How Iran-Hamas deadly alliance was born in America

Over the last few days, Israel has shared a cache of secret Hamas documents that detail Hamas meetings with a member of the Iranian regime in the months leading up to the terror group’s Oct.7 attack on Israel.The documents indicate Iran had advance knowledge of ­Hamas’ plans.Communications between Hamas and Iran regarding terrorist attacks on Israel should come as no surprise as Hamas and Iran solidified their alliance and commitment to destroy Israel more than 30 years ago.But what many may not realize is the very first Hamas meetings with Iran were led by a man whose rise within Hamas began on American soil.Mousa Abu Marzook, the current deputy chief of the Hamas political bureau, led the first meetings with the Iranian regime while he was a student at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, La.Marzook was born in Rafah, in 1951.

He was educated in Egypt prior to traveling to the United States on a student visa in the 1980s, where he first attended Colorado State University, then sought his post-graduate degree at Louisiana Tech.He obtained a green card in 1990, married, had children and moved to Virginia.Marzook was part of a group that established and oversaw a series of activist groups masquerading as charities in the US, including Holy Land Foundation (HLF), the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), and the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR).His rise to power in Hamas coincided with the group’s battle for power and relevance in the First Intifada (1987-1993).Hamas was founded as the Palestinian armed wing of the international Muslim Brotherhood in December 1987.The Hamas charter noted its determination to annihilate Israel and oppose all peace negotiations and compromise, choosing the slogan “there is no solution to the Palestinian question except through Jihad.”Hamas funded social services programs to win the hearts and minds of the Palestinian population — using groups such as Marzook’s Holy Land Foundation — but the terror...