The Israeli authorities, including the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) were apparently caught asleep when the incursion took place. How could this have been? The Israelis have one of the highest technologically advanced defence systems in the world so how could a group like Hamas carry out such an audacious raid? One news bulletin, very, very briefly explained why this breach in Israel's security may have happened. It was only shown once and has not been seen again on TV. Apparently, many of the IDF troops assigned to defend the border had taken time out to go hunting ‘Palestinians with Israeli settlers’ - Israeli settlers who are illegally occupying Palestinian land supposedly protected under so-called ‘international law’. These settlers are comfortably housed and living on land they have no right to be on. Not content with stealing this territory, every now and again these illegal squatters go looking for Palestinians - unarmed Palestinians - often accompanied by members of the IDF. This was the reason, according to this brief news bulletin, why the border was left with a skeletal protection, the troops were out on a ‘turkey shoot’ with the illegal settlers. Putting this on the news was an obvious mistake as the last thing the Western authorities want is their peoples to know the truth about what is happening in Israel/Palestine. The caption was not shown again.
My own view of Hamas, unlike some other Palestinian fighting groups, is they are a bunch of religious nutters, like their nemesis in Israel the Zionists. Like their paymasters in Iran who torture and kill women who do not conform to some barmy Muslim religious law, which perhaps does not exist outside their interpretation of the Koran, and such tortures and murders happen all too often in Iran. Hamas appear to share a similar set of beliefs. Hamas are anti-women’s rights, anti-LGBTQ and certainly will not bring freedom to the Palestinian people. The Zionist crowd in Tel Aviv who constitute the Israeli Government are no better in their fanatical beliefs in Judea and hatred of Arabs. Don’t get me wrong, it is everybody’s right to practice their religion, or to follow none, but not if that leads to fanaticism, murder and war.
When Hamas crossed into Israel, something which the Israelis have been doing to the Palestinians on the Gaza Strip for many decades all too often killing unarmed Palestinians, they had the chance to take the moral high ground, but did not take this opportunity. Had Hamas a military brain between them they would have taken a golden opportunity to score a military victory over the IDF and score points in the propaganda war. They did not do this. One option may have been, cross the border as they did, then double back on themselves and take the IDF border guards, reduced in number as they must have known, from the Israeli side. They could have stolen their uniforms and weapons and waited for those guards, out on a ‘turkey shoot’ with the settlers, to return and take them as well using the art of surprise. They could then return to Gaza better armed and with IDF uniforms and issue a statement along the lines of, perhaps:
My own view of Hamas, unlike some other Palestinian fighting groups, is they are a bunch of religious nutters, like their nemesis in Israel the Zionists. Like their paymasters in Iran who torture and kill women who do not conform to some barmy Muslim religious law, which perhaps does not exist outside their interpretation of the Koran, and such tortures and murders happen all too often in Iran. Hamas appear to share a similar set of beliefs. Hamas are anti-women’s rights, anti-LGBTQ and certainly will not bring freedom to the Palestinian people. The Zionist crowd in Tel Aviv who constitute the Israeli Government are no better in their fanatical beliefs in Judea and hatred of Arabs. Don’t get me wrong, it is everybody’s right to practice their religion, or to follow none, but not if that leads to fanaticism, murder and war.
When Hamas crossed into Israel, something which the Israelis have been doing to the Palestinians on the Gaza Strip for many decades all too often killing unarmed Palestinians, they had the chance to take the moral high ground, but did not take this opportunity. Had Hamas a military brain between them they would have taken a golden opportunity to score a military victory over the IDF and score points in the propaganda war. They did not do this. One option may have been, cross the border as they did, then double back on themselves and take the IDF border guards, reduced in number as they must have known, from the Israeli side. They could have stolen their uniforms and weapons and waited for those guards, out on a ‘turkey shoot’ with the settlers, to return and take them as well using the art of surprise. They could then return to Gaza better armed and with IDF uniforms and issue a statement along the lines of, perhaps:
acting on intelligence received from inside the IDF Hamas ASUs (Active Service Units) penetrated Israeli security attacking and killing a number of IDF border guards. We have the ability and expertise to hit when and how we please as this operation bears testament.
Such a statement would have caused panic and confusion inside the IDF and the Zionist Government in Tel Aviv. There were other equally legitimate alternatives for them to hit. They did not do this and instead took civilian hostages whose only crimes were listening to music or being Jewish. Hamas is not a military outfit, moreover it is a bunch of religious rabble!! The Israelis have for many, many, years been murdering Palestinian civilians and Hamas had the opportunity to rise above this barbarism of their foes. They should have confined their operations to attacking and destroying military, political and economic targets. Instead, they took civilians, women and children, concert goers as hostages and nobody, outside Hamas, knows what fate awaits them!
