Hamas and its various organizations in the Gaza Strip appear to be in constant fear of Israel’s influence and its efforts to recruit agents from among its ranks. Recently, as part of a series of new security warnings and guidelines published by the Hamas internal security apparatus in the Gaza Strip, Gazans are warned against entering and “liking” the Facebook page “Israel Speaks Arabic,” News 0404 reported.
The “Israel speaks Arabic” page, which is owned and operated by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, is followed by close to 1.5 million people from around the Arab world, including the Gaza Strip, who trust it, as they do Israel’s radio and TV broadcast, more than they do the largely biased Arab media.
Hamas claims that the page’s “Like” button starts a recruitment process of agents from the Gaza Strip, identifying Gazans who could be lured to serve Israel’s clandestine agencies.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying this latest Hamas announcement “joins a series of publications in the Arab world calling for refraining from following the official pages of Israel Speaks Arabic on the social networks, including the pages of the Prime Minister’s spokesman, the IDF Spokesperson, and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, claiming that they constitute a tool for recruiting agents, poisoning the minds of young Arabs and serving as a ‘trap to enforce normalization.'”