Hamas on Wednesday condemned a recent U.S. request to the UN Security Council to add its name to the council’s official list of “terrorist groups”.
“Hamas rejects remarks by Washington’s permanent representative to the United Nations [Nikki Haley] in which she described Hamas as a ‘terrorist organization’ and urged the Security Council to include it on its terrorism list,” Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanua said in a Wednesday statement.
He went on to describe Haley’s request as “part of an ongoing campaign against Hamas in favor of the Zionist entity to deny the right of the Palestinians to resist Israel, which occupies our land and practices terrorism against our people”.
Hamas, al-Qanua added, “is a movement of national liberation; all attempts to dub it a ‘terrorist’ group are destined to fail”.
At a Tuesday session of the Security Council, Haley sharply criticized Hamas, urging the council to “punish” all countries and organizations that support the group.
“We must pressure Hamas to end its tyranny over the people of Gaza,” Haley declared, further calling on the Security Council to adopt a resolution designating the group as a “terrorist organization”.
During a trip to Saudi Arabia last month, U.S. President Donald Trump cited Hamas, along with Daesh, Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah, as a “terrorist threat to the region” -- assertions roundly condemned by Hamas at the time.