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. 

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.  

Yasser Arafat and his PLO part 4 - how Arafat prevented the creation of Palestinian state

 In 1987 in Gaza (at the time under military Israeli administration, with schooling and health care organized by UNRWA and growing in might though still very quiet Hamas (created in 1982 by Muslim Brotherhood with sheikh Yassin as its deciding force) another Israeli was stabbed to death. Such attacks occurred not constantly, but not rarely. More about Gaza soon. Few days later 4 Palestinians from Gaza were driving home from work in Israel when their car was hit by a truck on the crossroads. They were killed. It was an accident, but Gazans interpreted it as revenge for stabbing an Israeli. That is how the first intifada started.

Today it is called the intifada of stones, but they were stones, knives and Molotov cocktails. During next 6 years 1087 Palestinians and 160 Israelis were killed with over 3000 Israelis wounded.

During the intifada the series of meeting started taking place between Israeli officials and Arafat, living at the time in Tunisia. Particularly important was Madrid meeting in 1991 after the first Gulf War. It was important because the invitation was issued by President Bush, but Michail Gorbachev was also in attendance and the USSR was a co-sponsor. Invited delegation came from Israel, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Jordanian delegation co opted Palestinian delegation. Considering that a lot of Israeli-Palestinian conflict was de facto hot spark of cold war with PLO financed, trained, armed and supported by Soviet Russia which also supported Egypt and Syria in their wars with Israel, such initiative at the time and in the year when Soviet Union collapsed was very important. 

The Oslo peace process was initiated in Oslo in 1993 and thought as a way to achieve two state solution. Israel was first to partially leave Jericho and Gaza. Later areas A in the West Bank and than areas B. Joint patrols and police cooperation with Palestinian forces were to be created and Palestinian Autonomy was created during the process with first elections in 1996. Arafat was elected as a president. Notably next presidential elections in Autonomy were held after his death and so far Abbas is at 20th year of his 4-year-term. 

Israelis indeed withdrew from Jericho and most of Gaza and the cooperation in security matters was to some extend created but Arafat never really committed to the peace process. Israelis were, understandably, distrustful of PLO commitment to preventing terror attacks, but they shared information with PLO. 

In wake of  peace talks Arafat moved from Tunis to Gaza, which, at the time, was not restricted enclave and hundreds of Gazans were going each day to work in Israel whereas bus lines were entering Gaza through the checkpoints. 

To understand what happened next, one must understand deep divisions in both Israeli and Palestinian societies. The whole first 30 years of Israel's history, as well as for all the time of Yishuv existence the dominating power in Jewish, later Israeli, social fabric was secular, left-inclined Zionist movement cooperating with more religious but also Zionist movement, mostly of Ashkenazim descent.  But the demography was working against it, not to mention history on the ground. After the fall of Golda Meir government as a result of Yom Kippur war the political right in Israel started gaining momentum. The right started its march with Menachem Begin and his Likud party, yes the same party that is now under Benjamin Netanyahu. On the Palestinian side "left" was PLO with Arafat, with Islam more as a unifying power than true commitment, much more nationalist than religious in every aspect and strongly backed by USSR. The Palestinian right - Hamas - created during the first intifada by Muslim Brotherhood, was fundamentally Islamic, calling for jihad. The divisions run deep at the time and remain deep today.

To Hamas talks with Israel were treason. The fact that two-state solution could even be considered was abomination. Hamas never really cared about Palestinian state, but always deeply cared about destroying Israel, as was obvious from the start (and written in their charter). In a wake of Oslo peace process Hamas was dedicated to torpedoing them and carried the chain of terror attacks in Jerusalem and other places to drive the talks to standstill. Israel had its few, but notable, extremists. Two of them were of particular importance:  Baruch Goldstein, an American-Israeli physician and extremist of the far-right ultra-Zionist Kach movement, who in February 1994 shot and killed 29 Arabs in Cave of Patriarchs mosque in Hebron, a place important for both religions, which brought about Arab strikes, and Yigal Amir, ultra nationalist opposed to peace process, who in 1995 assassinated Icchack Rabin. After the assassination Shimon Perez took power and the elections were to be held in 1996. Perez wanted to continue peace process, and, even with all the turmoil in both Israel and Palestinian territories, he had strong support of - still hopeful - Israelis. Hamas, wanting to prevent peace talks, orchestrated a series of suicide terrorist attacks through the whole first half of 1996. This changed the dynamics of the electoral process paving way to power for the first time for a young, ambitious and very far right politician -  Benjamin Netanyahu. 