Hamas could have gained much credibility in the eyes of normal people, among which I do not include western governments, by carrying out a well-planned military assault on Israel in their pursuit of a Palestinian nation-state. Hamas want to see the total destruction of Israel, something which will not happen and should not be allowed to happen. The destruction of the apartheid Zionist state yes, definitely, but the destruction of Israel as a country, no equally definitely not! After all, when the Third Reich was thankfully defeated in 1945 we witnessed the destruction of the evil Nazi state, but not the obliteration of Germany off the map, so where’s the difference? A smaller and reformed Israel and her population of 9.5 million, slightly larger than Greater London, living in peace alongside a Palestinian nation state is not an unreasonable starting point and aim. There would be no room for the Zionist fanatics or Hamas under such an arrangement.
The response by the Israelis to the Hamas attack has been devastating and murderous. They have turned Gaza, which has been an open-aired prison for the Palestinian inmates for years, into something between the Warsaw Ghetto, where Jewish people were forced to live by the Nazis and subsequently destroyed by them with the inhabitants still in their dwellings following an ‘uprising’ and the Sobibor Nazi Death Camp. If the Hamas attack was a war crime, which it was once they took hostages, then the reaction by Israel is ten war crimes! However, a war crime is a war crime be it one or a hundred. The death and destruction Israel is inflicting on the people of Gaza has been done under the aegis of ‘Israels right to defend herself’ which is stretching this right to say the least. Does this ‘right to defend herself’ stretch as far as cutting off electricity supplies to civilians? Does it go so far as to legitimise preventing hospitals from treating patients, some in critical conditions? Does it stretch to stopping emergency medical supplies to hospitals? The answer to these questions is categorically No. What the Israelis are doing constitutes war crimes of the first degree and the Zionist regime in Tel Aviv just like some of the Nazis nearly eighty years ago should be held to account. Oddly enough it was the USA who gave protection and immunity to some Nazis who were of use to them!!
Could the Israeli Intelligence Services have been behind the Hamas attack? Could Mossad have planned the attack on Israeli civilians? No, this is unlikely but what is possible is they allowed the attacks to go ahead. The reason for this, if it was the case and it’s only a remote possibility, could have been to create a situation which, under the guise of ‘Israel defending itself’ which allows them to bomb and bulldoze Gaza to pulp? Could this have happened? Unlikely but certainly not beyond the bounds of possibilities. In the eyes of the world Israel would be exercising her ‘right to defend herself’ which is what has happened as government after government repeatedly speak of this right of ‘Israel to defend itself’. From Washington to London to Dublin, in fact across the western world, we have repeatedly heard this bland, less than convincing rhetoric about Israels ‘right the defend herself’ and it is wearing very thin! In the Dail, 12th October 2023, Holly Cairns, the leader of the Social Democrats asked Tanaiste, Micheal Martin, “why had the European Union not shown the same condemnation of Israeli attacks on Gaza civilians as they have to Hamas for their attacks?” Martin replied with some half-baked answer, which was no answer at all really, about the EU continuing financial support for the people of Gaza. Also in the Dail, People Before Profit TD, Richard Boyd Barret, was almost foaming at the mouth in his condemnation of Israel. As the veins stuck out on his neck he, rightly, condemned the IDF and Netanyahu Government demanding the 26 county administration support the Palestinians. What a great pity he, and his parent party the Socialist Workers Party, did not show the same outrage against British atrocities in the six counties!
The response by the Israelis to the Hamas attack has been devastating and murderous. They have turned Gaza, which has been an open-aired prison for the Palestinian inmates for years, into something between the Warsaw Ghetto, where Jewish people were forced to live by the Nazis and subsequently destroyed by them with the inhabitants still in their dwellings following an ‘uprising’ and the Sobibor Nazi Death Camp. If the Hamas attack was a war crime, which it was once they took hostages, then the reaction by Israel is ten war crimes! However, a war crime is a war crime be it one or a hundred. The death and destruction Israel is inflicting on the people of Gaza has been done under the aegis of ‘Israels right to defend herself’ which is stretching this right to say the least. Does this ‘right to defend herself’ stretch as far as cutting off electricity supplies to civilians? Does it go so far as to legitimise preventing hospitals from treating patients, some in critical conditions? Does it stretch to stopping emergency medical supplies to hospitals? The answer to these questions is categorically No. What the Israelis are doing constitutes war crimes of the first degree and the Zionist regime in Tel Aviv just like some of the Nazis nearly eighty years ago should be held to account. Oddly enough it was the USA who gave protection and immunity to some Nazis who were of use to them!!
