Synopses & Reviews
How does a group that operates terror cells and espouses violence become a ruling political party? How is the world to understand and respond to Hamas, the militant Islamist organization that Palestinian voters brought to power in the stunning election of January 2006?
This important book provides the most fully researched assessment of Hamas ever written. Matthew Levitt, a counterterrorism expert with extensive field experience in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, draws aside the veil of legitimacy behind which Hamas hides. He presents concrete, detailed evidence from an extensive array of international intelligence materials, including recently declassified CIA, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security reports.
Levitt demolishes the notion that Hamas' military, political, and social wings are distinct from one another and catalogues the alarming extent to which the organization's political and social welfare leaders support terror. He exposes Hamas as a unitary organization committed to a militant Islamist ideology, urges the international community to take heed, and offers well-considered ideas for countering the significant threat Hamas poses.
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"Compelling....Levitt's book is a solid guide to a despicable terrorist organization that is both influential and lethally effective." Ari Melber, New York Post
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"Levitt offers the fullest picture that can be drawn from available sources. His tone is rigorously analytical and nondramatic." David Pryce-Jones, The Wall Street Journal
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"Levitt provides a thoroughly documented exposure of the organization's dark side....Much of Hamas, though, reads like a long policy paper which it essentially is, having been written while Levitt was working at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy." The Washington Post
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"Levitt is not a natural writer; his book is padded and mind-numbingly repetitious....Those who persist, however, will have their rewards. This book contains useful information about the background of Hamas..." The New York Times Book Review
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"How timely it is...to read Matthew Levitt's Hamas. In an age of instant experts and television terrorism analysts, Mr. Levitt is the real thing." Michael Rubin, New York Sun
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"Matthew Levitt is undoubtedly one of the world's foremost experts on Hamas and an outstanding commentator on terrorism in general. I read everything he writes, and I have a very high regard for his work." Daniel Benjamin, former member of President Clinton's National Security Council
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"In a compelling and authoritative manner, Matthew Levitt masterfully demonstrates that the charitable and social components of Hamas cannot be separated from its true terrorist nature." Dennis M. Lormel, former chief of the Terrorist Financing Operations Section at the Federal Bureau of Investigation
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"Far and away the best thing on this subject I've ever seen; well-written, careful, professional, fascinating." R. James Woolsey, former Director of Central Intelligence
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"After painstaking research, Matthew Levitt, a pre-eminent specialist on Middle Eastern terrorism, dissects Hamas' international support network. Hamas is a remarkable investigation that must be read both by the specialist and by the public." Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror
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"Levitt has written a timely and useful book....Levitt is deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis in the Treasury Department and a former FBI analyst, and by dint of his official connections he has been able to make lavish use of American intelligence reports." Benny Morris, The New Republic (read the entire New Republic review)
About the Author
This book was written while Matthew Levitt was a senior fellow and director of terrorism studies at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The views expressed by the author are not necessarily those of the Department of the Treasury or the United States Government.
Since November 2005, Matthew Levitt has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.