Released hostages and released prisoners

Hamas (and all Palestinian sources plus Al Jazeera) routinely write about the "exchange of prisoners". Some Western media (in fact quite a few, unfortunately) repeat this statement.

So what really happened on Monday the 13th of October when the last living hostages returned to Israel after 2 years?

Below you will find some information  about 20 returnees and some of the 250 sentenced Palestinians released in return.

Hostages:

1)  Gali and Ziv Berman, 28-year-old twin brothers, abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza. In Kfar Aza 64 residents were murdered on October 7, 2023. Gali and Ziv were kidnapped and held hostage for over 2 years. They were separated from each other and only during their release they could confirm that their twin brother was alive. And the twin brothers lived, worked and traveled together. They also supported the same soccer team and played together. and than they were separated for two years on October 7 not knowing if the other is alive and if they will ever see each other again. Their family for 2 long years did not know if they are injured, alive or together or separated.

2)  Ariel Cunio, 28, was abducted in the attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz on 7 October. Ariel's brother Eitan, who escaped the Hamas-led gunmen, said the last message from Ariel said: "We are in a horror movie." David Cunio, 35, another of Ariel's brothers, was also kidnapped from Nir Oz. Both brothers were kidnapped with their partner (Ariel) and wife and 3-year-old twin daughters (David). David's wife and children were released in November 2023 after over 50 days in captivity (for 3-year-olds it must have been an eternity), Ariel's partner spent close to year-and-a-half in captivity, only released in January 2025. Both brothers hold Israeli and Argentinian citizenship. David missed 2 years of his daughters life (now - 40% of their time on Earth). 90-year-old Eshter Cunio was not kidnapped solely because she stated she is fan of Argentinian player Messi which seemed to be also supported by Hamasnik. 

3)  Avinatan Or, 32, abducted from Nova festival together with is girlfriend Noa Argamani. They became icons after film with Noa being taken away on a motorcycle and crying for help with her hands towards Avinatan became the picture from Nova. Noa was released by IDF in 2024, just in time to see her dying of cancer mother. Avinatan came back after two years, both years he spent in total isolation not knowing if Noa is alive and what happened to her. He was also cuffed and put in the cage after trying to escape.

4)  Matan Angrest, 22, an IDF soldier, was in a tank that was attacked near the Gaza perimeter fence on 7 October.His friends perished. He was (as may be seen on the film made by terrorists) taken unconscious from the tank, beaten, kicked and later in captivity, tortured. Matan still has unhealed wounds from October 7, never really treated. "Matan has severe burns on the whole of his right hand. He has deformities in his fingers and other injuries, including to his eyesight. He said that he went through very severe torture, at least in the first few months." his mother said.

5)  Matan Zangauker, 25, was taken with his partner Ilana Gritzewsky from Nir Oz. Ilana was released during the November 2023 ceasefire. He suffers from degenerative muscle disease that runs in his family and was suffering badly physically and mentally in the captivity. Zangauker underwent an “emergency medical intervention” in captivity due to persistent abdominal pain. His mother stated: "Since I learned about the torture and the physical and mental suffering my son is enduring, I haven’t been able to eat, and I can barely breathe. How can a mother survive knowing her son, who suffers from a degenerative muscle disease, is being held alone in captivity? Can he even stand on his own? Hold a glass of water? My heart is breaking over what he’s going through.” Here is a video of reunion of mother and son after his release.

6)  Eitan Horn, 38, an Israeli-Argentine dual national, was kidnapped along with his elder brother Yair from Nir Oz. Yair was freed in February 2025 during the last ceasefire."Every day we imagined what we'd do if we were freed," Yair recalled recently. Eitan lost about half his body's weight in captivity.

7)  Omri Miran, 48, was abducted from his home in Nahal Oz. He was abducted after being kept with his wife Lishay and his two small daughters for 3 hours with terrorists aiming their guns at them. Omri and his family were taken by terrorists after he decided to open the door of their safe room to begging of Tomer, 17-year-old neighbour's son whom Hamas terrorists taken with him to knock on neighbours' safe room doors. Omri knew in what danger he puts himself and his family yet he opened his safe room door to Tomer trying to protect the teenager. Sadly Tomer was still murdered by terrorists as was his mother, his brother and his step-father. Omri and his family also heard 18-yer-old neighbour's daughter murdered while they were awaiting their fate. Omri, then 46 years old, was a Shiatsu therapist and owner of a private clinic called Echad HaAdam in Kibbutz Nahal Oz before Hamas terrorists kidnapped him. In the mornings, he took care of the plants and the beauty of the kibbutz, and in the evenings, he cared fot people and tended to the body and soul of everyone around him. 

8)  Nimrod Cohen, only 21, was serving as an IDF soldier when his tank was attacked by Hamas at Nahal Oz. He experienced torture in Hamas tunnels, both physical and psychological being repeatedly told that nobody in Israel was doing anything to bring him home.

9)  Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24, attended the Nova music festival with his brother Gal. Shortly before Guy's release Gal stated: “Time has been passing very weirdly,” Gal said. “In a way I feel that I was with him at Nova yesterday and in a way I feel like I haven’t seen my brother in more than 100 years.” He recalls he was hearing every day his brother screaming to him from Hamas tunnels. Guy experiences physical and psychological torture in captivity. As part of the psychological torture Gilboa-Dalal suffered in Hamas captivity, terrorists forced him and his friend Evyatar David to watch the release of Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Eliya Cohen, Avera Mengistu, and Hisham al-Sayed after being promised their freedom. Gal also told Ynet “One of the guards told them there was a deal and that they’d get food the next day. The next day he said he lied—there was no deal and no food.” He was forced to crawl on all four and bark like a dog when terrorists beat him. Released hostage Tal Shoham told Channel 12 in July that Gilboa-Dalal and David were suffering in “horrific” conditions from malnutrition and were subjected to intense physical abuse. The pair had been bound and forced to sit facing a wall with black sacks over their heads for extended periods and denied access to water. Shoham said that Gilboa-Dalal confessed to drinking dirty water from a barrel used to flush the toilet when the guards weren’t looking, just to quench his thirst after he was left so dehydrated he was unable to speak. While in captivity he underwent multiple infections, hearing loss in one ear, stomach pain and vomiting, as well as skin problems and vitamin deficiencies.

 A video released by Hamas shows Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal witnessing the release of fellow hostages in Nuseirat, central Gaza, February 22, 2025. (credit: HAMAS AL-AQSA TV)

10) Alon Ohel, 24, has Israeli, German and Serbian citizenship. He was another one captured from Nova festival. His family didn't know for almost two years if he is alive or not. He is (was?) talented pianist who was giving recitals in jazz and classical music and was planning to continue his musical studies and career. He has been captured by terrorist from so called "Death Shelter" at the Re'im junction. After prolonged fighting by the festival-goers, Hamas gunmen entered the shelter and abducted Ohel along with some others, all of whom were wounded to varying degrees. The first sign he is alive came in February this year after few released in exchange hostages testified they had met him. According to their testimonies Ohel was injured during the attack by shrapnel that struck his eye, causing the loss of vision in one eye and possible severe damage to the other. Or Levi, one of released in February, testified that Ohel was chained by his legs, severely malnourished, and suffering from untreated injuries, including near-blindness. During last weeks in Gaza he was used as a human shield. His shrapnel wound, untreated for two years, caused blindness in one eye.

11) Yosef-Chaim Ohana, 25, had been at the festival with a friend, who said they had remained to help people escape the gunfire before running themselves. He was a combat soldier and commander previously, the past that fortunately was hidden from terrorists during his captivity. He wouldn't have returned alive. Many of former hostages talk how he tried to uplift them and keep their spirits during their ordeal. He spent several days in a pit underground with another six captives, without enough room to sit or lie down and with barely enough air to survive.

12) Elkana Bohbot, 36, was working at the festival when he was abducted. He stayed behind to help others to escape. Earlier this year, Israeli media cited a released hostage as saying Elkana, who has asthma, was being held in inhumane conditions and had developed a severe skin disease. The young father was bound, blindfolded, his hands and feet tied. He went through severe abuse. 

 13) Eitan Mor, 25, was working as a security guard at the Nova music festival. His father Mor said he saved dozens of people before being kidnapped by Hamas gunmen. His family had been told by a previously released hostage who spent time with Eitan in a tunnel that he had acted as a "spokesman to the captors" and "lifted everyone's spirits". However the first year of his captivity Eitan was held in isolation. Over his roughly two years in Gaza, Eitan was transferred between approximately 40 different hiding places—all in Gaza City, some above and some below ground. He suffered periods of extreme hunger, during which he received only a few spoonfuls of rice daily. In one incident, Eitan managed to steal pita bread but was almost beaten to death for it. 