Could the Israeli Intelligence Services have been behind the Hamas attack? Could Mossad have planned the attack on Israeli civilians? No, this is unlikely but what is possible is they allowed the attacks to go ahead. The reason for this, if it was the case and it’s only a remote possibility, could have been to create a situation which, under the guise of ‘Israel defending itself’ which allows them to bomb and bulldoze Gaza to pulp? Could this have happened? Unlikely but certainly not beyond the bounds of possibilities. In the eyes of the world Israel would be exercising her ‘right to defend herself’ which is what has happened as government after government repeatedly speak of this right of ‘Israel to defend itself’. From Washington to London to Dublin, in fact across the western world, we have repeatedly heard this bland, less than convincing rhetoric about Israels ‘right the defend herself’ and it is wearing very thin! In the Dail, 12th October 2023, Holly Cairns, the leader of the Social Democrats asked Tanaiste, Micheal Martin, “why had the European Union not shown the same condemnation of Israeli attacks on Gaza civilians as they have to Hamas for their attacks?” Martin replied with some half-baked answer, which was no answer at all really, about the EU continuing financial support for the people of Gaza. Also in the Dail, People Before Profit TD, Richard Boyd Barret, was almost foaming at the mouth in his condemnation of Israel. As the veins stuck out on his neck he, rightly, condemned the IDF and Netanyahu Government demanding the 26 county administration support the Palestinians. What a great pity he, and his parent party the Socialist Workers Party, did not show the same outrage against British atrocities in the six counties!
In Britain at the Labour Party Conference leader Keir Starmer said “I am shocked and appalled by events in Israel and these attacks by Hamas must be condemned”. Not a word, notably, of condemnation for the disproportionate response from Tel Aviv! At a press conference in Tel Aviv while shaking hands with war criminal, Benjamin Netanyahu, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, told the Israeli leader; “America will always be at Israel's side”. He went on to liken the Hamas attacks with “echoes of Nazi massacres”. If any side, without condoning Hamas for one second, is emulating the actions of the Third Reich against Jewish people, it is the Israelis actions against Palestinian civilians. So much for so-called ‘international law’ which, arguably, does not exist!! If a country is well in with the USA, as Israel is, they are free to break any law they wish with, it appears, US permission.
To have a law, any law, it must be enforced. This often quoted ‘international law’ is unenforceable as those unofficially charged with enforcing it, the USA, NATO, Russia, Britian and China regularly break such laws. I remember many years ago in West Belfast on the toilet door of a pub was written, ‘when the people who make the law, break the law, in the name of the law then there is no law’. A fitting piece of wall graffiti which also applies to this ‘international law’. Blinken by stating “America will always be at Israel's side” was giving approval to go out and commit war crimes to Netanyahu, of that there can be no doubt. According to Gabrielle Aumann, Medicines Sans Frontier, the war crimes committed include; “hospitals attacked by Israeli forces”. He continued; “We are running out of supplies and electricity. Babies in units will die if the electricity runs out. The Israelis are violating humanitarian law” he said.
The advice Hamas are giving to people, people in a position of hopelessness, is to ignore the Israeli warnings about leaving Gaza. As bombs explode all around them Hamas can offer nothing more concrete than this rubbish? How can a person ignore something which is happening before their very eyes? Are Hamas totally bereft of any form of reality? War crimes are going on in Palestine and have been for decades, people are being murdered by the thousand daily and all Hamas can say is, “ignore anything Israel say and stay where you are”. On this occasion Hamas, through their actions in the attack on Israel, have exposed the legitimate Palestinian struggle to the same allegations of war crimes as those levelled at the Israelis! Are they simply plain stupid, or just barbaric as are, it has appeared for many years, the Israeli Government? One thing Hamas and the Zionists share, they are both fucking evil, rotten to the core.
A war crime, according to the Geneva Convention 1949, is a violation “of the laws of war that give rise to individual criminal responsibility for action by combatants in action such as intentionally killing civilians”. War Crimes cover “murder, ill treatment or deportation to slave labour or any other of the civilian population in the occupied territory, killing of hostages, torture or inhuman treatment.” Both the Hamas and the Zionist regime in Tel Aviv are guilty of many of these offences and should be tried for such crimes.
To have a law, any law, it must be enforced. This often quoted ‘international law’ is unenforceable as those unofficially charged with enforcing it, the USA, NATO, Russia, Britian and China regularly break such laws. I remember many years ago in West Belfast on the toilet door of a pub was written, ‘when the people who make the law, break the law, in the name of the law then there is no law’. A fitting piece of wall graffiti which also applies to this ‘international law’. Blinken by stating “America will always be at Israel's side” was giving approval to go out and commit war crimes to Netanyahu, of that there can be no doubt. According to Gabrielle Aumann, Medicines Sans Frontier, the war crimes committed include; “hospitals attacked by Israeli forces”. He continued; “We are running out of supplies and electricity. Babies in units will die if the electricity runs out. The Israelis are violating humanitarian law” he said.
The advice Hamas are giving to people, people in a position of hopelessness, is to ignore the Israeli warnings about leaving Gaza. As bombs explode all around them Hamas can offer nothing more concrete than this rubbish? How can a person ignore something which is happening before their very eyes? Are Hamas totally bereft of any form of reality? War crimes are going on in Palestine and have been for decades, people are being murdered by the thousand daily and all Hamas can say is, “ignore anything Israel say and stay where you are”. On this occasion Hamas, through their actions in the attack on Israel, have exposed the legitimate Palestinian struggle to the same allegations of war crimes as those levelled at the Israelis! Are they simply plain stupid, or just barbaric as are, it has appeared for many years, the Israeli Government? One thing Hamas and the Zionists share, they are both fucking evil, rotten to the core.
