasion of the country and its creation of a buffer zone.
Israeli outlets report negotiations with Congo, Chad, and Rwanda to receive Hamas exiles. Each country firmly rejects he talks.
The same held true following the PLO's 1983 expulsion to Tunisia. The international community Tunisia for two reasons: it was distant from Israel and, unlike Lebanon, it was secure under the thumb of Habib Bourguiba, a dictator who had ruled the country with an iron fist since independence. Prior to 1983, there had been no terrorist attacks in Tunisia; following the arrival of the PLO leadership, deadly terrorism erupted, with major attacks every few years. While Islamist groups claimed these, Palestinian polemics fueled the fire. That PLO leaders used Tunisia to plan terrorism also drew Tunisia more directly into the Israel-Palestinian conflict, with the PLO headquarters there the target of a 1985 Israeli attack.
In 2002, Palestinian terrorists seized the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The standoff also ended with an exile agreement. Abdullah Daoud, the chief of Palestinian intelligence in Bethlehem and the group's ringleader, violated the terms of his release almost as soon as he arrived in Cyprus, where he held clandestine meetings to plot new terrorism from his European safe haven.
Most of Europe and the Arab world are no longer so naive, so diplomats seek to cast a broader net. Israeli outlets report negotiations with Congo, Chad, and Rwanda to receive Hamas exiles. Each country firmly rejects the talks, although only Rwanda's rejection is credible. Other reports suggest sending Hamas members to Lebanon, Turkey, Qatar, Russia, and Iran. Algeria and Malaysia are also possible destinations.
The international community should not throw water on a grease fire. Turkey, for example, has used Islamist mercenaries from Syria and Libya to ethnically cleanse Christians in Nagorno-Karabakh and Kurds in northern Syria. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would deploy a Hamas infusion to blackmail Europe and further state terrorism.
The same holds true with Iran. Not only would the regime embrace exiles, but the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would also see them as fresh recruits.
To send Hamas to Lebanon would be to make the same mistake a third time. Both the PLO and Hezbollah started wars the Lebanese government did not want. To send Hamas to Lebanon would simply change the focus of Israel's war from the southern front to the northern one.
To send Hamas to Lebanon would be to make the same mistake a third time. Both the PLO and Hezbollah started wars the Lebanese government did not want.
Hamas would be as malignant to African security, no matter what cash diplomats offer. Iran and Hezbollah already seek to leverage the Lebanese diaspora in Africa. To insert Hamas into the mix would only transform conflicts by allowing regimes such as Congo's to hire Hamas bomb and rocket makers to augment their arsenals. Chad, too, is dangerous given its already shaky security.
Qatar, as Hamas's chief financier, certainly should help decommission a beast for which it is responsible. Most Qataris are fine with terrorism so long as it remains on the other end of a checkbook; perhaps they should learn firsthand the consequences of their largesse. Norway, too, might realize the real-world cost of coddling and recognizing Hamas by living next to their brand of hate, though other Schengen members might object.
Perhaps, then, Russia would be the ideal destination. Young men have become scarce, leaving many Siberian factories idle. If Putin uses Hamas as cannon fodder, so be it. The Kremlin has always been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause. Now is its time to make good.
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Michael Rubin is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential. He is director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