14)  Maxim Herkin, 37, is an Israeli-Russian dual national who was invited to the festival at the last moment. His two friends were killed in the attack.

15)  Bar Kupershtein, 23, was working at the festival and stayed behind during the attack to help treat casualties. He told his grandmother that he would head home as soon as they were finished. It took him two years. The grandchild of Holocaust survivors and the son of father who suffered severe injuries in accident and could neither stand nor talk. Tal Kuperstein, Bar's dad, taught himself with all the effort to stand and talk during the two years to welcome his son. It worked.

16)  Segev Kalfon, 27, was running away from the festival with a friend when he was taken hostage by Hamas gunmen. He described being tied, blindfolded, and beaten by the terrorists after capture, and repeatedly assaulted whenever he said his name. Segev was being punished for refusing to change his name, mocked as a “worthless Jew,” and made to perform exhausting labor.  His captors forced him to dig and live in Hamas’ terror tunnels under constant threat of death, sometimes keeping him alone for long stretches. “Death becomes your best friend,” Kalfon says, describing how a single bottle of water felt like gold and how survival became a miracle.

17)  Evyatar David, 24, was at the festival. He texted his family to say "they are bombarding the party". His family say they later received a text from an unknown number, with a video of Evyatar handcuffed on the floor of a dark room. In August 2025, Hamas published a video of an emaciated and weak Evyatar in a tunnel.Emaciated Evyatar was forced to dig what he believed to be his future grave. Clips from that video were used by Greta Thunberg on her social media as illustration of Palestinian suffering in Israeli prisons!!!!

18) Rom Braslavski, 21, was working on security at the festival. According to an account published by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, he was trying to rescue an injured person when he was caught in a volley of fire. In August 2025, Palestinian Islamic Jihad published a video of Rom, in which he is seen crying as he says he has run out of food and water. He said he is unable to stand or walk, and "is at death's door". Medical experts said he was suffering from "deliberate, prolonged, and systematic starvation". Throughout his time in captivity, Braslavski held onto his faith, often praying, which, according to his uncle, gave him mental strength. "The will to live, the inner strength, seeing us, kept him going" his uncle said. He wrote to himself there, but at one point, the terrorists took away what he had written. He spoke Arabic with his captors, and now he speaks fluent Arabic.

 And now who are some of the nearly 2,000 people exchanged for the above described innocent hostages:

1) Imad Qawasmeh, 52 (Hamas) – convicted for the 2004 Beersheva bus bombing that killed 16 Israelis and wounded over 100. The youngest victim was 3.5 years old boy sitting on his mother's lap. This attack also fastened creation of the barrier between West Bank and Israel as bombers crossed the green line on foot. Imad Qawasmeh, who planned the attacked and was sentenced for 16 cases of murder, was part of a "pay-for-slay" scheme, when sentenced terrorists receive stipends, often from international aid money (your taxes included!).

2)  Muhammad Aref Samhan, 55 (Fatah/Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades) – responsible for 2003 Jerusalem bus bombing killing 24 and wounding over 130. Many of the victims were children, some were infants. The bomb was spiked with ball-bearings designed to increase injuries on the crowded bus.As so many children were victims (they were mostly orthodox Jews returning from the Western Wall prayers) the tragedy was dubbed "the children bus". Aref Samhan dispatched suicide bomber who blew up the bus.Here is a piece from Associated Press report: 

"Strollers were scattered near the stricken bus, medics carried away children with blood-smeared faces and a baby girl died in a hospital before doctors could find her parents. At least five children were among the 18 dead in Tuesday's suicide bombing by a Palestinian militant who blew himself up on a Jerusalem bus. Forty children were among more than 100 people injured. The attack was the 100th Palestinian suicide bombing against Israelis since the latest round of fighting began in September 2000."

3)  Qassem Aref Khalil al-Asafreh, 36 (Hamas) – involved in 2019 stabbing murder of yeshivah student Dvir Sorek. Al-Asafreh was part of a terrorist cell with a cousin and another operative. 

4) Ibrahim Muhammad al-Raai, 46 (Fatah/Tanzim) – responsible for 2006 Nablus bombing and multiple shooting attacks. The attack in the Casbah, aka Old City, in Nablus, that killed St.-Sgt. Osher Damari and wounded six other soldiers on July 17, 2006. Al-Raai was only arrested in 2022. He was recruited remotely by a terrorist from Gaza and worked to recruit additional terrorists. He was also involved in shooting attacks in the area of Joseph’s Tomb, on the outskirts of Nablus. From the Shin Bet investigation, it emerged that he participated in dozens of shooting attacks against Israeli forces and planting of explosives.

5)  Rashid Mahmoud Omar, 48 (Fatah) – convicted of murder of a Palestinian, whom he believed to be Israeli "collaborator". He was convicted of causing death with intent, membership in a Fatah terrorist cell, shooting at people, attempted murder, and involvement in hostile actions.

6)  Firas Sadiq Muhammad Ghanem, 51 (Fatah/Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades) – responsible for attacks causing 9 Israeli deaths. He is a security detainee from Jerusalem who was captured during the Second Intifada. He is accused of offenses including causing death with intent, possession of firearms, attempted murder and conspiracy to cause death with intent. According to the Prisoners Organization, he is accused of participating in attacks when he belonged to Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. It was noted that these attacks led to the murder of nine Israelis.

Can there really be any comparison between  kidnapped hostages who underwent hell on earth for two years in captivity and arrested, accused and - mostly - convicted terrorists with blood on their hands? Can there really be any comparison between calling family to inform them that their near and dear is returning from captivity and calling a bereaved family whose member has been murdered to let them know that perpetrator is walking free so somebody's innocent child, father, husband can return home? Can there really be any comparison between a state supervised legal process in which crime needs to be proved and perpetrator brought to justice and kidnapping hostages, often supportive towards Palestinians kibbutzniks, to steel them from their families and torture them in Gaza?

I leave you with these questions. 

 

Flotilla to Gaza organized by Hamas

 The last few weeks were the time of  yet another one of flotillas sailing to Gaza, creating PR and content, its participants being detained and later deported. Later they shared some stories resembling what they probably thought the world wants and is ready to hear.

Let's have a closer look at the Sumud Flotilla. Sumud in Arabic means "resilience" so the whole enterprise is named in Arabic. The flotilla consisted from over 40 boats with 500 participants from over 44 countries. Definitely a large project. 

The self - declared statements about this enterprise were (in their own words):

•  "We are independent, international, and unaffiliated with any government or political party.",
•  "The Israeli occupation enforces a total siege—by land, sea, and air—deliberately cutting off Gaza from the outside world"
•  "These boats don't just carry aid; they carry a message"
•  "The Israeli occupation's blockade of Gaza constitutes collective punishment, a violation of the Geneva Conventions."

All the above statements are not true which I will try to show below.

They definitely were international, but not independent. Here's the story: 

The PCPA (Palestinian Conference for Palestinians Abroad) was established in 2018 and functions as Hamas’ representative body abroad, operating de facto as Hamas’ embassies. The organization operates under the pretense of civilian cover and is responsible, on behalf of Hamas, for mobilizing actions against Israel, including violent demonstrations, marches against Israel, and demonstration and provocation flotillas. The PCPA's chief in the United Kingdom is Zaher Birawi. Below you will find few of his pretty recent pictures:

 The PCPA was designated by Israel in 2021 as a terrorist organization. there are two documents of utmost interest found by IDF in Gaza. 

The first one (in translation here) is a letter by Ismail Haniyeh publicly endorsing the PCPA. This proves already well established links between Hamas and the PCPA leading to the designation of the latter one as a terrorist organization in the same 2021 year.

The second one (fragment of the translation here) is a list of PCPA operatives in different countries of Europe. The significant names for the story presented here are Zaher Birawi (no 19 on the list) and Saif Abu Kashk (no 25 on the list). The first one may be seen on the pictures above proving his links to the flotilla participants. The second is, in addition to being a Hamas-aligned PCPA operative, the CEO of Cyber Neptune, a front company in Spain that owns dozens of the ships that participated in the “Sumud” flotilla. Thus, these ships are secretly owned by Hamas. Quite possibly financed at least partially by the "humanitarian help" fund being so generously given to Gaza by EU, the USA, UN, Australia, Canada and others. Saif Abu Keshk, based in Barcelona, was an official member of the flotilla Steering Committee. In June 2025, Egyptian authorities arrested Abu Keshk, who was leading the “March to Gaza” campaign in collaboration with Yahia Sarri, a prominent Muslim Brotherhood cleric in Algeria with direct ties to Hamas. In 2024, Sarri met with senior Hamas official Basem Naim. The meeting took place in January 2024 and was conducted in an official and public capacity. Basem Naim is the Head of Hamas’ Department of International Relations. This meeting paved the way for Sarri’s collaboration with campaigns designed to serve Hamas: the March to Gaza and the Global Sumud Flotilla.

