Counter Extremism Project (CEP) CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace released the
following statement regarding the U.S. Department of Justice indictment of six
Hamas leaders—Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif (al Masri), Marwan
Issa, Khaled Meshaal, and Ali Baraka—that was unsealed Tuesday September 3:





<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>



CEP Statement on U.S. Indictment of Hamas Leaders


(New York, N.Y.) — Counter Extremism Project (CEP) CEO Ambassador Mark D.
Wallace released the following statement regarding the U.S. Department of
Justice indictment of six Hamas leaders—Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed
Deif (al Masri), Marwan Issa, Khaled Meshaal, and Ali Baraka—that was unsealed
Tuesday September 3:



Not so long ago, the clearly understood policy of the United States was that
we did not negotiate with terrorists—especially not the architects of the worst
massacres against innocents including Americans. It was moreover a policy with
strong bipartisan buy-in: President Obama took the just decision to eliminate
Al-Qaeda’s propagandist-in-chief and U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki with a drone
strike; few shed a tear when 9/11 orchestrator Osama bin Laden met his end at
the hands of Navy SEALs in Pakistan under the same Administration; and
President Trump was likewise correct in approving a strike targeting IRGC Quds
Force commander Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis of Kata’ib Hezbollah
almost a decade later.



To be clear: the men and women of the U.S. Department of Justice and its
agencies in law enforcement and litigation work tirelessly in what are often
thankless and under-the-radar labors. But it is unclear what the unsealing of
Tuesday’s indictment is trying to achieve in a concrete manner—and suggests a
continuation of an unhelpful shift from earlier long-standing principles. There
is only the remote possibility that one of the six, or others as yet unnamed,
will be extradited to the United States from any of the countries in which they
reside or may travel to, including NATO or major non-NATO (MNNA) allies, Turkey
or Qatar. Recalling that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a 9/11 terrorist attack
mastermind, has still yet to be tried more than 20 years after his capture, the
notion that Yahya Sinwar et al will face trial is similarly far-fetched.



The timing of the unsealing, just weeks after the deaths of three of the six
named defendants, including former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, also appears
more political than of operational value. Israel bore the brunt of a great deal
of criticism when Haniyeh was found dead in an IRGC-protected guesthouse in
Tehran at the end of July. Unsealing charges against recently deceased
terrorist leaders does not appear sufficiently sincere in the pursuit of
justice.



The U.S. should revert to the bipartisan consensus in which the sworn enemies
of America are pursued by all available means, such as was bin Laden inPakistan
in 2011.



###







Unsubscribe
<[link removed]>
|Donate <[link removed]> | Contact Us
<[link removed]>


Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe for yourself here
<[link removed]>
.