He has not been active since 2012. Have you heard of the Mujahideen Shura Council, which Washington removed from the list of terrorism?

Gaza -

The headline covered by international media was remarkable that "Washington removes an extremist Jewish organization and a Palestinian one from the list of terrorism", in an American effort that Palestinian parties saw as "an attempt to mislead and sell illusion."

The US decision to lift the extremist Israeli "Kach" movement drew sharp criticism from the Palestinian presidency, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and societal components, who saw it as a "reward" for the activists of an Israeli terrorist organization, which has a history of committing crimes and continues to commit them.

At the same time, the Palestinians viewed Washington's decision to raise the name of a fictitious Salafist organization called the "Mujahideen Shura Council in the vicinity of Jerusalem", an open attempt to show "balance", with the aim of "legitimizing" Kach and not labeling it terrorism.

What is the Mujahideen Shura Council?

The US State Department included this Salafist organization on the terrorist list in 2014, and justified the decision at the time, saying that the organization includes a coalition of "jihadist organizations based in Gaza and have claimed responsibility for many attacks against Israel since its establishment in 2012", although the Palestinians have not seen a trace. For these attacks, there are only a few statements claiming the launch of rudimentary missiles.

The establishment of the Mujahideen Shura Council is attributed to Hisham al-Saedani, before his assassination in October 2012, when an Israeli plane targeted his motorcycle in the northern Gaza Strip.

Al-Saedani was leading the "Tawhid and Jihad Group", before the agreement to merge it with other Salafi jihadist groups, and the formation of the Mujahideen Shura Council.

Al-Saedni, who was known among his supporters as "Abu Al-Waleed Al-Maqdisi", was born in 1965 and is a Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship. He entered Gaza in 2008, taking advantage of the destruction of the wall on the Palestinian-Egyptian border, and thousands of storming of Egyptian lands, in an effort to break the Israeli siege.

Al-Saedani entered into bloody clashes with Hamas, which resulted in his arrest for about two years on charges of "disrupting internal security in the Gaza Strip", and he was released a few months before his assassination, in response to the mediation of Jordanian clan bodies.

The biggest clash took place between Hamas and Al-Saedani’s organization, the “Tawhid and Jihad Group,” when the Italian solidarity group kidnapped Victor Arrigoni in April 2011 in Gaza, and threatened to kill him unless the movement released Al-Saedani and other Salafist prisoners. The group carried out its threat and killed the Italian activist, following confrontations Violent with Hamas resulted in the killing of two Salafi elements.

Since the assassination of Al-Saedni, the presence of the Mujahideen Shura Council has disappeared in Gaza, and no one has heard of it, except for a statement it issued in 2014, rejecting reconciliation between Hamas and the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) on the grounds that it "contradicts Islamic Sharia."

American bias

The head of the political department and foreign relations of Hamas in Gaza, Bassem Naim, described the "Mujahideen Shura Council" as "a fictitious body that has no action on the ground."

In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Naim said that the American decision to remove this organization from the list of terrorism came to pass the removal of the Zionist "Kahana Hay" (Kach) movement.

He held Washington responsible for any crimes committed by terrorist supporters of this movement, such as the "Zionist terrorist Itamar Ben Gvir" against the Palestinian people.

Naim wondered, "How is it consistent with Washington keeping the Palestine Liberation Organization on the list of terrorism, which signed the Oslo peace agreement, and calls in all forums for peaceful coexistence, while Kach is disqualified, legalized, and designated as terrorism while its followers are still committing crimes against us?"

"This decision towards Kach, which still adheres to extremist ideology and terrorist ideology, confirms what is certain of the blatant bias towards Israel on the part of Washington, which supports by all means the resistance of the Ukrainians against Russia, and denies and criminalizes our right to resist the Israeli occupation," he said.

The "Kach" movement - whose name was changed to the "Living Kahane" group in relation to its most prominent founder in 1972, Rabbi Meir Kahane - is the most extreme Jewish organization, and calls for the displacement of Palestinians and the rejection of any non-Jewish worship on the "Temple Mount" (the name they give to the Al-Aqsa Mosque) It also rejects peace with the Palestinians and Arabs.

Among the most prominent members of this movement and its supporters, the settler Baruch Goldstein was known as the perpetrator of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in Hebron, which killed dozens of Palestinian worshipers in 1994, as well as the perpetrators of the Dawabsha family crematorium in Nablus in 2015, and finally, the extremist Israeli MP Itamar Ben Gvir.

Extremist Israeli MP Itamar Ben Gvir (left) alongside settler Baruch Marzel, leader of the extremist Free "Kach" (Al-Jazeera)

Duality of standards

"The image of America is unfolding day after day, in terms of double standards, lack of integrity and lack of justice," said Husam al-Dajni, a professor of political science and researcher in Palestinian and Middle Eastern affairs.

Al-Dajni criticized - in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net - Democratic US President Joe Biden, who promised "fairness to the Palestinian people," and said that "Donald Trump (Republican) with all his support for Israel, did not take this blatant decision to remove an extremist Zionist movement known for its criminal record from the list. terrorism".

He accused the Biden administration of misleading the American people, especially supporters of the Democratic Party, by showing a "balance" by writing off a Palestinian organization that had no political, military or historical action, and which disappeared from existence for many years, to justify the write-off of the Kach movement, whose followers did not abandon their terrorist ideology and profess it. .

Al-Dajni said, "If Washington really wants logic and balance, it should lift the list of terrorism, the Liberation Organization, the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements, and Palestinian forces that adhere to their right guaranteed by international laws to resist the occupation in pursuit of freedom."