 Wael Nawar is another member of the Sumud Flotilla steering committee. He previously served as coordinator and spokesperson of the Soumoud Convoy. He has been documented in meetings with representatives of Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) - all terrorist organizations designated as such by the USA, European Union and other countries.

Above: in the meeting Nawar (center, wearing a blue shirt, fifth from the right) is seen alongside senior Hamas official Youssef Hamdan (third from the right). The meeting took place in June 2025 in Algiers.

 

Above: Nawar, member of the Sumud Flotilla steering committee, attending Nasrallah funeral (Hezbollah's chief killed by Israel) and photographed together with  Ihsan Attaya, a senior official of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

Have I shown that the organizing committee of the Sumud Flotilla had nothing to do with (even ill informed and naive) good Samaritans? It was organizationally, financially and in any other way Hamas's enterprise with participation of some useful idiots. 

Let's go to subsequent points.

• There is no Israeli occupation. At least not in Gaza (I deliberately leave out here discussion about West Bank as the Flotilla was about Gaza). Had there been one we would not experience the massacre of October 7 as it would be impossible to prepare such an attack in a country under real occupation (some 30.000 well armed troops, approximately 3-5 thousand sent to Israel with motorcycles, cars, kalashnikovs, RPGs, grenades and so on after previous shelling it with rockets. Since 2005 there are no Israelis in Gaza, at least during peace times, others than kidnapped by Hamas.
• The siege (or rather the blockade, there is no siege and there is a huge difference between the two) is neither absolute - trucks with aid enter Gaza on daily basis for the last 20 years, Gazans have passports - Palestine Authority issues passports recognized by other countries since 1996 under Oslo Treaties -  and are able to travel through Egypt (provided Egypt will grant them visas but this is totally normal). Also provided they will receive passports from PA although it is fighting with Hamas and Hamas with it, but that again has nothing to do with Israel. Moreover this legal blockade was introduced and is sustained by Israel and Egypt jointly (otherwise it wouldn't be possible unless Israel and Egypt were at war which they thankfully are not).
• The boats carried NO humanitarian aid at all, or rather very symbolic quantities. Israeli troops retrieved 2 tons of aid from all the boats in Flotilla taken together. For comparison one truck takes 24 tons of load and on weekly basis between 600 and 1,200 trucks enter Gaza. No wonder activists partaking in Flotilla cruise did not agree to pass the aid by Israeli channels (docking in Ashdod and transporting aid on trucks) or (if they didn't want to deal with Israeli authorities) through Vatican channels and Jerusalem Patriarchy which was proposed by PM Meloni and agreed upon by Israel, Vatican, Jerusalem Patriarchy and even Cyprus if they wished to leave aid there. There was just no aid to be left.
• The blockade is fully legal as described here. And in the case of legal blockades established for security reasons the country imposing such blockade has every right to stop vessels bound to break the blockade or declaring the intention of doing so (both requirements fulfilled in this case). More or less at the same time when the Flotilla was stopped French troops entered one of tankers from shade fleet on international waters and arrested its Chinese captain. Nobody except Russia protested, few even described the incident. 

Therefore ALL claims by activists from Flotilla are lies. Nevertheless the most dangerous and outrageous one is that this Flotilla of Antisemitism and Hate was organized and financed by Hamas and the world, including almost all Western media pretended not to notice. 

Maritime blockade of the Gaza coast - legality and implications

Recently the topic of maritime blockade and its legality has somewhat dominated the media, especially since some of the ships were stopped by Israel on international waters.

The blockade is absolutely legal, but since it has become the subject of controversy let me describe the issue in more detail. The basis of maritime blockade is the 1994 San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea. According to this document the below conditions need to be fulfilled for the blockade to be legal:

• it must be formally declared and publicly notified - Israel has done it on the 3rd of January 2009,
• it must be effectively enforced in practice - it is, and I don't think anybody has doubts,
• it must be applied impartially to all ships - that is why you can't let some ships go through the blockade and some not,
• it must not block access to neutral ports or coastlines - it does not, Israeli, Tunisian, Egyptian ports are open without restrictions,
• it must not stop the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians - it does not. For all the years since 2009 humanitarian aid (on which Gaza relays consequently spending all aid not on development but on weapons) was delivered. Even at present, during the war the aid is still going to Gaza through land (trucks) and air (recent humanitarian aerial deliveries).

 Additionally, Article 51 of the UN Charter affirms the inherent right of self-defense, which justifies blockades in response to armed attacks, including from non-state actors like Hamas.

What's more after 2010 Mavi Marmara incident the United Nations Secretary-General appointed a Panel of Inquiry to examine the events and it stated that the blockade is legal. Here  is a full text of the Palmer Commission's findings. You may check for yourselves. 

Moreover it does not mean that willing to help with humanitarian needs parties can't use the seafaring way which may be the most convenient for them. At present all ships carrying humanitarian cargo are welcome in the Israeli port of Ashdod and many use it, including United Arab Emirates' ship MIRA and others. After inspection for weapons, explosives and illegal materials cargo is put on trucks and taken to Gaza.

As stated above to keep blockade legality Israel may not selectively let through some ships, all need to be kept outside. It is also worth noting, that, although Gaza has its port, it is small and designed mainly for fishing boats. During the Oslo Accords hope period a Palestinian Naval Police station was put there, however in 2002, during the second intifada, Israeli forces attacked their facilities in the port, after Naval Police commanders were implicated in an attempt to secretly bring in 50 tons of weapons by boat into Gaza.It was significant that Palestinian freighter (yes, they had them at the time when things seemed to be moving in right direction) Karine A was found to be carrying 50 tons of weapons, including short-range Katyusha rockets, antitank missiles, and high explosives. The captain of Karine A was Colonel Omar Akawi, former member of the Palestinian Authority. At present Gaza port is not sufficiently deep to allow bigger ships to dock. That is all a matter for future as with raging war, all legal requirements fulfilled and history of attempts to smuggle weapons for Hamas into Gaza on ships the blockade is there to stay.

The Sumud Flotilla, trying to break through the blockade not only was committing a criminal act but also taking substantial risks, as some believe it is not only right but duty to attack ships bound for breaking the blockade. Moreover, flotilla was carrying symbolic amounts of aid (even according to Al Jazeera) - barely 2 tons whereas one truck carries 24 tons. They refused passing the aid through Ashdod, through Vatican channels or Jerusalem patriarchy.

At the moment there are 3 maritime blockades in effect: imposed on Gaza by Israel and Egypt (somehow everybody happens to forget Egypt is just as much a party to the blockade as Israel); imposed on Yemen by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt (making Egypt active in 2 out of three blockades) and imposed on Ukraine by Russia on the Black Sea. 

How many of you heard about any protests against Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates or Bahrain because of the blockade?

How many protests against Russian blockade (which is illegal) have you seen?

 Above Port of Ashdod

 

What is the concern of UN

 Recently we had the General Session of the United Nations, in a way special, as it was 80 years after it was established. I must confess I am not enamored in any way in UN and regard its activities over last 25 years or so as counterproductive to its declared goals in most cases (and at best). It was a very good forum for communication during cold war years and sometimes it was indispensable. Also some of its divisions and agents achieved wonderful things, notably WHO when it led a way to smallpox eradication. However, after the cold war years were over UN had problems with reinventing its mission for the first ten years or so and later acted as political forum of questionable ethics and quality. Still, you may not share my view (but if you'd like to comment please do). What is of interest for this blog is who and how was referring to Israel-Hamas war during the recent session (and earlier).

So, usually the General Session should allow representatives of countries to address what they consider especially important for the countries they represent. All their speeches may be found on the UN site and you may listen to them if you wish. I did to few of them, some with interest, some with incredulity for various reasons, all in preparation for this entry.

