Hamas launches a campaign to combat ‘extremist ideology,’ says official

Mosque preachers sought on Friday to raise worshipers’ awareness to “centrist ideology.”

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Niña palestina celebra el aniversario número 27 de Hamás(Credito: REUTERS) (photo credit: REUTERS)
Niña palestina celebra el aniversario número 27 de Hamás(Credito: REUTERS)
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Hamas has launched a campaign to combat “extremist ideology” in the Gaza Strip, a senior official of the movement announced Saturday.
Hassan al-Saifi, deputy minister of Wakf and Religious Affairs, was quoted by the Turkish Anadolu Agency as saying that mosque preachers sought on Friday to raise worshipers’ awareness to “centrist ideology” and the need to distance themselves from extremist groups and ideology.
He said the Friday sermons initiated by his ministry, in cooperation with a number of Islamic scholars and imams, were aimed at combating “erratic and radical ideology.”
The Hamas official said that although the Gaza Strip was “religiously and ideologically immune, there are still some youths who are inclined to support such ideology.”
He denied that the campaign was directed against the Islamic State terrorist group. “This campaign does not target any specific group or organization,” he explained. “It is aimed at spreading the centrist Islam and combating ‘deviant’ ideology that is unrelated to religion.”
The Hamas campaign follows reports that the movement has launched a crackdown on Islamic State supporters in the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the fighting in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in Syria. The camp has been captured by Islamic State terrorists, who are reported to have executed and imprisoned a number of Hamas activists in the camp.