How innocent are the people of Gaza?
23 October 2023
I believe the people of Gaza are collectively responsible for the terrorist actions of Hamas, including the recent slaughter of 1,400 Israelis, for these reasons:
In 2006, the people of Gaza elected Hamas to form their government, knowing that Hamas was a terrorist organization committed by its charter to the destruction of Israel.
Since 2006, the people of Gaza have directly supported Hamas in many ways:
The Hamas terrorists who killed 1,400 Israelis were apparently born, raised and trained in Gaza. Overall, Hamas has an estimated 15,000 to 40,000 combat ready fighters, all apparently born, raised and trained in Gaza. See also here (30,000-40,000 fighters).
The people of Gaza enroll their children, approximately 100,000 in 2023, in camps run by Hamas and Islamic Jihad that promote terrorist ideology.
The people of Gaza built hundreds of miles of underground tunnels and bunkers beneath Gaza City and the surrounding parts of northern Gaza (“Gaza Metro”) used by Hamas to carry out this and other terrorist attacks.
The people of Gaza built and smuggled in thousands of missiles and other weapons used in terrorist attacks against ordinary Israeli citizens.
The people of Gaza maintain the administrative functions of Hamas, which allows it to continue and expand its terrorist activities.
The people of Gaza also indirectly supported Hamas embedding itself into the civilian life of Gaza:
Despite their own poverty, the people of Gaza allow Hamas to divert desperately needed foreign aid into instruments of war, including supporting its military, acquiring weapons and creating and adding to the Gaza metro.
The people of Gaza allow Hamas to use their residences, schools, mosques, hospitals and ambulances for its terror activities, including creating and firing weapons and hiding its members.
The people of Gaza allow border checkpoints to be used to smuggle military parts and equipment, which makes it more difficult to receive desperately needed aid or to allow workers to come and go.
The people of Gaza allow their women, children, elderly and others to be used as human shields to protect active Hamas militants, with no concern about civilian deaths in Gaza.
The people of Gaza allow Hamas to continue its military activities against Israel knowing that each Hamas strike will necessarily lead to retaliation by Israel, which cannot help but kill and injure a large number of Gazans.
The people of Gaza should be working to destroy Hamas
For their own sake, and because they put Hamas in power, the people of Gaza should be doing all they can to destroy Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza.
They should fight back against Hamas, even at the risk of their own lives.
They should enlist the aid of anyone who will help destroy Hamas, including Israel and the United States.
They should urge their family and friends in other countries to work to destroy Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza.
They should tell Israelis and others where the Hamas leadership lives, operates and hides its weapons, and where the Israeli hostages may be.
They should stop supporting Hamas politically. Despite the continuous harm done by Hamas to the people of Gaza, only 50% agree with this statement: Hamas should stop calling for Israel’s destruction, and instead accept a permanent two-state solution based on the 1967 borders.
A small number of Gazans do oppose Hamas in noticeable ways. These efforts should be supported by other Gazans and those who want better lives for the people of Gaza. Unfortunately, many Gazans, their friends and so called supporters make no effort to weaken Hamas, and they oppose any effective actions by Israel or the United States to do so.
It is sad to see people suffer. However, the people of Gaza created more suffering for themselves by electing Hamas and supporting it for 16 years. Our priorities should be to remove Hamas to reduce this suffering and to support Israel’s right to live free of terrorist activity. Since Hamas has embedded itself in the lives of the people of Gaza and the people of Gaza have supported Hamas for so long, removing Hamas will necessarily involve the deaths of possibly tens of thousands of Gazans. However, this is the only path to a normal, civilized life for the people of Gaza and security for Israel.
There are two very different visions for the future and what the Middle East can and should be. There’s a vision that we very strongly espouse that has countries in the region normalizing their relations, integrating, working together in common purpose, and upholding and bringing forth the rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people. That’s one vision; it’s very clear. There’s another vision that Hamas has demonstrated in the most horrific way, and that’s a vision of death, of destruction, of nihilism, of terrorism. That’s a vision that does nothing to advance aspirations for Palestinians, that does nothing to help create better futures for people in the region, and does everything to bring total darkness to everyone that it’s able to affect. Secretary of State Blinken
The central cause of Gaza’s misery is Hamas. It alone bears the blame for the suffering it has inflicted on Israel and knowingly invited against Palestinians. The best way to end the misery is to remove the cause, not stay the hand of the remover. Bret Stephens
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