In the aftermath of Hamas' bloody raid into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, many Israelis and people around the world equated the newly ultraviolent and audacious Palestinian militant organization with the world's deadliest terrorist group, ISIS ' the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for example, linked the two groups directly on Oct. 25, 2023, stating: 'Hamas is ISIS and ISIS is Hamas.' President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made similar comparisons. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hamas killing families 'brings to mind the worst of ISIS.' There are plenty of reasons for Israel to want the world to think Hamas is ISIS ' including the hope of marshaling the sort of overseas support that led to the 2014 creation of the 86-member Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. In fighting between 2014 and 2019, the coalition reclaimed all the territory the Islamic State group had seized in Iraq and Syria. And it is true that the Oct. 7...
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