#AskHamas' Twitter Campaign Tries to 'Introduce' Gaza Group to the World. The Response Is Not Exactly What It Was Hoping For.

An online Hamas campaign inviting Twitter users to submit their questions backfired wildly with a flood of responses highlighting the group’s terrorist attacks and tactics of hiding weapons and militants behind human shields.

The #AskHamas campaign seemed aimed at improving the terrorist group’s image overseas. That seems unlikely based on the mocking tone of the submissions.

#AskHamas when does the registration for the next #terror #summercamp start? pic.twitter.com/1Qy8okoEof

— Eliya Benditovich (@EliyaBen) March 15, 2015

#AskHamas what happens if he sneezes? pic.twitter.com/ZtcJJtDnFs

— UK Media Watch (@UKMediaWatch) March 13, 2015

#AskHamas ever thought about reforming your judicial system? pic.twitter.com/jVGCummmai

— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) March 13, 2015

#AskHamas When you drag someone into the street to execute them do you prefer paper or cloth bags over their heads? pic.twitter.com/zdcRbCMddj

— mallen (@mallen2010) March 15, 2015

#AskHamas Why did you murder 30 civilians, including 20 people over the age of 70, at a Passover seder in Netanya in 2002?

— Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) March 12, 2015

#AskHamas Do you import the Israeli flags you burn, or do you manufacture them yourselves? pic.twitter.com/BX7DIyAjqU

— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) March 12, 2015

#AskHamas what UN school in Gaza should I send my daughter to, if I don't want her to trip over your stored weapons?

— Gidon Shaviv (@GidonShaviv)

March 13, 2015

They just magically appear there MT @AskHamas: .@TheRationaliser No, We never launched rockets from schools and hospitals. #AskHamas

— UK Media Watch (@UKMediaWatch) March 13, 2015

#AskHamas What do you do to pass the time underneath Shifaa hospital?

— Kamel Amin Thaabet (@K_AminThaabet) March 13, 2015

Shifa is Gaza's main hospital, under which Hamas had one of its main bunkers during last summer's Gaza war.

#AskHamas what deficiency do you think this Hamas terrorist is trying to make up for? pic.twitter.com/mYL2iXqzzU

— UK Media Watch (@UKMediaWatch) March 12, 2015

#AskHamas this is no propaganda anymore, this is already comedy pic.twitter.com/JzsPKqA8Uk

— Sean Percy (@Sean_Percy) March 13, 2015

The campaign answered some of its critics by accusing them of being paid to tweet criticism of Hamas and of being Islamophobes. It also defended its controversial tactics highlighted in the critical tweets.

You can't expect someone to shake hands with those who killed his children, stole his land, destroyed his home & raped his wife! #AskHamas

— #AskHamas (@AskHamas) March 14, 2015

The Associated Press reported that Hamas hoped to use the Twitter campaign to communicate directly with the world.

The campaign was "a step by Hamas to introduce it to the world in new languages, English, French and German, on the basis that the source is a direct Hamas official, not through mediators or translators," Hamas official Bassem Naim said.

Coincidentally, the Hamas Twitter campaign came at the same time that the Democratic National Committee's "name your favorite Democratic policy" Twitter campaign was also backfiring.