Israel was represented by its PM Benjamin Netanyahu. I am, to put it mildly, not a fan of the present PM of Israel and probably we would have disagree on most issues if we'd ever meet in person (we won't, but just if). Still, whoever wrote his speech did a marvelous job and I could not help agreeing with almost each and every statement he made. It was long, but was dealing precisely and informatively with present Israeli situation and the history of conflict. He was delivering this speech to empty chairs (mostly) as many representatives of other countries ostentatiously left the room. I have no slightest doubt that they were at the time or later checking his speech, themselves or through proxies, as taking part in politics require such things (OK, I may be wrong but I assume they still do at least part of their job). The gesture was for the show. But what does such gesture tell us? That the assembly of the nations' representatives which were willing at one time or another to listen to Qaddafi, Khomeini, Taliban, Arafat (at the time when he was nothing else but a terrorist), Fidel Castro, Khrushchev banging his shoe and so on and so on. They stayed and listened. When the PM of the democratic state, even not liked (the PM, not the state, the enmity towards Israel is much bigger issue than lack of sympathy towards one or the other PM), takes stand people who are professional politicians and diplomats behave like children in kindergarten. They don't question, they don't push for clarification, they just leave. Pathetic.

Still, other speeches were of even more interest to me.  

There we had President Recep Erdogan from Turkey. He is known for being president for the last 24 years, massacre of Curds, islamization of Turkey and distancing from Ataturk reforms, dismantling courts, putting political opponents and their supporters to prison, sustaining criminalization of so much as a mention of the genocide of Armenians, diverging from NATO. Has he mentioned Turkey's affairs? Not at all. His whole speech was dedicated to demonization and accusation of Israel.

There we had President Ahmad Al-Sharaa from Syria. Famous for his part in creating and spreading ISIS, crimes against humanity during ISIS rule, who until recently was wanted by the United States with the price of 10 million dollars for his head. He was talking peace, unity and tolerance (none of which he supported, to put it mildly, in his life so far) and at the same time accusing Israel of crimes.

There we had Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, representing the country that attacked Ukraine, the very country they guaranteed the borders of, the country which on average once a week threatens Europe with nuclear weapons and invasion. He was accusing West generally of all type of crimes and Israel specifically about bombing and starvation of Palestinians. Let me just remind you that the same Russia sought and received (together with Syrian President Assad at the time) to engage Hezbollah to murder Palestinians in refugee camp in Syria for their revolt against Assad.

There we had Egyptian representative, Badr Ahmed Mohammed Abdelatty, who was speaking about "Palestinian brethren who are falling victims to heinous action" and accused Israel of "war against defenseless civilians for the sin they did not commit". Let me just remind you that we are talking about the country who holds the same blockade for Gaza since 2007 for the same reasons as Israel. The country who does not allow civilians from Gaza to enter its territory, and never did open itself to Arab refugees from former mandate though it controlled Gaza for 20 years. Some brethren.

Of course for the above mentioned speeches nobody left the room or even asked a single question. 

I could make fun of the representative of Indonesia, who mentioned the "right to life, freedom and pursuit of happiness" as the rights arising from the UN Declaration of Human Rights (well, I do remember the American Declaration of Independence quite well) and his claiming that these rights codified by UN gave inspiration to many revolutions, among them the French one, the Russian one and the Chinese one. Obviously he knows history no better than other representatives in UN (judging by their actions or lack of thereof). Still I can only thank him for being the only one (sic!) I have heard mentioning Sudan, the worst ongoing humanitarian crisis, and declaring Indonesia's willingness to send 20,000 troops as peacekeepers to Gaza or Sudan. Indonesia is not the country known for meticulous administration of human rights, yet judging by the speech it is far better than most.

That would have been funny if not so tremendously sad. 

Arab victims of October 7

 Hamas's attack of October 7, 2023 has been aimed primarily at Jews but by they were not the only victims. Since the narrative about what is happening now is more and more antisemitic, blaming all Jews for the war and portraying all Palestinians as Jewish (or at the very least Israeli) victims I would like to portrait some of the October 7 victims who are NOT Jewish. 

In Sderot on October 7 Amer Odeh Abu Sabila, 25, from the Abu Talul Bedouin village, construction worker and a father of two, died saving two Jewish sisters, 3 Leah and 6 years old Romi Swissa. The family with  two small daughters tried to drive north when the rockets started. On the crossing near Sderot borders they encountered terrorists who started shooting at them. Mother, Odaya, run in one direction with Romi while father run in another direction carrying Leah. Father, Dolev, was shot, but managed to order his 3 years old to go back to mother. After a while she did and met her mother and older sister near the car. Unfortunately Odaya was wounded. That was when Amer heard Romi's shouting for help. He entered the vehicle and tried to drive wounded Odaya and the girls to the hospital. They were both murdered. Romi hided with her little sister on the floor of the backseat and after a while shouted for help. Rescued from the car by the passer-by they were handed, covered in their parents blood, to a random family to take care of. Both girls survived. Their parents and brave Amer did not. Amer's relative, Mussa Abu Sabila, 41, was also murdered on October 7, while working as a security guard in Kibbutz Re’im.

 Amer Odeh Abu Sabila above

 Dr, Tarek Abu Arar, an Arab Israeli doctor, engaged, among others, in volunteering for United Hatzalah, was asked to take emergency shift in Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon on this Saturday morning. He agreed. While driving to Ashkelon early in the morning, he heard first, vague warnings about something unusual, and as a protection put on the protective bullet proof vest provided to all volunteers by United Hatzalah. On his way he spotted a man on the shoulder of the road. He though he might be hurt so he stopped and approached the man. It turned out to be one of the Hamas terrorists, who,  after the doctor approached, shot him in the chest. The vest saved his life, but in shock he started yelling and praying. That was when the other terrorist intervened shouting "stop, stop, he's an Arab" and saved his life, for the moment anyway. There appeared around 10 terrorists with sophisticated weapons, wearing outfits resembling IDF uniforms. They examined him from his knowledge of Quran and wounded his leg. Terrorists believed that keeping him as a hostage provides them protection against fire from Israeli helicopters while they were shooting at passing vehicles killing travelers. They intended to shoot the doctor as well but he was lucky. A group of Israeli soldiers finally appeared and after killing terrorists rescued Dr. Arar,

In the battle for Nahal Oz military base Warrant Officer Ibrahim Kharuba, Bedouin soldier, was one of the 4 fiercest fighters defending female lookout command center. He was fighting till his last bullet and fell there. He has received Medal of Valor (the second highest decoration in the IDF) posthumously. During the battle, Kharuba reportedly stood and told the female lookouts that it was an honor for him to die protecting them and the State of Israel. "It was my greatest honor to defend you," he said, according to details uncovered in the investigation. Officer Kharuba is credited with killing 17 attackers, his body was found the closest to the door of the command room where the female lookouts run.

 

Above Warrant Officer Ibrahim Kharuba, who tried to talk the terrorist in Arabic to leave the women in peace in the name of Islam. They did not. He was killed in the battle, 16 female lookouts were murdered by Hamas with use of chemical substance among others, 7 were kidnapped. Surviving 5 were released in January 2025. His father Hassan stated how proud he is of his son.

In the same base some civilians, escaping from the attacked Nova party, found refuge. They were put into the sleeping quarters of the base, but when the assault on the base started they found themselves in tremendous danger. Terrorists were moving closer and closer to the place of their hiding. One of the Bedouin IDF soldiers, who may not be identified for security reasons, changed clothes to civilian ones and shouted to terrorist in Arabic pretending to be one of them. He managed to drive them away from the place where the escapees from the festival were placed. The civilians survived. Terrorists driven towards the Israeli fire did not.

Another 10 Hamas terrorists barricaded themselves in the Nahal Oz base sport facilities and were snipping through the windows at Israeli soldiers. A Bedouin officer, named Muhammad, managed to get in contact with Israeli officers in the bunker and - through them - with Israeli air force. He directed aerial attack at sport facilities. The attack killed all terrorists inside. He was later described as the first Israeli officer to ever order bombing of his own base.

Why am I writing this? for double purpose of remembering Israeli Arab heroes of the day who deserve never to be forgotten. And also to show how despicable, immoral and outrageous are the cries of support for Hamas as some kind of "resistance" against Jews and Israel in the West. I already wrote about growing antisemitism here but even from purely Arab perspective praising Hamas is praising terror and crime. Hamas not only rules in totalitarian way in Gaza, kills all peace craving Palestinians, kills any Palestinian Autonomy officers but was also engaged inside Israel on October 7 (as before) in a war against ALL Israelis (regardless their political views or ethnicity, Druzes, Bedouins, Arabs alike were murdered and taken hostage as well as non-Israelis (visitors and foreign workers) were slaughtered and taken hostage.

The heroes were the attacked who were defending themselves and others, sometimes at the prize of their lives, Jews and non-Jews alike. Attackers were the worst type of terrorist, who after slaughter, killing, raping and torturing have hidden among people whom they claimed to represent and whom they used and continue using as living shields. 

