By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Israel said Saturday that the “Hamas terrorist organization” had been planning to attack its embassy in Sweden and other sites as part of an expansion by the Palestinian Islamist group into Europe.
“In a continuing intelligence effort, considerable information has been uncovered that proves how the Hamas terrorist organization has acted to expand its violent activity abroad in order to attack innocents around the world,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday evening.
Israel had gathered evidence of this both independently and working with foreign intelligence services, it said.
The remarks came after arrests by Danish, German, and Swedish authorities. Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency named an alleged Hamas network member in Sweden without specifying whether he was also in custody.
There was no immediate response from Iran-backed Hamas, which seeks the destruction of Israel.
However, it reportedly said in the past that its policy was to limit attacks to Israel, “the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” all territories where it seeks a Palestinian state.
So far, Hamas, which the European Union and the United States have designated as a terrorist organization, is not known to have carried out terrorist attacks in Europe.
HAMAS SOURCES
Israel and other sources suggested, however, that Hamas was now targeting Western allies of the Jewish nation.
Besides the alleged Stockholm embassy attack, Hamas had also been looking to procure drones and recruit members of organized criminal gangs in Europe, Israel announced.
Senior Hamas officials in Lebanon, who enjoy the protection of the Shiite militia Hezbollah there, were said to be involved in the planning.
Some of these individuals, including the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, Saleh al-Arouri, have since been killed in targeted Israeli attacks in Lebanon.
In mid-December, German authorities arrested three suspected Hamas members said to have been involved in the procurement of weapons for possible attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe, German news agency DPA reported.
Similar detentions were also made in Denmark and the Netherlands.
In November, Germany issued a ban on the activities of Hamas, which also operates as a political organization.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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