If This Was a Hamas Trial, What is the Link to the Muslim Brotherhood?

The terrorist organization Hamas grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine branch.

As the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service points out, its predecessor was the Mujamma al Islami or “The Islamic Center” established in Palestine by the Muslim Brotherhood. It operated as a religious and social charity at first, but began to secretly stockpile arms.

“Yassin’s efforts to help the organization stockpile weapons led to his arrest by Israel in 1984, but the Brotherhood’s gradual transformation into a militant organization regained momentum following Yassin’s release in a 1985 prisoner swap.”

Hamas receives funding from both Sunni sources and Iran, but has resisted becoming an Iranian proxy in the way that Hezbollah did. This is because its leaders “appear to understand the importance of Hamas maintaining an image among its domestic constituents as an authentic Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, instead of as an Iranian proxy[.]”

Hamas supporters identify the movement with the Muslim Brotherhood, and many members of Hamas are also members of the Brotherhood and its network of subordinate organizations.

Many of the unindicted co-conspirators, as well as those actually charged and convicted, were Muslim Brotherhood members.