Osama Hamdan
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Osama Hamdan (; born 1965) is a Palestinian diplomat and former senior representative of
Hamas in Lebanon The Hamas organization has a permanent and established presence in Lebanon. The presence gained prominence following the announcement of the formation of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Al-Aqsa Flood Vanguards unit by Hamas in Beirut in 202 ...
and
Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...
. He previously held the position of Head of International Relations Department for Hamas and Chair of the Political Committee of the Palestinian Legislative Council.


Early life

Hamdan was born in the
Bureij Bureij () is a Palestinian refugee camp located in the central Gaza Strip east of the Salah al-Din Road in the Deir al-Balah Governorate. The camp's total land area is 529 dunam, dunums and in 2017, it had a population of 28,024 with 28,770 regi ...
refugee camp in the
Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...
, in 1965, to a
Palestinian refugee Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country, village or house over the course of the 1948 Palestine war and during the 1967 Six-Day War. Most Palestinian refug ...
family that fled the village of
al-Batani al-Sharqi Al-Batani al-Sharqi () was a Palestinian Arab village in the Gaza Subdistrict, located northeast of Gaza situated in the flat terrain on the southern coastal plain of Palestine. It had a population of 650 in 1945. Al-Batani al-Sharqi was dep ...
during the
1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...
. He attended high school in
Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...
, graduating in 1982. He then enrolled at the
Yarmouk University Yarmouk University (), also abbreviated YU, is a comprehensive public and state supported university located near the city centre of Irbid in northern Jordan. Since its establishment in 1976, it has been at the forefront of Jordanian and Middle E ...
in
Irbid Irbid (), known in ancient times as Arabella or Arbela (Άρβηλα in Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek), is the capital and largest city of Irbid Governorate. It has the second-largest metropolitan population in Jordan after Amman, with a ...
,
Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
where he graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry in 1986. While he was at university, Hamdan became an activist with the Islamic Student Movement. He returned to Kuwait after graduating and worked in the industrial sector until the
Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
in 1990.Palestinian Personalities - H
Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs The Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA; ) was founded in Jerusalem in March 1987 by Dr. Mahdi Abdul Hadi and a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals. PASSIA is a member of the Palestinian NGO ...
.


Hamas representative

After leaving Kuwait, Hamdan worked at the
Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...
office in
Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...
as assistant to then Hamas representative
Imad al-Alami Imad Khalil al-Alami (195630 January 2018), also known as Abu Hammam, was a senior Hamas official. One of the group's co-founders, he joined Hamas in the late 1980s. After being exiled in 1994, al-Alami became a key link between Gaza and the Syri ...
from 1992 to 1993. He became Hamas' official representative in
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
in 1994, serving in that post until 1998. While undertaking this post, Hamdan said that the "flourishing relations" between Iran and Hamas were at the expense of the once-good relationship between Iran and the
Palestinian Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the occupied Palestinian territories and the diaspora. ...
(PLO). However, he stated "There is an absence of any proof or evidence of Iranian financial support to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions who have established contacts with Iran. It is merely rumours and speculation." In 1998, Hamdan was appointed as Hamas representative in
Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
, a post he retains . In 2004, he served as Hamas' spokesman in
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
during a dialogue between Palestinian factions. He has also participated in talks between Hamas and European officials. Hamdan has advocated Palestinian unity talks and in an interview with ''
Al-Arabiya Arabiya (, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is a Saudi state-owned international Arabic news television channel. It is based in Riyadh and is a subsidiary of MBC Group. The channel is a flagship of the media c ...
'' on May 20, 2009, he said "I understand that each of us amas and Fatah">Fatah.html" ;"title="amas and Fatah">amas and Fatahmust set conditions to reach an agreement. National dialogue must be based on national interests of the Palestinian people..." In an interview which aired on Al-Jadid/New TV on May 4, 2011 as translated by
MEMRI The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), officially the Middle East Media and Research Institute, is an American non-profit press monitoring organization co-founded by Israeli ex-intelligence officer Yigal Carmon and Israeli-American ...
, Hamdan stated that "politically, the two-state solution is over" and that "we are entering the phase of the liberation of Palestine... the notion of Return: the return of the refugees to their homeland, and the return of the Israelis to the countries from which they came." During the
Gaza War The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...
, Hamdan acted as a media representative for Hamas, appearing from Lebanon across multiple platforms and channels internationally for interview and comment across various issues.


