The war against the barbaric Islamist group called Hamas continues in the Gaza Strip. An important aspect that I always wondered about is whether the majority of the population in Gaza supports Hamas. And the sad answer I got was yes.
Polls conducted by the Palestinian Center for Polling and Policy Research during 2022 before the massacre carried out by Hamas in Israeli territory reported that around 60% of people living in Gaza supported the terrorist attacks against Israel. In March 2023 that number increased to 68%.
The images of the massacre of October 7 traveled around the world and there was ecstasy in the Palestinian and Arab world in general when they saw how Israelis were killed in cold blood, burned, babies murdered, beheaded and more crimes that cannot be expressed in words.
We must remember something very important: in 2005, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon forcibly removed, in a painful situation, approximately 10,000 Israelis who had been living legally in the Gaza Strip among the almost two million Palestinians for many years. On television you could see sad images of Israelis facing the Israeli evacuation forces, with many tears and fighting almost at the level of a civil war, they were demolishing their houses and evacuating them for what? To give the Palestinians complete authority over that strip and to be able to have autonomy in peace processes that had begun in Oslo in 1993 with several other territories that were assigned to the Palestinian National Authority whose headquarters are in Ramallah.
Next, in the Gaza Strip there were democratic elections in 2007 and the winner was Hamas, a radical Islamist group in whose statute or declaration is written the destruction of the State of Israel.
The popularity of Hamas gained more and more followers as it became not only more hostile towards Israel but also attacked Israel in various terrorist actions, which is what has happened all these years. Each attack on innocent Israeli victims was celebrated by the people as if it were a goal in a soccer match. Hamas was evolving in its guerrilla tactics and with the support of Iran it managed to develop not only conventional rockets but much more sophisticated ones that were constantly used to provoke Israel to respond. They were attacking Israel with missiles installed in hospitals, mosques, educational centers, etc.using their own population as a shield. They learned that the West is not prepared to digest so much blood shed in a war and with the support of the television and news network Al Jazeera, originally from Qatar, a country that certainly does not recognize Israel and has an Islamic orientation closer to Hamas, they began to spread the images that suited them best and caused impact and sympathy for their cause.
It is important to note that Wadah Khanfar of Palestinian origin held a very important position as Managing Director of the Arabic channel and was later promoted as General Director of Al Jazeera Media Network for many years. The Palestinians began to see that, even though they were losing people on the battlefield due to Israel’s military superiority, they could try to win the media war with the support of Al Jazeera, located in Qatar.
And it worked very well for Hamas propaganda all these years against Israel.
The money entered into the coffers of Hamas for humanitarian aid from several countries including Iran, Qatar and Turkey, instead of being allocated for the aid and development of its people, was mostly used in the acquisition of an arsenal of weapons and the development of complex underground tunnels where most of the Hamas terrorists hide. It is estimated that thousands of Palestinians were employed in the construction of this underground network whose objective is to attack and terrorize the citizens of Israel.
Another important detail is that only a press in favor of Hamas can go to work and show images of what happens there, a press critical of Hamas probably would suffer the same fate that happened to the Israelis massacred on October 7. In short, the press bought the narrative of Hamas, which by the way are great marketing experts. They played victims and knew how to take advantage of it.
The population collaborated with Hamas to a greater or lesser extent, or does a hospital, mosque or educational center in such a small territory not see or know that they are using that place as a military base to launch rockets against the population of Israel?
Hamas uses them as shields and political propaganda to create worldwide agitation against Israel.
The Israeli army warned civilians to move from the places from where the terrorists launch their rockets and to move to the south.
Palestinian children are educated from a very young age not only to hate Israel but also to prepare to be a jihadist, to kill or capture Jews in an environment where violence is breathed.
How many violent demonstrations were held in Gaza City and near the border of Israel, how many thousands of rockets were launched at Israel in all these last years, how many incendiary kites were launched to harm the cultivation of Israeli villages near Gaza!
Imagine this surreal situation, what would happen if, before the conflict broke out on October 7, an Israeli had lost consciousness and was walking within the Gaza Strip and was identified by a normal group of citizens, he would undoubtedly be lynched by the population. On the other hand Israel let thousands of Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip enter to work as a humanitarian gesture and who brought bread to their families by working in Israel. These workers with their permits entered without problems, what a difference, right?
I will conclude this article with some quotes made by Golda Meir, former Prime Minister of Israel:
“When peace comes, we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for forcing us to kill their sons. Peace will come when Arabs love their children more than they hate us.”
Author
Adiel Wajsman
Licensed Tour Guide
November 2, 2023