Reaction at October 7, not what you might think

 There exist now widespread legend that Israel met with international sympathy after the horrible attack of October 7, and only later prolonged war and reported casualties among Gazans changed how the West perceives the situation. Connected to this legend are two others: that Israel went to war with Gaza almost immediately after the attack and that Hezbollah's assault on Israel (rockets on the north of the country) was a response to the war in Gaza (mainly because Hezbollah repeatedly stated so). Let's examine all these legends.

1.  Israel had world's sympathy and support right after the attack. While obviously many people all over the world were horrified by what has happened on October 7, and many countries expressed formal condolences as per diplomatic protocol, this reaction was as far from universal as may be in similar circumstances.

On October 7, 2023 the first anti-Israeli manifestation (when the battles in Israel with the terrorists who infiltrated from Gaza were still raging) took place in London; on October 8 - in Manchester and New York. In Manchester Richard Barnard, far-left activist, co-founder of Palestinian Action (now designated as terrorist organization which is being defended by Banksy!) stated his happiness because of murder of over one thousand Israelis (at this time the number was unknown) stating: “When we hear the resistance, the Al-Aqsa flood, we must turn that flood into a tsunami of the whole world.” 

In Europe and in the US during October 2023 and later (but I focus here on the initial period BEFORE even the ground invasion started) posters of Israeli hostages were ripped off the walls and poster signs, including the posters showing the youngest hostage - 9 months old Kfir Bibas.

 While in UK and many other European places the first to applaud and celebrate the massacre were often local Muslims and far-left activists in the USA the first to condemn the victim were professors and students from the most famous (and expensive) American universities.

On October 7, when the massacre and fighting were still going on the following statements were made by some professors:

* Zareena Grewal, Associate Professor of American Studies, Ethnicity, Race, & Migration and Religious Studies at Yale University in response to the tweet "civilians are civilians" wrote: “Settlers are not civilians. This is not hard" . She is known to support BDS and condemn the co-initiative of Muslims and Jews to organize inter-faith dialogue. She is still a Yale professor despite 55,000 students calling for her removal.

* Danny Shaw, Adjunct Lecturer of Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Race, Ethnicity, Class and Gender at the City University of New York tweeted on October 16, 9 days after murderous escapade:

 

* Russell Rickford, Associate Professor of History at Cornell University on October 15, a week after the attack, gave a speech in which he confessed: "It was exhilarating. It was exhilarating, it was energizing."

*  Jemma DeCristo, Assistant Professor of American Studies at University of California, Davis called for intimidation and violence against journalists reporting on killing Jews by Hamas:

 Also on the 7th of October, dozens of Harvard students' associations issued a statement that they hold Israeli government "entirely responsible for all unfolding violence" . It is absolutely permissible to not like Israeli government or criticize it (I am among its strong critics) but holding it responsible for attack by terrorist on the citizens of Israel is equal to blaming Ukrainian government for Russian attack on Ukraine and atrocities in Ukrainian cities like Bucha. 

Student demonstrations and encampments soon followed not only expressing support for creating Palestine state (nothing wrong with this) or showing sympathy for Palestinian civilians and non-combatants (also nothing wrong with this, it is still well inside the free speech boundaries) but praising Hamas, Hezbollah and calling for genocide towards Jews and Israelis with slogans like "from the river to the sea", "globalize the intifada", "we are all Hamas" etc.

In December these led to presidents of Harvard, UPenn and MIT testifying on Capitol Hill about rising antisemitism on their campuses, an issue that has plagued institutions of higher learning. During the infamous hearing none of the three answered straightforwardly to the question "is calling for the genocide of Jews violation of the code of conduct of their respective universities". The answers were that it is "context dependent" or the speech needs to turn into conduct. Here you may read the transcript of answers to this simple question. And now imagine calling in similar way on campus and encampments, including personal threats, against Muslims, African-Americans, Hindu, homosexuals or almost anybody else. The reaction would have been instantaneous, and rightly so. Just not when it comes to Jews or Israelis.

2. Beginning of the war. After October 7 Israel started airstrikes on Gaza but the ground offensive took some time. Partially because for the first two days fighting against terrorist was taking place still inside Israel, partially because different strategies were evaluated. The land incursion started on October 27, almost 3 weeks after the attack. In this time some hostage videos were released by Hamas, e.g. of injured hostage Mia Shem, some Gazans were killed in airstrikes, a major hit to one of Gaza's hospitals was delivered by Islamic Jihad rocket falling short (and immediately Israel was accused, though later it was proved that it had nothing to do with it).

3. Hezbollah "solidarity with Gaza". On October 8 Hezbollah started its bombing of the Northern Israel claiming that it does so "in solidarity with attacked Gaza". The problem was nobody was attacking Gaza at the time, it was Hamas from Gaza attacking Israel. The rockets led to major destruction across Northern Israel, many casualties (including 12 children killed on soccer field), evacuation of some 100,000 Israelis from along northern border and finally a major war with Hezbollah in the last quarter of the previous year. Yet for the longest time and up to today the western media were repeating the narrative about Hezbollah reacting to attack on Gaza, the fundamentally untrue statement.

Most of you  probably remember 9/11 or at least is very familiar with its story. Now imagine for a second that on this disastrous September day, which anniversary will be in 2 more days, when the towers were burning and collapsing, people jumping from the windows, firefighters bravely running to their death, as we know now, air traffic diverted and American air space closed and phone signals in New York collapsed people in Europe, Israel, Australia, New Zealand and other places would be saying it is all US fault, all violence is  on US government (even if you didn't like it or voted for it), and actually celebrating the carnage. That your allies instead of offering help in NATO structures (the only time ever art. 5 of the treaty was activated) were organizing or at least tolerating and protecting anti-American demonstrations in front of American embassies world wide. Not later, when Osama bin Laden was killed or when the war in Afghanistan started or evolved badly, on the very 9/11 (the demonstration in London was held on October 7 and it was anti-Israeli). 

Actually, if you have hard time imagining it let me show you such celebration. This  and this is how Palestinians were celebrating 9/11.

 

The butcher from Khan Younis - who was Yahya Sinwar

 It is agreed upon that the man standing above all behind October 7 massacre (and, by the same token, subsequent war in Gaza) was Yahya Sinwar. So who was Yahya Sinwar? I believe some facts of his life tell the story of Hamas and how some (not all) Palestinians see the situation better than many other stories.

He was born in Khan Yunis in 1962 spending his childhood in refugee camp in Gaza. Way later, in Israeli prison, he talked about his childhood  recounting the struggle for food and the shortage of bathrooms in the camp packed with thousands of desperate families. But remember - at the time Gaza was under Egyptian military control already for 14 years, and what it says is that for 14 years Egypt had neither improved the conditions in Gaza nor admitted at least some people into the rest of the vast and - at the time - not densely populated country which claimed Gaza for its own (before 1948 it was part of the British mandate).

 

The above picture is Khan Younis on January 1, 1960, under Egyptian rule, but supported by UNRWA.

 

He started his affiliation  with Hamas, or rather at the time an Islamic Center - see the story of Hamas creation. Arrested couple of times by Israel - at the time Gaza was under Israeli military rule - he was promptly released climbing through Hamas's ranks. He became a founder of the Majd, a local network that sought out and killed collaborators with Israel, which later became Hamas’s internal security force. The name is an acronym for Arabic "Majmouath Jihad u-Dawa" - Holy War and Sermonizing Group. While Hamas always defined itself as a branch of Muslim Brotherhood (so in its charter written in 1988) this group was dedicated to the gathering of information on suspected collaborators. The information was passed on to the "shock committees", who interrogated and then killed the suspects. During the first intifada Hamas killed 20 Israelis and approximately 100 Palestinians whom they accused of "collaboration" (a.k.a. wanting to cease fight and live in peace).

In this part of his life Sinwar gained the nickname "the butcher from Khan Younis". He killed or ordered to be killed unknown number of Palestinians he didn't agree with or suspected to be collaborators (or just not jihadi enough). We know for sure about 4 killed by him personally, but he himself admitted killing 12 and among Palestinians the famous story goes that he not only killed one of those forcing his brother to bury the victim alive but also doing it with a spoon instead of a spade. Certainly lust for power, radicalism and sadistic inclinations were his traits.

He was also highly intelligent, focused and a great manipulator. It all added up to many who knew him as by the book psychopathic traits.

