Saleh al-Arouri, a founder of Hamas’ Qassam Brigades, made headlines around the world when he claimed credit for the “kidnapping” of three Israeli teens, who were killed in June, on behalf of the brigades.
Experts say there is plenty of reason to question Arouri’s claims, not the least of which being that, after 15-plus years in Israeli prison starting in 1992 followed by exile, there is no sign he had any operation control left in the movement.
Rather, Arouri has been living in Turkey as a sort of informal “representative” for Hamas there. Speculation was that his claim was meant to bolster his own perceived influence within the movement.
The timing is bizarre, as Israeli intelligence already said they don’t believe Hamas did it. Furthermore, Arouri’s claim that the Brigades succeeded in “imprisoning the three settlers in Hebron” doesn’t fit with the facts.
That fits the now discredited early Israeli narrative, but the not the facts, as indeed the three teens were never successfully captured, and were simply killed on the spot.
So why this guy is not being repudiated by Hamas? Corruption ,expediency,and connection toowerful might explain it. But it is a bizarre claim
So non violent are the people of Palestine, most all of them uneducated laboring-class, that three teenagers of the most hated land grabbing settlers are able to hitchhike across Palestine free of fear. For the most part the natives of Palestine have always been of a pacifist quality, which is why Israel had no problem invading and establishing slavery over the population, a self-evident fact and all that anyone needs to know to have a clear picture of all there is to this war on Palestine by Empire USA.
And the announcement by him came after the deaths of 3 top Hamas leaders. I find his claims dubious.