A war crime, according to the Geneva Convention 1949, is a violation “of the laws of war that give rise to individual criminal responsibility for action by combatants in action such as intentionally killing civilians”. War Crimes cover “murder, ill treatment or deportation to slave labour or any other of the civilian population in the occupied territory, killing of hostages, torture or inhuman treatment.” Both the Hamas and the Zionist regime in Tel Aviv are guilty of many of these offences and should be tried for such crimes.
An addition in 1977 to the Geneva Convention of 1949 was an amendment which detailed ‘international humanitarian law’ which, notably Israel are not signatories to as neither, are the USA the country along with the British Government giving the most unequivocal support to the Zionist breach of international law! Clearly both Hamas and the Israeli Government are guilty of breaking ‘international law’ but it looks likely only Hamas will pay the penalty. The United States will continue to stand beside the Zionist regime in Tel Aviv as will, no doubt, the British Government and the European Union. Basically, what is happening is that a cloak of protection is being given to Netanyahu and his government misinterpreting ‘Israels right to defend itself’ with ‘Israels right to commit war crimes’.
The situation in the region is affecting many walks of life not least sport. In Britain on Monday 9th October Arab and Muslim sportsmen in Cricket, Football and Rugby held a meeting. At this meeting it was decided if the Wembley Arch was illuminated in Israeli flag colours before or during the friendly football match between England and Australia on Friday 13th October at Wembley these sports competitors stated “they would walk off the pitch if respect was not shown to the Palestinians lost in the conflict.” Earlier Jewish supporters of all three games had condemned the sporting authorities for “staying quiet” about what they described as; “the worst atrocity since the holocaust”. The Wembley authorities decided against lighting up the arch much to the annoyance of the British Government and the Israeli Football Association. The Irish Dailly Mirror on Saturday 14th October reported; “Rabbi quits in FA refusal”. This was in reference to “the Chair of the Faith in Football group” resigning over the FA's refusal to illuminate Wembley in the Israeli flag colours. “Rabbi Alex Goldberg has told the FA that Faith in Football will no longer be working with them”. This group appear to be a religious faction, which is their right, which refuse to see the crimes of both Hamas and the Israeli defence forces. The IDF have committed by far the most war crimes which ‘Faith in Football’ conveniently do not mention. Equally, “two wrongs do not make a right”, for once I have semi-agreement with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
All the warring factions which are murdering civilians in the area should be taken off the stage. Starting with the Netanyahu Government in Tel Aviv, Hamas and any other faction who are a barrier to peace should be taken out of the game. The demand Israel should be wiped off the map must be dropped. The Zionist state which exists at the moment should be forced out and a new, reformed and smaller and democratic Israel put in its place. The other idea, perhaps applicable in any other situation, but not this one due to historical factors, is a non-starter. That is, Israel goes and a unified Palestine be born where ‘Jews can live’. Given the historical experiences of the Jewish people dating back to the 12th century and before, why should these people have any faith or confidence in such an arrangement? Did they not consider themselves safe in Russia before the ‘Pale of Settlement’? Equally, did the Jewish community not feel safe in Germany until Hitler came to power? The answer to both these is yes they did feel safe and look what happened. Why then should they feel safe in the proposed new Palestine where ‘Jewish people can live’? I know I wouldn’t if I was Jewish, would you?
The victims in this almighty murderous mess, the Israeli hostages whose fate is unknown to all but Hamas, and the Palestinian people of Gaza who are being bombed out of existence are the real sufferers. The Palestinians are being pulled in a three way-no-win situation. On the one hand, Egypt is refusing, so far, to open the ‘Rafah Pass’ which is the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Therefore, the Palestinians cannot cross into Egypt. On the other, Israel is not allowing aide to cross their border into Gaza because if they do, the bombing and killing of Palestinians would have to stop for fear of bombing the aide convoys. In the centre Hamas are telling the Palestinian people of Gaza to “ignore the Israeli warnings to move south, and stay where they are”, three not very appetising choices. Cold blooded murder by all concerned with one side, the Zionists, backed all the way by the USA and the West. What fucking hope for the Palestinian refugees?