His third arrest, in 1988, led to him being sentenced for the incitement to murder and murder of two abducted Israeli soldiers and 4 Palestinians killed by him in his commander of the Majd capacity. He admitted killing 12 but the proves were certain for 4. Sentenced for 4 life imprisonments he spent subsequent years in Israeli prison studying Hebrew, learning about Israel and preparing for the time he hoped for - after his release. He also kept contacts with the outside world as his brother was high in Hamas structure as well. 

Ehud Yaari, a fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who interviewed Sinwar in prison four times described him as psychopath, yet added: "[But] to say about Sinwar, 'Sinwar is a psychopath, full stop,' would be a mistake because then you will miss this strange, complex figure. He was extremely cunning, shrewd - a guy who knows to switch on and off a type of personal charm ".

In 2008, still in prison, the dentist Yuval Bitton, taking care of Yahya Sinwar, spotted symptoms like standing for prayer then falling and drifting in and out of consciousness, complained of neck pain etc. and he suspected some brain problem. Transported to Soroka Medical Center Yahya Sinwar was diagnosed with brain tumor and underwent emergency surgery that removed the tumor and saved his life. Sinwar expressed his gratitude to Yuval Bitton at the time. Yuval Bitton's nephew was murdered on October 7, 2023 in the kibbutz where he lived.

 Three years later, in 2011, Yahya Sinwar was one of the exchanged prisoners for the return of Gilat Shalit - Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas from Israel in 2006. There are lots of indications that the kidnapping was orchestrated by Sinwar's brother and its aim might have been to release Sinwar which was done against better judgement of the prison officers working with him.

Sinwar disregarded lives of Israelis and Palestinians alike. He was the only one who mattered and set standards in his mindset. When after releasing he gained the highest position in Hamas inside Gaza he masterminded attack on October 7. The attack was thought to destroy the road to mutual recognition of Arab countries and Israel (the treaty with Saudi Arabia was about to be signed) and Sinwar didn't expect any other Israeli answer than the one he got, nevertheless he believed it to be worthy to commit crimes and massacre and bring about the destruction of Gaza and death of thousands of Palestinians in order to prevent peace. Asked in the aftermath of October 7 he stated that Hamas did nothing wrong on October 7, and would do it again, and harder, if given the chance, therefore removing any remaining possibility that Israel would seek a solution that would spare Gazans from the total destruction of their land.

The portrait of a human being who put his undeniable talents only to murdering others, for whom the hate was the only life pleasure, who disregarded lives of civilians, children, elderly, peace activists and others, both among Israeli and Palestinian, and who in fact was murdering Palestinians who did not want to murder Israelis either because they saw other humans in them or because they were afraid of the response is not the pretty one. He was the one who had his life saved by Israeli doctors, yet whose dream was killing all Israelis. The architect of October 7 but never the protector of Palestinians. He never planned for Palestinian state to become reality, only for Israel to be destroyed. 

Now, why would ANYBODY, but ANYBODY see in him anything other than pure evil incarnated is beyond me. Look at support for Hamas declared by Westerners (not opposition to war, this is understandable and shared by many Israelis, possibly the majority) and ask yourselves: why? I can only recall the admiration for murderous psychopaths in communist movement by some of the Western most recognized artists, writers and philosophers (think Walter Duranty or Jean-Paul Sartre or George Bernard Shaw). Is it the old human longing for gladiators while sat in the theater? Maybe. But knowing who Sinwar was, and aware that it is not hard to find this knowledge, I see those supporting Hamas (not calling for the end of war or hoping for better fate for Palestinians, I support it myself deeply) as blood thirsty antisemites, looking at peace craving Palestinians with the same disdain as the butcher from Khan Younis and willing to wear the aura of righteous when craving for genocide ("from the river to the sea" is nothing else but calling for genocide). And it is often done by people unaware how badly Palestinians are treated in Syria or Lebanon, this does not concern them (remember - "pro-Palestinian" Hezbollah was killing Palestinians in camps in Syria asked by Assad and Russia).

Never, never should we glorify psychopathic mass murderers. And there are many Palestinians who are brave, working for peace, hoping for future, like some of those killed by Yahya Sinwar with his bare hands.

One of the murdered ones

His name was Alex. Alex Dancyg. He was born in 1948 in Warsaw, Poland, to the survivors of Holocaust. The rest of the family who lived before the war in Poland was murdered. His dad was a Stalinist judge, and he himself was being up brought completely secular, to the point of not really knowing he was Jewish for a long time.

His family emigrated to Israel when he was 9 years old and didn't know any Hebrew. He was sent to live with one of relatives who emigrated to British mandate before the war.

After the high school he became a paratrooper just in time to take part in 6-day war, he also served during Yom Kippur war. But at the same time he was always a very left-leaning pacifist, a delicate man with amazing sense of humor.

He made kibbutz Nir Oz his home - there he married, started a family, worked the soil which he loved. He was historian, professor, teacher, gardener. He cooperated with Yad Vashem in teaching about Shoah. Yet the special quality of his was being icebreaker. He craved for belonging and treated his kibbutz like the family. He was open socialist caring for all people. Having the experience of emigration, growing up away from home, soldering out of necessity, forfeiting his first home, language and culture for many years he was open for all people. After his first visit to Poland 30 years after leaving it he became the culture translator teaching history to both Poles and Israelis. Not only the history of Shoah. He was Polish ambassador to Israelis and Israeli ambassador to Poles without any official designation. The post-war relations between Israel and Poland were complicated, yet he was willing and capable of navigating these murky waters making many friends in Poland and introducing Israeli history and culture to Poles.

For his whole life he was avid soccer supporter and would go a long way for a good play. But when he was saying "we won" on occasions when Israel was playing with Poland it was hard to say whom he meant, according to his statement more often Poles :) He was often telling anecdote of his trip to Tel Aviv for Polish-Israeli play for the first time ever. He rode on Polish team bus at one point and when sitting, happy, on the tribunes he didn't know how to react to the first goal - it was scored by Israeli team and people around him were rejoicing when he felt quite confused and a bit sad. By his words it was fortunate that the play finished with 1:1 score.

He was also very open to Palestinians, supporter of the two states solution, volunteer for Road to Recovery. 

 He was kidnapped from his home in Nir Oz kibbutz on October 7 2023, at the age of 75, murdered by Hamas in February 2024. His body was recovered by IDF in August last year. One of these who spent their lives building bridges.

His son wrote after his death:

“He dedicated much of his life to this, he worked for many years with Yad Vashem, he established a lot of dialogue with groups of Polish Jews, tried to explain the point of view of Polish citizens in a more accurate and historical and less stereotypical way."

“He was a very smart guy, very warm, loved his family, he was the person I had the most fun speaking with, he had so much knowledge, and he was always very interesting. I miss him so much… it’s important to me that the legacy he worked to instill, of Holocaust education and nuanced history will continue.”

 We miss you, Alex. May your memory be a blessing.

Hamas and the Palestinians

 Hamas rules over Gaza since 2007 in a dictatorial way using all means to exercise absolute power. It is extremely tyrannical governmental power. Yet as in any case of power the attitudes and reactions towards Hamas are variable and include the whole scale of possibilities - as well inside as outside Gaza (the latter is specially troubling). Let me deal with this complicated issue in few points:

1. Elections. Israel unilaterally left Gaza in August 2005 (20 years ago) dismantling settlements and leaving Gaza to self-government by Palestinians not without supplying them - together with the USA, the EU, Netherlands and few others in  all necessities. I have written about it few times and will write again soon in another part of Gaza history. Israel hoped for the government to be held by PA led by Abbas as more moderate, but Gazans, tired by corruption of the Palestinian Authority, decided to try Hamas, who won 2006 elections (still a fact many so called pro-Palestinian activists indicate today as a base for they power). The first elections to Palestinian Legislative Counsel were held in 1996 during the peace process based on Oslo Accords. The elections were to be held every 4 years, yet in turbulent rest of 1990s and years of second intifada they were not held. In 2004 Arafat (who did not want to organize another elections) died and in 2005 Israel withdrew from Gaza. American President George W. Bush had pushed for Palestinian elections, in part as an outgrowth of his administration’s ideological zeal for spreading democracy in the Middle East through whatever means necessary. Originally the elections were to take place in July 2005 but dew to disengagement they were pushed to early 2006. Palestinian Legislative Counsel has 132 seats in total. In the elections of 2006 Hamas won 74 seats and Fatah only 45 which surprised everyone to some extent and confused American authorities (designated terrorist organization winning elections pushed for by Americans posed some problems, as you may guess). Yet in a poll conducted by Near East Consulting on 15 February 2006 on voters participating in the 2006 PA elections revealed the following responses to major concerns: 

Support for a Peace Agreement with Israel: 79.5% in support; 15.5% in opposition

Should Hamas change its policies regarding Israel: Yes – 75.2%; No – 24.8%

Under Hamas corruption will decrease: Yes – 78.1%; No – 21.9%

Under Hamas internal security will improve: Yes – 67.8%; No – 32.2% 

 As you see the reasons behind the outcome had to do more with disenchantment with Fatah than with true craving for Hamas with its extremist ideology. 

