Trump will ‘destroy’ Iran, weaken Hamas – PA official

Hamas will be dealt a severe blow by Trump’s tough stance on Iran, says a senior Palestinian Authority official.

By World Israel News Staff

A senior official from the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah party is predicting that incoming president Donald Trump will “destroy” Iran’s influence in the Middle East, which will prove to be a significant blow for Hamas.

Although Hamas has been severely crippled by some 14 months of fighting in the Gaza Strip, the terror group’s influence is growing in PA-controlled enclaves in Judea and Samaria.

The PA has launched a number of counter-terror operations aimed at driving Hamas and other terror groups out of its territory.

Many PA officials have claimed that Hamas is a movement separate from mainstream Palestinian bodies, citing Iranian influence on the terror group.

“We are confronting Hamas’s ideology. Our problem is with Hamas’s link to regimes outside Palestine,” Mohammad Hamdan, the secretary-general of Fatah, told the New York Post.

“We see that Trump and the ruling government in Israel are planning to destroy Iran, so Hamas [followers] will have no other choice than to become Palestinian,” he added, insinuating that the terror group could be absorbed by the PA.

In the Post interview, Hamdan stressed that the PA views Hamas as an illegal entity.

“Hamas rejects international legitimacy, meaning UN resolutions,” Hamdan said. “The world cannot accept a situation where a party does not accept international resolutions.”

However, the PA’s condemnation of Hamas may be rooted more in the political threat posed by the terror group than in opposition to their agenda. Hamas is extremely popular among residents of PA-controlled areas. Polls have consistently found that Hamas would easily beat PA incumbents should elections be held.

Trump has pledged to take a hard line against Hamas, threatening that there will be “hell to pay” if the terror group does not release the hostages it has been holding for more than a year.