The situation in the region is affecting many walks of life not least sport. In Britain on Monday 9th October Arab and Muslim sportsmen in Cricket, Football and Rugby held a meeting. At this meeting it was decided if the Wembley Arch was illuminated in Israeli flag colours before or during the friendly football match between England and Australia on Friday 13th October at Wembley these sports competitors stated “they would walk off the pitch if respect was not shown to the Palestinians lost in the conflict.” Earlier Jewish supporters of all three games had condemned the sporting authorities for “staying quiet” about what they described as; “the worst atrocity since the holocaust”. The Wembley authorities decided against lighting up the arch much to the annoyance of the British Government and the Israeli Football Association. The Irish Dailly Mirror on Saturday 14th October reported; “Rabbi quits in FA refusal”. This was in reference to “the Chair of the Faith in Football group” resigning over the FA's refusal to illuminate Wembley in the Israeli flag colours. “Rabbi Alex Goldberg has told the FA that Faith in Football will no longer be working with them”. This group appear to be a religious faction, which is their right, which refuse to see the crimes of both Hamas and the Israeli defence forces. The IDF have committed by far the most war crimes which ‘Faith in Football’ conveniently do not mention. Equally, “two wrongs do not make a right”, for once I have semi-agreement with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
All the warring factions which are murdering civilians in the area should be taken off the stage. Starting with the Netanyahu Government in Tel Aviv, Hamas and any other faction who are a barrier to peace should be taken out of the game. The demand Israel should be wiped off the map must be dropped. The Zionist state which exists at the moment should be forced out and a new, reformed and smaller and democratic Israel put in its place. The other idea, perhaps applicable in any other situation, but not this one due to historical factors, is a non-starter. That is, Israel goes and a unified Palestine be born where ‘Jews can live’. Given the historical experiences of the Jewish people dating back to the 12th century and before, why should these people have any faith or confidence in such an arrangement? Did they not consider themselves safe in Russia before the ‘Pale of Settlement’? Equally, did the Jewish community not feel safe in Germany until Hitler came to power? The answer to both these is yes they did feel safe and look what happened. Why then should they feel safe in the proposed new Palestine where ‘Jewish people can live’? I know I wouldn’t if I was Jewish, would you?
The victims in this almighty murderous mess, the Israeli hostages whose fate is unknown to all but Hamas, and the Palestinian people of Gaza who are being bombed out of existence are the real sufferers. The Palestinians are being pulled in a three way-no-win situation. On the one hand, Egypt is refusing, so far, to open the ‘Rafah Pass’ which is the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Therefore, the Palestinians cannot cross into Egypt. On the other, Israel is not allowing aide to cross their border into Gaza because if they do, the bombing and killing of Palestinians would have to stop for fear of bombing the aide convoys. In the centre Hamas are telling the Palestinian people of Gaza to “ignore the Israeli warnings to move south, and stay where they are”, three not very appetising choices. Cold blooded murder by all concerned with one side, the Zionists, backed all the way by the USA and the West. What fucking hope for the Palestinian refugees?
 |
| Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist. |
Myself and Christy have discussed this at length on another piece.
ReplyDeleteI think it seriously wrong to reduce Hamas to a one dimensional theocratic entity. Its full name is The Islamic Resistance Movement. It's resistance is not primarily against secularism but very much against Israel. And its position has evolved.
Many of your criticisms of Hamas, I share as I resile from theocracy of all sorts. But its emergence, existence and current stance towards Israel should be placed in a much wider context.
The same with Israel - no point in critics of Israel reducing its Lebensraum policy to religious impulse or what it says in the Bible. It remains what it has always been - a colonial power which has a strong secular impetus. It is not two bunch of religious crazies fighting each other over the size of the unicorn's horn, even if we can safely say religion has made it all even more toxic than it previously was and resistant to the type of reason you recommend
There are some who think Hamas was encouraged by the Zionists to counter the Left and secularists in the Palestinian movement which they considered a more important threat. Here is a bit "Via Jamie Mayerfeld
ReplyDeleteThough I knew some of this, the details and the quotes are still startling.
“Writing in Haaretz, Dmitry Shumsky reports that since becoming prime minister a second time in 2009, Netanyahu “developed and advanced a destructive, warped political doctrine that held that strengthening Hamas at the expense of the Palestinian Authority would be good for Israel.”
“The purpose of the doctrine was to perpetuate the rift between Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. That would preserve the diplomatic paralysis and forever remove the “danger” of negotiations with the Palestinians over the partition of Israel into two states – on the argument that the Palestinian Authority doesn’t represent all the Palestinians.” [….]
“This is solidly documented. Between 2012 and 2018, Netanyahu gave Qatar approval to transfer a cumulative sum of about a billion dollars to Gaza, at least half of which reached Hamas, including its military wing. According to the Jerusalem Post, in a private meeting with members of his Likud party on March 11, 2019, Netanyahu explained the reckless step as follows: The money transfer is part of the strategy to divide the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Anyone who opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state needs to support the transfer of the money from Qatar to Hamas. In that way, we will foil the establishment of a Palestinian state (as reported in former cabinet member Haim Ramon’s Hebrew-language book “Neged Haruach”, p. 417).”