2. Taking of power. As a consequence of 2006 elections Hamas created in February 2006 a government without Fatah. Conditions on the ground deteriorated almost immediately, as Fatah did not take defeat easily. Fatah-Hamas tensions were expressed in a significant deterioration of law and order, and incidents of open violence between the two groups led to dozens of deaths, particularly in the Gaza Strip. Israelis had nothing to do with, until unrest after capturing Gilat Shalit and smuggling him to Gaza in June 2006. As a consequence the movement between Gaza and West Bank was radically restricted for Hamas leaders. In February 2007 Hamas and Fatah agreed for coalition and national unity government, however it did not live long. In June 2007 there was Gaza civil war between Fatah and Hamas (known as battle for Gaza). The war took only 5 days but it was bloody. First Hamas threw a Fatah member from the top of 15-story building, then Fatah killed the imam of main city mosque and threw Hamas militant from the top of 12-story building. In total at least 161 persons were killed and Hamas took completely over the power in Gaza. Human Rights Watch stated in its report that Fatah and Hamas fighters targeted and killed people not involved in hostilities, and engaged in gun battles near and even inside hospitals. The accusations also included public executions of captives and political opponents, throwing prisoners off high-rise apartment buildings, and shooting from a jeep marked with press insignia. PA retained a government in the West Bank (without Hamas). The bloody coup provoked Israeli and Egyptian blockade of Gaza as both countries designated Hamas as a terrorist organization. The blockade is legal under international law terms, however it was always pointed at by anti-Israeli activists as a reason for resistance (nobody questioned the same means imposed by Egypt).

 

 

In 

 

 Above pictures from 2007 Gaza take over by Hamas and the joy showed by its supporters.

 

3. Hamas rule. While at first some in Gaza were overjoyed many were later disillusioned. Hamas never again held another elections and its rule over Gaza was total. It controls schooling (provided mainly by UNRWA and paid for by international community, yet used by Hamas), international aid, judiciary system or what is left of it (as public executions of those accused of collaboration with Israel without any trial are normal), controls women dresses and family life. Yahya Sinwar, infamous architect of October 7 attack, was accused and sentenced for cruelly murdering such accused Palestinians - without any trial. He was sentenced by Israel in the 1980s to four life terms for offenses that included the killing of two Israeli soldiers and 12 suspected collaborators, a role that earned him the nickname “The Butcher of Khan Younis. For all purposes and with proportions regarded Hamas's regime is similar to the Stalinist or Taliban ones.

Here  is a report from 2015 by Amnesty International, an NGO vehemently critical of Israel to the point of changing the definition of some crimes against humanity as they stand in the law acts to be able to accuse Israel of committing them. The same AI accuses Hamas of massive tortures against fellow Palestinians and putting this score on Israelis. Here is this year's example of Hamas torturing civilian Palestine to death.

4. The use of civilians as human shields.  Not only in this but also in previous wars Hamas used and uses civilians as human shields to either prevent attacks by Israel on the organization or cause such attack to bring about unusually high number of non-militant victims and blame Israel for war crimes. The NATO Strategic Communications Center for the years 2008-2014 analyzed and published a report showing such a use of civilians by Hamas. In the report the enumerated most common activities described as shielding by civilians include: 

- firing rockets, artillery, and mortars from or in proximity to heavily populated civilian areas, often from or near facilities which should be protected according to the Geneva Convention (e.g. schools, hospitals, or mosques); 

-  locating military or security-related infrastructures such as HQs, bases, armouries, access routes, lathes, or defensive positions within or in proximity to civilian areas;

- protecting terrorists’ houses and military facilities, or rescuing terrorists who were besieged or warned by the IDF;

- combating the IDF from or in proximity to residential and commercial areas, including using civilians for intelligence gathering missions.

 In the eyes of Gazans, such as Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, Palestinian activist living in the US, very critical of Israeli government (no wonder) but equaly critical of Hamas, who keeps educating how in reality the life in the Strip looks like, writes: "

on Hamas tactics in Gaza:

Please, just die for the cause! It is official: Hamas’s strategy in Gaza City, which is experiencing the beginning of a ground invasion by the Israeli military, is to use the entire population as human shields to cause casualties and stop the Israeli military’s advance. This has been promoted by Hamas mouthpieces, activists, and journalists all over social media and Telegram, whereby they are telling civilians not to evacuate and remain in Gaza City even if the Israeli military issues evacuation orders, urging them to be part of the “existential fight” for the Strip.

A year and a half ago, I wrote about how in the early days of the war, Hamas both directly and indirectly prevented hundreds of thousands of Gazans from evacuating the north, causing thousands of unnecessary civilian casualties, and shared firsthand testimonies from Gazans who were shot at by gunmen affiliated with the terror group while attempting to flee.

Disturbingly, members of Hamas and sympathetic clerics kept citing an Islamic war-fighting doctrine from Surat Al Anfal in the Quran, Ayah 15 and 16, that prohibits turning one’s back to the enemy when facing them on the battlefield. One man told me that his brother was pressured by his Hamas neighbors to stay in Gaza with his family and children. They referenced these Quranic verses over and over and threatened severe consequences now and “on Judgment Day” if he were to flee the incoming IDF invasion. Imagine how many more lives could have been saved had Hamas not used its Islamist ideology to force Gaza’s population into an untenable situation.

The fascist death cult must not be able to repeat this strategy once again; all journalists, activists, humanitarians, and those who can, must do everything to expose this heinous strategy of Hamas and ensure that evacuation orders and information are disseminated widely and that safe corridors for civilians are identified and marked so that Palestinians in the Strip do not needlessly lose their lives on behalf of a Jihadi terrorist outfit whose sole strategy is to cause pressure on Israel through civilian casualties."

 

At the same time one has to remember the celebration in Gaza in the wake of October 7 atrocities. I do not say that everyone was rejoicing the horrible terror attack, but the public display of taken hostages and bodies of victims, when people were seen spitting on living and dead (as Shani Louk's body) or morbid body return ceremonies organized. 

 

However as seen through the eyes of some Palestinians many have had enough of Hamas and certainly living under Hamas rule is equal to living under oppressive, dictatorial force. How come than, that so many in the West try to white wash this terrorist organization, never caring about civilian Palestinians, not allowing them freedom of choice of how to live, at whom to vote, if to support peace process etc. Using them as objects to protect terrorist. And yet some see in them some romantic warrior figures. I must admit it is sickening, for me (coming from Eastern Europe) in a similar way to the cult of Che Guevara - a murderer of hundreds, including many children - as some kind of mass hero.

Francesca Albanese, the UN official, is one of singularly prominent Antisemitic voices treating civilian Palestinians, just as Hamas, simply as collateral damage and usuful tool in fighting Israel.

 

Lets give one more time voice to Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib:

 

“Hamas is wonderful”: Francesca Albanese, a UN official who has become the ‘darling’ of the “pro-Palestine” community, is degrading herself, the UN, human rights, and all that is reasonable by promoting Hamas as a mere political entity, which is just “misunderstood.” This UN official went out of her way to be accommodating for Hamas’s terror narrative and claimed that the organization built schools and was merely an ‘administrative body’ when in fact nothing in Gaza after the 2005 withdrawal of Israeli settlements was built by the Muslim Brotherhood offshoot.

Worse, she repeats the horrific out-of-touch narrative that is ironically stated by many anti-Palestinian voices, which is that the terror group was ‘elected’ by Palestinians and is therefore somehow legitimate nearly twenty years after the infamous 2006 elections. Hamas’s initial start began with establishing local, small-scale clinics, welfare, and educational facilities for a narrow constituency. This has been blown out of proportion by clueless academics and ignorant “experts” who want to paint Hamas as a social phenomenon as much as it is a terrorist and militant one.

What Albanese says is demonstrative of why large parts of the UN are no longer respected on the global stage. This is why human rights are no longer respected as a field, given that numerous organizations and agencies are only interested in Israeli violations of human rights of the Palestinian people, not the horrendous actions of a terror army that is ISIS-like in its disregard for basic human rights principles. This is why UNRWA is no longer trusted because it allowed itself to be penetrated and used by Hamas and terrorist operatives in Gaza instead of standing up and refusing to be a tool in the organization’s arsenal.

