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Hamas training undercover operatives in Malaysia: Israeli newspaper

Hamas's military wing was added to the European Union's first-ever terrorism blacklist drawn up in December 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States

Israel's internal security service Shin Bet has again asserted that Hamas is training West Bank Palestinian students in Malaysia to conduct operations as part of the Islamic organisation's military wing.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz, in a report published Tuesday, 28 April 2015, said that the students are meant to operate undercover upon return to the West Bank.


The claims, the newspaper reported, appear "in an indictment filed 18 March in the Judea Military Court against a Hebron resident, Waseem Qawasmeh, 24, charged with belonging to and being active in a banned organisation, making contact with the enemy and receiving money from an enemy". Qawasmeh was arrested 13 February at the Allenby Bridge upon returning from Malaysia via Jordan.

According to Shin Bet, Hamas men in Malaysia recruit Palestinian students studying in the country. They also prepare the students ideologically and this includes joining the Muslim Brotherhood and Palestinian charities that operate in Malaysia.

After their training, the operatives are asked to carry out various undercover needs such as setting up military networks in the West Bank, act as messengers between the territories and foreign countries, and carry out secret transfers of funds for Hamas.

Last year, during Operation Protective Edge, Israel published details from the interrogation of a member of Hamas’ tunnel forces in the Gaza Strip. It claimed the man had trained in Malaysia to paraglide into Israeli territory in order to carry out murders and kidnappings.

Malaysia, which does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, denied the allegations.