“In an interview with the Ynet news website on May 5, 2019, Netanyahu associate Gershon Hacohen, a major general in reserves, said, “We need to tell the truth. Netanyahu’s strategy is to prevent the option of two states, so he is turning Hamas into his closest partner. Openly Hamas is an enemy. Covertly, it’s an ally.””
“In a tweet on May 20, 2019, Channel 13 quoted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak saying: “Netanyahu isn’t interested in the two-state solution. Rather, he wants to separate Gaza from the West Bank, as he told me at the end of 2010.” Mubarak said that during an interview with the Kuwaiti daily Al-Anba.”
“It’s worth dwelling on the horrifying significance of these remarks. An Israeli prime minister himself knowingly and calculatingly cultivated one of Israel’s most bitter and fanatic foes, an enemy whose declared aim is to destroy the country. And he did it to prevent the horror scenario from his standpoint of a return to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Netanyahu recklessly gambled on the lives of Israelis, and in fact, last Shabbat, more than 1,000 of them paid the price of that foolish gamble with their lives.”
“Thanks to the funneling of millions of Qatari dollars to Gaza, with Netanyuhu’s repeated approval as part of a deliberate and malicious policy aimed at nothing other than burying the two-state solution, Hamas acquired inordinate military capabilities within a relatively short time. And that resulted in the current situation, which as I write, has taken the lives of about 1,000 Israelis.”
Writing in Haaretz, Gidi Weitz reports that in 2019 Prime Minister Netanyahu told his Likud colleagues, “Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas. This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”
See further discussion in Zack Beauchamp October 10 article in Vox, “Benjamin Netanyahu failed Israel.”
The Israeli government knowingly sacrificed Israeli and Palestinian lives in order to prevent a two-state solution. I believe in peace, justice, human rights, and not strengthening Hamas, but the Israeli government has other priorities.”" and this https://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article68244
That's a fascinating comment. It has long been reported that Netanyahu had done as much as he possibly could to sponsor 'Hamas' for the reasons outlined in the comment.
DeleteHamas are jihadiis don't be fooled. They are cut from the same cloth as the Islamic State. Fuck sake it's even in their own charter they want to kill all the Jews. Whether who has the right to be there is irrelevant; when they wholesale slaughtered kids and took hostages including the elderly they forfeit any rights they have. Hamas will be destroyed as Israel see's it as an existential threat. And fuck them, they are using civilians as human shields and the civilians are the only ones I care about.
ReplyDeleteCam comments
DeleteFrom Cam,
Steve R,
God and Ulster – Hamas and Mohammed . . . Unionist / Loyalist sectarianism, racism and bigotry – Israeli Zionism
You have so much in common with all the protagonists in the Middle East Steve . . . unfortunately none of it good though!
Steve - in terms of broad strokes there has been a Left-Right exchange on this over the decades with the Right saying what you do and the Left taking a contrary view. The debate has been played out so often and for so long there really is nothing new to it. I have learned to pay as much attention to the Hamas Charter as I have to the IRA's Green Book which also is premised on the destruction of NI as political entity. We can see what plughole that went down. About 5 or 6 years ago Hamas was embracing the Two State Solution.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, TPQ ran a piece from The Guardian by two American Jewish women who made the following comment.
We also reject the hyperfixation on Hamas that has swallowed American politics, and understand this recent attack as the result of decades-long Israeli crimes and besiegement. This fact has been affirmed by Israeli opposition leaders, veterans groups, and newspapers.
I admire that type of courage but also feel it is a much more persuasive position than reducing Hamas to a one dimensional theocratic terrorist outfit.
I agree with you that whether who is right is irrelevant - this is not some spectator sport where we can sit back with pop corn and cheer on our side against theirs. This is brutal war and it makes us feel guilty about moaning over the weather. The Israeli writer Shlomo Sand says he supports the existence of the state of Israel not because of historical right, but because of the fact that it exists today and any effort to destroy it will bring new tragedies.
There is a profound truth in there.
Human shields - the UN plus a host of human rights bodies (including those courageous Israeli ones) have long since indicted the IDF for using Palestinian toddlers as human shields. If Hamas are deliberately doing this they are not alone.
For all of those who claim they are primarily concerned about the the children, then about 7/8ths of their critique should be directed against the entity responsible for the vast bulk of child murder. Otherwise it is the sound of one hand clapping to the echo of pious moralising.
Cam,
DeleteSectarianism in Ulster was very far from a one way street.
AM,
I don't disagree with anything you've said, though note with some distaste the footage shown today from the bodycam's worn by Hamas were they attempt to decapitate a poor soul who's still alive, and yet another were they record on whatsapp gloating about how many Jews they've just killed and their parents should be proud of them.
I would have preferred a 2 state solution but Hamas has shown the world they are Jihadi's and should be treated as such. No mercy should be shown them.
Israel should be in front of The Hague but they are far too influential for that to ever become a reality.
I've no problem condemning both sides but if push comes to shove I'm not throwing my lot in with a jihadi Salafist Sunni death cult.