Controversies

In a 2007 interview on the Tehran-based Arabic-language Al-Kawthar TV channel, Hamdan stated that suicide bombings against Israel were justified, especially bombing buses. In a 2014 interview which aired on the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds TV channel as translated by
MEMRI The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), officially the Middle East Media and Research Institute, is an American non-profit press monitoring organization co-founded by Israeli ex-intelligence officer Yigal Carmon and Israeli-American ...
, Hamdan stated that "killing children...is engraved in the historical Zionist and Jewish mentality." Commenting on the accusation of
blood libel Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mu ...
against Jews, Hamdan stated "we all remember how the Jews used to slaughter Christians, in order to mix their blood in their holy matzos. This is not a figment of imagination or something taken from a film. It is a fact, acknowledged by their own books and by historical evidence."Top Hamas Official Osama Hamdan: Jews Use Blood for Passover Matzos
MEMRITV, Clip No. 4384 (transcript), July 28, 2014. (video cli

)
In a subsequent interview with
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
's
Wolf Blitzer Wolf Isaac Blitzer (born March 22, 1948) is an American journalist, television news anchor, and author who has been a CNN reporter since 1990, and who currently serves as one of the principal anchors at the network. He has been a host of ''The ...
, Hamdan defended his comments, stating that he was responding to comments made by
Moshe Feiglin Moshe Zalman Feiglin (; born 31 July 1962) is a right libertarian-leaning Israeli politician and activist, and the leader of libertarian Zionist party Zehut. As a member of Likud, he headed the Manhigut Yehudit (''Jewish Leadership'') faction w ...
in the Israeli
Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...
in which he called for the "complete destruction of the Palestinians in Gaza". Hamdan asserted that the organisation
MEMRI The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), officially the Middle East Media and Research Institute, is an American non-profit press monitoring organization co-founded by Israeli ex-intelligence officer Yigal Carmon and Israeli-American ...
had edited and 'cut' his words in a selective manner taking them out of context, going on to remark that "we are not against
Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
, we are against the
Israeli occupation Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to 1967, control of the Palestinian terr ...
".


Sanctions

Since 2001, Hamas has been subject to international sanctions under
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373, adopted unanimously on 28 September 2001, is a counterterrorism measure passed following the 11 September terrorist attacks on the United States. The resolution was adopted under Chapter VII of t ...
and Hamadan is one of several Hamas leaders sanctioned under the resolution. Since the adoption of Resolution 1373, he has been sanctioned by Australia's
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is the department of the Australian government responsible for foreign policy and international relations, development aid (under the name Australian Aid), consular services, overseas trad ...
subjecting him to a travel ban from the country. Hamdan was sanctioned by the United States in 2003 as a
Specially Designated Global Terrorist A Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) is a person or entity that has been designated as such by the United States Department of State or the U.S. Department of the Treasury. An SDGT designation is made under authority of U.S. Executive ...
by
United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...
in response to the
Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing A Palestinian suicide bombing of a crowded public bus (Egged bus No. 2) in the Shmuel HaNavi quarter in Jerusalem took place on August 19, 2003. Twenty-four people were killed and over 130 wounded. Many of the victims were children, some of th ...
. In 2020, Hamdan was sanctioned by the United Kingdom's
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...
and
Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...
of
HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury or HMT), and informally referred to as the Treasury, is the Government of the United Kingdom’s economic and finance ministry. The Treasury is responsible for public spending, financial services policy, Tax ...
subjecting him to a travel ban from the country.


References


Further reading

*


External links

*
Column archive
at ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamdan, Osama 1965 births Living people 20th-century Palestinian politicians 21st-century Palestinian politicians Blood libel Hamas leaders Individuals designated as terrorists by the United States government Palestinian expatriates in Iran Palestinian expatriates in Lebanon People from Deir al-Balah Governorate Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List Yarmouk University alumni 20th-century Palestinian diplomats 21st-century Palestinian diplomats