Member of Hamas Political Bureau Rawhi Mushtaha stated the following in response to his designation as a "global terrorist" by the US Department of State:

There's a common wisdom that "one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter".

It is no wonder that I and some of the world's freemen, are on the American black list of global terrorists, but the definition of terrorism is different between governments and people.

This move neither will deter us from our role in defending and serving our Palestinian people and cause, nor can it change our fate, which is a glorious victory or an honorable martyrdom. It cannot alter the course of history either. If it could, it would have happened with Nelson Mandela, who until 2008 was officially labeled a terrorist; or Gandhi, declared terrorist by the British Parliament in 1932.

As a human I ask, however, did the US State Department listen what I have to say for myself, my choices and actions? Was that even a choice? Or had the US system of law become a shadow of that of the Israeli colonial system of occupation and racism? What does this say about the United States, the self-acclaimed beacon of liberty in the world? How much time will it take for America to realize that Hamas is a national liberation movement, and not a terrorist organization?

Rawhi Jamal Mushtaha

Member of Hamas Political Bureau

Thursday 10th september 2015