Steve - you are not someone I have regarded as either sectarian or Zionist.
DeleteYou push an open door when you vent fury at Jihadis.
What I feel you do not give sufficient regard to is what is the fuel in the Hamas tank. You seem to reduce it to one element - theocracy. I think it is made up of a much more combustible mix than that, with the greatest bulk coming from the hi-octane energy unleashed by the occupation and barbarism of repression. I think when the arguments are shaken down that is the real difference between myself and you/Christy.
Many used to think that the IRA was driven by this unshakeable commitment to get a united Ireland. I took the view it was driven by the structural conditions under which Northern nationalists lived. That led me to predict decades ago that the British did not have to leave to bring the IRA to heel. Their presence in the North was not the causal factor in nationalist insurgency. How that presence manifested itself was by far the greater driving force. The Brits didn't have to leave, they merely had to change.
Remove Palestine's Israeli problem and the Jihadi element might find the going very tough.
Cam Comments
DeleteThe actions of Hamas reminds me of the Shankill Butchers and oddly enough the people of the Shankill who stood in silence a few days ago commemorating those killed in the Shankill bomb were and are the same people who lined the Shankill streets as the corteges of the various members of the Butcher's went past, some with heads bowed too.
And also, people who give their full support to the mass killings of Palestinian children under the guise of Israel having the right to defend itself...it would seem Palestinian children's lives are not valued as much...But even worse are the actions of the IDF or as they should be addressed Battalion 101( 3,000+ children deliberately targeted and killed - it is odd that Palestinians die but Israelis are killed!)
Sometimes Steve the blindfolds need to come off.
Sometimes Steve the blindfolds need to come off.
AM
DeleteOur difference of opinion revolved around the use of the term terrorist -if I understand correctly, you feel that an Islamic Fundamentalist terror group cannot be defined as terrorists because of historical or current injustices inflicted on the Palestinians (add extra dimension). Any group that riddles babies and toddlers with bullets, burn them alive and abduct others is truly a terrorist organization regardless of how dimensional their grievances.
The Israelis response to Hamas is inexcusable war crime and crimes against humanity on a massive scale -but that response was factored into Hamas planning -so how culpable are they in shared responsibility for what is being inflicted upon the Palestinians? It is not safe to assume that simply being an armed group in Palestinian neighborhoods means they represent the Palestinians -Islamism outlook is global.
In a Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research survey conducted 7-11 June 2023 found that 73% of Palestinians do not trust Hamas, 69% feel they cannot publically complain about Hamas and 83% feel Hamas will never hold elections. So how representative are they of the Palestinian people?
No, it isn't the term terrorist. Hamas use terrorism against civilians. There seems to be a wide consensus on that. The difference in opinion is on what drives the terrorism. You seem to feel it is a one dimensional theocratic ideology. I feel it is fuelled much less by that and more by the politics of repression.
DeleteAM,
DeleteNo argument regarding what may be a large portion of the fuel that drives Hamas but the end product is now a death cult. As for my fingering theocracy as a motivation for them they explicitly say it themselves. They want the death of all Jews and an Islamic State from "The River to the Sea". They are not interested in a 2 state solution only the complete destruction of Israel and the set up of a caliphate.
The Israeli's may be bastards but I don't remember Hamas sending notes to areas they were about to bomb asking the residents to flee nor the Israeli's beheading captives, binding children together and setting them on fire, or mass raping Palestinians and putting it on Facebook live. Two wrong don't make a right but come on.
Cam,
DeleteI'm not sure whether you are attempting to goad me or are just new on the blog? Either way any of the regular Quillers will know I've regularly condemned the actions of so called Loyalists like the psychopathic Shankill Butchers, the modern day Loyalist in name only drug cartels and anyone else who murders in the name of Loyalism. I've also called Bloody Sunday for what it was, an obscene war crime.
I still consider myself a Loyalist and I've never hidden nor shied away from that, but I'm very much of the "Shankill Soviet" type in that I believe in an alliance among the working class people and fuck sectarianism as I have never seen anything whatsoever positive to come from it. I'd would have much rather have had a pint with The Dark than even talk to Lenny Murphy.
Steve - I think from the River to the Sea is a slogan that even secularists chant. It has no more meaning for me than the army council of the IRA saying it was resolutely opposed to partition . . . yet here we are.
DeleteWhile no expert, I have listened to or read too many people who understand it better than I do to allow me to believe it is merely a death cult. It says it has been interested in a two state solution since 2017 and many who observe it say it is accurate. Now, there is always the possibility that it might end up as no different from ISIS. No religious group should ever be allowed social policy power. But at present, more than anything else it has been energised by Israeli repression.
I have seen nothing yet to support the mass rape allegation. It could be true but the same thing is being alleged against settlers and the IDF. The Kapos telling people to move out or they will be murdered is very much a propaganda thing. For all the horrors that Hamas has inflicted it sits in a pretty small box on the graph beside the Israeli huge one.
