Hamas official pans Islamic State comparison

A senior Hamas official rips into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for comparing the Gazan Islamist organization to the Syrian-based Islamic State al-Qaeda breakaway group.

In a rare post in English on his Facebook page, Izzat al-Risheq says “the attempt by Netanyahu and his spokesman Ofir Gendelman to link Hamas and compare us with other groups is a deception and disinformation campaign that will not fool anyone.”

Al-Risheq blasts Netanyahu for exploiting “without any respect for the sanctity of the dead” the photo of American journalist James Foley’s beheading at the hands of Islamic State terrorists. “We strongly condemn and reject how Netanyahu, Gendelman and the Israeli media exploit the picture of the slain American journalist James Foley who was executed in a brutal manner,” he says.

He goes on to note that Hamas, unlike the Islamic State, is a “national liberation movement” confronting “Israel[i] terrorism against our children and the innocent civilians of the Palestinian people.”

He says the group’s “main objective” is not a caliphate, but rather “to end the Israeli occupation and terrorism in our land.”