This is why large swaths of the so-called ‘human rights community’ are a joke because they have run cover for Hamas, and refused to speak out against the group’s torture, shooting, executions, abuses, and transgressions in Gaza because they chose to be activists instead of actual human rights professionals, and because they chose to be tools in their anti-Israel activities instead of being focused on a bigger and holier mission that knows no boundaries.

Bourgeois Western leftists who have never experienced life under Islamist, terrorist, and authoritarian regimes are not credible spokespersons for human rights and shouldn’t be taken seriously when pretending to know what they’re talking about. Francesca Albanese is merely a representation of a much wider symptom. She and hordes of activists and voices like hers must be shunned, confronted, and isolated to pursue a pragmatic pathway forward.

Free Palestine from the “pro-Palestine” industrial complex; free Gaza from Hamas; free Palestinians from Western activists; free Gazans from the “pro-resistance” types; free Gazans from pro-Hamas voices."

History of Gaza Strip territory (part two - until disengagement; aka how the Hamas was created and gained power)

 I have finished the last piece of Gaza Strip history, essential to understand what is happening, during Camp David process of acquiring peace with Egypt.

The truth is that few things that happened earlier have had outstanding importance for what came next. Let me come back a bit to some occurrences from 1970s:

 In 1978 in Gaza, still under Israeli military administration, Islamic Center has been registered. It was an offshoot of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, vehemently opposed to Jews and Zionism, and standing, among others, behind a great Arab revolt in British Palestine (1936-1939) seeking to forbid Jewish immigration into the mandate, unfortunately pretty successfully, at the time when it was a matter of life and death for Jewish emigres. The Center was registered by Sheikh Yassin, a quadriplegic (due to childhood sport accident) imam from Gaza teaching in UNRWA schools from 1958 and arrested by Egypt once for belonging to Muslim Brotherhood. Initially Israel viewed Islamic Center as an alternative to PLO with no military or terrorist aspirations and thus provided some financial support to it for the first 10 years leading to subsequent legend about creation of Hamas by Israel. Islamic Center, while for the first 10 years not violent or broadly anti-Israeli, took control of social services, schooling, and life rules in Gaza strip. It was deeply religious pursuing fundamentalist Islam. It was undoubtedly Israel's mistake, both the harshness of early 70s military administration of Gaza and support for what looked like peaceful, though very oppressive towards Palestinians, alternative to PLO. 

In 1983 Yassin was arrested for the first time for leading terrorist organization which evolved from Islamic Center (and released as a consequence of negotiations with PFLP - Jibril agreement).

The situation changed in 1987 with the start of first intifada and rebranding of Islamic Center for Hamas together with showing military, terrorist and very anti-Israeli attitude. Initially Hamas was treated as counterweight to PLO, but, however these two movements were indeed rather fighting each other, Hamas soon started the campaign of terror. Being under great influence of Iran from the very beginning of Ayatollahs' regime, it adopted suicidal methods of terrorism, embraced by Shea Islam and previously extremely rare in Sunni one. In effect Hamas was de-legitimize in 1989 and Yassin arrested and sentenced  to life imprisonment for ordering killings of alleged Palestinian collaborators the abduction and murder of Israeli soldiers Ilan Saadon and Avi Sasportas.

When the peace process started in 1990s Hamas condemn it and introduced it's reign of terror directed against peace talks. As indicated in other posts Arafat, living at the time in Gaza, was aware of many of the prepared terrorist plots proving his lack of sincerity and real engagement in peace process (among others he warned a young Swedish diplomat working to bring about peace, against visiting Jerusalem on the very day when bus 18 was targeted by suicide bomber under the auspices of Hamas). Nevertheless, Arafat at least paid the lip service to the peace process and maybe (just maybe) would take it a bit further without the Hamas campaign. To discredit in the eyes of Israelis the peace process Hamas, already after the end of intifada and during peace process, orchestrated a campaign of terror with no less than 13 terror attacks during less than 3 years which killed no less than 138 Israelis. The attacks were the most often and the worst after PM Rabin assassination, as extremists hoped this is their chance to undermine peace process. Here how it looked: "On Sunday 25 February 1996 a Palestinian student stepped onto a crowded bus in Jerusalem and detonated a bomb, killing twenty-six Israelis. One week later a second Palestinian detonated a bomb on a Jerusalem bus, killing eighteen Israelis. The following day a known Muslim extremist lay down on a busy street in Tel Aviv and blew himself up along with ten Israelis. These attacks were designed to undermine and halt what extremist groups viewed as the humiliating and misguided Palestinian–Israeli peace process." (after Sabotaging the Peace: The Politics of Extremist Violence by Andrew Kydd and Barbara F. Walter).

Of course on the Israeli side there were also people vehemently opposed to the peace process. After assassination of Rabin in 1995, by such Jewish extremist, Yigal Amir, Shimon Perez, who became a new PM, was  dedicated to continuing peace process, although he had his reservations. He was not sure if two-state solution is the proper one, true, but he was dedicated enough to the state of Israel, the will of constituents and Rabin's achievements to cautiously continue with peace talks. Unfortunately to strengthen his position he declared the new elections for May 1996. He showed a 10% majority in polls and expected to win easily, which probably would have happened if not for Hamas. Vehemently opposed to the peace process Hamas orchestrated such an avalanche of suicide attacks (4 of them during 3 month, killing at least 60) that the Israeli public lost their belief in the peace process. The young (at the time) Israeli politician, very opposed to the two-state solution, and favoring militaristic approach to Palestinian demands, won the election exactly because this wave of terror. Hamas was pleased, confrontation and not cooperation and co-existence was its goal. The winner, who became PM for the first time in 1996 was also pleased. This ambitious politician was Benyamin Netanyahu. 

A year after becoming PM Netanyahu authorized the assassination of Meshaal, Hamas's head of political bureau in retribution for Hamas’s suicide bombings. The plot went avry and to rescue peace treaty with Jordan Netanyahu had to release Sheikh Yassin from prison. The proposition of such deal was Netanyahu's idea and some claim it was a main goal. The same year the USA recognized Hamas as terrorist organization and two years later Jordan expelled Hamas bureau from Amman. 

In 1999 Netanyahu lost power and the PM became Ehud Barak. His 2000 peace proposal, that granted Palestine almost everything they asked but was still rejected by Arafat, I described here. How was the life in Gaza in these years? In 1994 80% of Gaza territory was left by IDF troops as a result of Oslo Accords. Yet the security checks were present, which were to control movement of Gazans to Israel. Still, many Palestinians had right to work in Israel, however after the intifada the number of permits went down. In 1990s it was normal for many Gazans to go to work to Israel daily, and for Israelis to come to Gaza for shopping at the markets or to visit beaches. Definitely there was lots of reservations between groups, yet for example in kibbutz Nahal Oz the peace festival gathering together Gazans and Israelis from kibbutz was celebrated from 1994 with a hope (unrealized) to bring two societies closer. There were friendships, working together, some understanding in both groups. Unfortunately the pulling apart forces were also present on both sides, albeit on the Palestinian one much more viscous.

In 2001 Ariel Sharon, at the time standing as a leader of Likud party, that he himself created years earlier, won the election and took PM sit. It was during extremely bloody second intifada when the suicide bombings in Israel were plenty and people lost any remnants in peace process that they possibly held before. 

Sharon, whose political legacy is complicated and remains dividing figure for many, wanted to address the security and peace issues in the best interests of Israel. He was a skeptic when it comes to total peace between Israel and possibly created Palestine, yet he was also realist and knew Israel should somehow change the dynamics. The intifada, peace process destroyed by Hamas with the help of Arafat and Israeli far right, the international standing - all had to be addressed. He addressed it by few very unique decisions. He started building of the wall between West Bank and Israel proper, he proposed unilateral evacuation of Gaza including existing 21 settlements and - facing the resistance of his party - he left Likud and created Kadima. 

The era of peace process unfortunately ended in failure. The second intifada was raging around. Gaza was to become experiment in Palestinian self-governance in a new approach to possible peace or at least truce. The next chapter in Gaza's history was disengagement and what came next. Unfortunately the series of bad decisions on both sides were already heavy.

Nevertheless it was Israel that finally backed from Gaza, allowed a lot of help to reach it and hoped for the best notwithstanding many victims on Israeli side. Hoping for the best. Unfortunately Gaza was already under strong Hamas's influence becoming fast the fallen state, not for the lack of money, for the lack of will to build a state instead of fighting its neighbor.