Israeli counter-terrorism expert Ram Sidi warned an audience of 30 students yesterday of about “a third intifada” being orchestrated by the radical Islamic organization Hamas.
Sidi, who has served in both the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, discussed similarities and differences among Palestinian groups like Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
“I will try to bring you an insight of how these organizations work, how they recruit, how they build,” Sidi said.
Most of Sidi’s talk focused on Hamas, the organization that won an overwhelming majority of seats in the Palestinian parliament in last month’s elections.
“The goal of this organization is to found an Islamic state,” he said. “They recruit only on a religious basis. If you want to participate in Hamas, you need to prove that you go to the mosque everyday and have a certain knowledge of the Koran.”
After joining Hamas, recruits are assigned to a specific job, according to Sidi.
“There is no mobility,” he said. “They decide whether you are going to be an administrator, a commander, a combatant or a suicide bomber.”
Sidi expressed concern in response to questions about the Hamas election victory.
“Listen, Hamas haven’t changed,” he said. “They are still a terrorist organization. I know from my intelligence information that they are working now, including yesterday, they are planning their third intifada.”
Throughout the lecture, which was cosponsored by the Georgetown-Israel Alliance, the Jewish Students Association and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy Sidi said the the three organizations’ opinions are not shared by most of the world’s Muslims.
“Remember, I’m talking about radical Islamic organizations, not Islamic society. It’s not the same,” he said.
GIA member Jonathan Aires (SFS ‘06) considered the lecture a success. “I thought it was a great event because it provided a guy who knows exactly what he’s talking about,” he said.
Craig Kessler (SFS ‘07) traveled to Israel for two weeks last summer as an undergraduate fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy, a nonprofit think-tank that conducts terrorism research. As part of his fellowship, he is responsible for organizing five terrorism-related events on campus during the academic year. He also considered the event a positive one.
“I think the most important part is that people are interested,” he said. “I think people got the message that terrorism is never justified.”
