Matthew Levitt
The War Hamas Always Wanted
Summary
Hamas has been committed to the destruction of Israel since it was founded in late 1987, but some thought the group had since moderated—or was at least co-oped by the day to day responsibilities of the government in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas massacre of October 7 proved such theories wrong, but how did everyone seem to miss this? Why did Hamas attack just now? And what does the war Hamas started mean for the region going forward?
Matthew Levitt
Dr. Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler fellow and director of the Eli and Jeanette Reinhard program on counterterrorism and intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East policy. Matthew teaches at Georgetown University and literally wrote the books on Hamas and Hezbollah. He started his career in counterterrorism at the FBI, where he led the analytical team for flight UA175, the second flight to strike the Twin Towers on 9/11. He later served as a counterterrorism advisor at the Department of State and as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the Treasury Department. Matthew recently testified about Hamas financing and what to do about it before both the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee on back to back days.
Carly Maisel
Carly Maisel is the global CEO of Kirsh Philanthropies.