Well, since the individual who mentioned this at the meeting was roundly denounced for making up spurious propaganda, I thought it might be interesting to check the veracity of the claim. Now, when confronted with the evidence, the tune changes.

"Hamas are Islamofascists."

Oh. I hear water is wet, too. The point is that they didn't just evolve into that subsequent to Israeli funding. If they wanted to keep the corrupt FATAH from having too much power, why not then fund non-murdersous, democratic secular alternatives? Clearly, they can't do that, because the worst thing in the world would be to have a Palestinian state run as a secular democracy. Far better to have Hamas in charge to provide the justification for exterminating and ethnic cleansing the "disputed" territories of all Palestinians.