Who is Ismail Haniya, the Hamas leader responsible for the attack on Israel

The son of parents who became refugees after being expelled from their homes in Majadal, Ismail was born 60 years ago in Al-Shati, a refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip.. Now, the current leader of Hamas is once again in the spotlight after the attack on Israel by the Palestinian group's militias, and his image as a moderate leader in the Islamic Resistance Movement is called into question.. But what is its story?

From the university to Hamas

In 1987 Ismael graduated in Arabic Literature from the Islamic University of Gaza, a center highly influenced by the religious and political tenets of the Muslim Brotherhood with a predominance of anti-Israeli sentiment.. Just then, after finishing his studies, he took part in the Intifada and joined Hamas.

Two years later he was imprisoned by the Israeli authorities – for three years – for participating in the First Intifada and belonging to Hamas.. And after his release in 1992, he went into exile in Lebanon with Ahmed Yassin, Abdel Aziz ar-Rantisi and other senior Hamas politicians, although a year later he returned to Gaza and was appointed dean of the Islamic University. During those years, Hamas gained importance for its actions in Israel; suicide attacks with explosives in markets, civilians and buses.

The 'moderate' face of Hamas

Three years after the airstrike that attempted to end his life in vain, and that of the founder and leader of Hamas, Ahmed Yassin (who would die a year later), Ismail Haniya began to become more and more popular, and ended up becoming the face moderate member of the organization, which won the legislative elections in Palestine in 2006.

He briefly served as Palestinian prime minister, until he was fired by the president in 2007.. Ten years later he became leader of Hamas, and in 2021 he was elected again. Its position has always been that of pragmatism, betting on breaking the international isolation to which the movement has been subjected, always without disturbing the hardest wing.

In fact, in 2017, the organization introduced a series of amendments to its 1988 Founding Charter in which Haniya announced a certain shift towards less radical positions, such as accepting the creation of a State of Palestine on the pre-war borders. from 1967, something unthinkable in the original text. However, the violent incursion of the militants into Israel is something that does not fit with Haniya's 'moderate speech', what will the leader have to say now?