Australia declares Hamas "terrorist group"

The Australian government announced listing the Palestinian Hamas group as a terrorist organization under the country’s criminal code.

The designation will place restrictions on financing or providing other support to Hamas with certain offenses carrying a 25-year prison sentence.

Canberra had previously listed Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades as a terror group, but the new designation will list the organization in its entirety.

“The views of Hamas and the seven other violent extremist groups listed today deeply disturbing and there is no place in Australia for their hateful ideologies,” Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said in a statement.

Andrews said Australia had newly listed three other groups as terrorist organizations, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, which are based in Syria, and the Nationalist Socialist Order, a group based in the United States.

Another four Islamist militant groups – the Abu Sayyaf Group, al Qaeda, al Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb, and Jemaah Islamiyah – have been relisted under the code, she said.

The listing by Australia of the whole group, rather than just its military wing as at present, would bring Canberra’s stance in line with the United States, the European Union and Britain.

Both the United States and European Union have designated Hamas a terror organization. Last year, the United Kingdom also said it would also designate the entirety of Hamas as a terror organization and outlaw support for the group.

Hamas, an Islamist group that came into existence in 1987, controls the Gaza Strip after claiming victory through elections in 2006. After these results, the international community decided to cut off aid to the Palestinian authority.