And when Hamas go head to head against the Kapos on the ground in Gaza we will still find claims that it is a religious death cult.
But as Christy says, we should not be cheering sides on in this from the sidelines as if it is some spectator sport. An immediate cessation is I think the best option.
Interesting analysis on the tactical and strategic stupidity of Israel invading Gaza:
ReplyDelete"My bottom line? Just ask this question: If Israel announced today that it was forgoing, for now, a full-blown invasion of Gaza, who would be happy, and who would be relieved, and who would be upset? Iran would be totally frustrated, Hezbollah would be disappointed, Hamas would feel devastated — its whole war plan came to naught — and Vladimir Putin would be crushed, because Israel would not be burning up ammunition and weapons the U.S. needs to be sending to Ukraine. The settlers in the West Bank would be enraged.
Meanwhile, the parents of every Israeli soldier and every Israeli held hostage would be relieved, every Palestinian in Gaza caught in the crossfire would be relieved, and every friend and ally Israel has in the world — starting with one Joseph R. Biden — would be relieved. I rest my case."
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/16/opinion/israel-gaza-war.html
Friedman is a strange beast. I think his biggest problem in the past has been his willingness to excuse Israeli atrocity. At the same time he has annoyed the Zionist lobby by pushing back against its Lebensraum policy.
ReplyDeleteNorman Finkelstein has made the point that the Israelis are terrified of a ground war: they prefer to murder their targets from the safety of the skies. In this one, their Leningrad strategy might prove much less costly to them than their Stalingrad strategy.
I think a ground war would be deeply challenging to Israel, and I wonder how many soldiers Israeli society could bear to lose and with what frequency.
ReplyDeleteIsrael has already killed the killers, as far as I can understand. They could go after the planners at their leisure as they did with those behind the Munich Olympics attack in 1972, but as you've said, seem to prefer a Leningrad strategy.
I think Israeli actions are pretty much what Hamas wished for so far.
Depressing times that we live in.
Just read Jim M's comment. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI've long beloved that Israel didn't want peace, and were content either an acceptable level of violence to borrow a phrase. Bibi is such a crook and a scumbag I can imagine him doing as reported.
Regardless of what else is going on with Israel, Netanyahu is a criminal much as Moshe Katsav, the former president was.
DeleteI think the Israelis were surprised. I think their focus was on the West Bank,. Some is not all, trying to provoke a new Intifada as an excuse for a massive bout of ethnic cleansing. For the moment, short and medium term, BDS is the only feasible strategy for Palestinians. https://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article68262 and Palestine: Gaza: between a second Nakba and the revival of the Oslo fiction https://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article68279
ReplyDeleteThis video is long, and has gotten a lot of attention, but is worth watching. A very smart Egyptian (Baseem Yousaff) living in America uses facts, humour, and stark comparisons to explain what's happening in Gaza:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4idQbwsvtUo
@ Steve R
ReplyDeleteMy reading of Cam's comments re the Butchers is that the "tribe" will often come together to acknowledge the death of members of said tribe when they have died. Even, or even particularly, when they died in the service of an organisation fighting against a perceived oppressor, regardless of the brutality. The tribal pull, particularly when juxtaposed with a violent, brutal perceived oppressor, is highly magnetic. I don't think he was accusing you of supporting the actions of Murphy and his band of sadists.
I read that some Gazans applauded Hamas militants bringing back hostages as they arrived. That's what I thought of when I read Cam's comments - desperate people will do desperate things.
I remember seeing a video of a community worker on the Shankill and some locals being interviewed in the aftermath of a UDA mass shooting (the same week a UDA spokesperson said "yes it's been a good week, and it's still only Thursday). The worker and the locals were defensive of the shootings, saying "nobody knew" why they had been shot, and that if it emerged an IRA man was one of those killed (it turns out he was), then that would justify it. One IRA man out of six nationalists.
Also in 1993, there was a telephone poll indicating 42% support for loyalist paramilitaries, at the time engaged in a vicious campaign of sectarian murder. On a recent podcast, a Shankill resident said that he thought the 42% support would have been consistent throughout the Troubles.
Support for a community's paramilitaries is a very complex and somewhat troubling subject.
Gazans did vote for Hamas, and Hamas did carry out shocking crimes against hundreds of defenceless Israeli citizens. Hamas may contain within their military wing particularly religious fanatics, but my best guess is that they will be a minority within a minority.
The West Bank is not run by Hamas, and yet it is under constant attack by Israeli settlers (as religiously unhinged and violent as Hamas in nature if not yet in numbers of casualties), and the IDF.
I read yesterday that 79% of the Israeli public support the IDF. The same IDF that is slaughtering children primarily in Gaza, followed by civilians, followed by Hamas civil administration, and a tiny fraction of Hamas militants.
Some within Hamas may attempt to set up a theocracy following an Israeli withdrawal from Palestine, but I don't think they'd get off the ground.
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