Hamas Again Forced to Move Event Announcing Its New Charter

A hotel in Qatar with links to the United States has decided against hosting a Hamas press conference Monday, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned. The cancellation came after reports that the company could face penalties for providing material support for terrorism if it held the event.

Hamas officials planned to introduce their new, rebranded political charter during a meeting at the Intercontinental Doha. An unofficial Twitter account for the group announced Monday that Hamas had been “forced to delay” the meeting due to the “Intercontinental Hotel’s inability to host” it, according to an independent translation.

“It has been moved,” an official at the Intercontinental told TWS. “I really don’t have any more details.”

The event has been relocated two times since last week. The meeting will take place at the Sheraton Doha, a Sheraton hotel official confirmed to TWS. Sheraton Hotels and Resorts are owned by Marriott International, a U.S.-based company. Marriott did not immediately respond to requests for comment in time for publication.

TWS reported Sunday that the Intercontinental Hotels Group could face penalties for hosting Hamas, which is a designated foreign terrorist organization.

“Intercontinental made the right move by cancelling the event,” said Jonathan Schanzer, a former terror finance analyst and senior Vice President at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“A major hotel chain hosting a foreign terrorist organization is bad optics at the very least, and possibly even material support to a terrorist group,” he said. “No event is worth that kind of risk.”

Holding the meeting could be in violation of a U.S. law that bars material support for terrorism, experts told TWS Sunday.

The group’s new charter reportedly modifies language describing Jews as the enemy and states, “Hamas does not have a conflict with the Jews because they are Jews, but Hamas has a conflict with the Zionists, occupiers and aggressors.”

The document does not recognize Israel or renounce terrorism.

House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce condemned Hamas’ malign activities and rejected its attempts to rebrand in a statement Monday.

“Until Hamas recognizes Israel’s right to exist, its words are meaningless,” he said. “I will see to it that Hamas remains designated a terrorist organization as long as it continues to launch rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, remains an Iranian proxy, and engages in other acts that threaten the U.S. and Israel.”

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