What about refusing Palestinian state by Arafat? 

In 2000  Ehud Barak, a then PM of Israel, and Yasser Arafat met in Camp David with then President of the US Bill Clinton. It was a last attempt to revive failing peace process after the series of terrorist attacks (by Hamas but with Arafat silent approval as in the case of bus 18 bombing described here. The negotiations didn't go easy, but Clinton and Barak were determined.

The offer Barak put on the table included creating of de-militarized Palestinian state (understandable that after 3 major wars with Arabs, countless terrorist attacks, intifada and while the terror campaign was ongoing, demilitarization of a new state was crucial) with the territory consisting of 92% of West Bank, the whole Gaza, parts of Eastern Jerusalem. The bulk of settlements was to be removed, and the rest, concentrated on 8% of the West Bank territory annexed by Israel with the swap of land for some other to compensate Palestine for this loss. Arafat, who previously declared he is open to any proposition in mid-90% of so called Palestinian territory said "no". He did not even put his own proposal, he just left the room. Here are the words of former President Clinton about the negotiations: "The true story of Camp David was that for the first time in the history of the conflict the American president put on the table a proposal, based on UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, very close to the Palestinian demands, and Arafat refused even to accept it as a basis for negotiations, walked out of the room, and deliberately turned to terrorism." Barak summed them up saying: ""He did not negotiate in good faith; indeed, he did not negotiate at all. He just kept saying no to every offer, never making any counter proposals of his own".

The story goes that presented with the proposal Arafat said that he only needs to address the details to say "yes". The "details" turned out to be so called "right of return" for all Palestinians whose ancestors lived in today's Israel effectively dismantling Israel. Think what would be reaction to demanded "right of return" of all British whose ancestors lived in Ireland to Ireland, all Americans whose ancestors lived anywhere in Europe to respective European countries, all Chinese whose ancestors ever lived in Russia (e.g. when Vladivostok was Chinese) to Russia, all Hindus whose ancestors left Pakistan in 1948 (same year) to Pakistan and so on and so forth. 

Arafat did not want Palestinian state. He wanted the destruction of Israel even when he was claiming to negotiate. I will just remind you accepting by Jews the propositions of Peel commission, of 1947 resolution - they wanted the state. However small for starters. But the state. Arafat was offered 95% of the whole so called Palestinian territory and East Jerusalem. He said "no" and left the room.

Clinton never understood it. When Arafat called him at the beginning of 2001 to thank him for successful term he allegedly told him: "I am a failure, and you made me one."

1990s were time when the peace looked like real, touchable perspective. Due to Jewish extremists like Amir, and right politicians like Netanyahu, but first, foremost and with almost exclusive power, due to Arab terrorist organizations, both PLO under Arafat and Hamas under sheikh Yessin, the peace did not come. The table started to turn in different direction and the hope was all but lost. I don't know if it will reappear and when. I know though, that Arafat was never committed to two state solution, all he was after was destruction of Israel, no matter the prize, including the prize to be paid by Palestinians.  

 

Film about October 7 booted out from festival

 

The Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich made a documentary about astounding rescue mission by retired IDF Maj. Gen. Noam Tibion who, on October 7, 2023, who went to kibbutz Nahal Oz, attacked by terrorists, where his son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters lived.

On his way to Nahal Oz the general rescued some victims of Nova festival and some wounded soldiers, while he himself was helped by soldiers hurrying to rescue civilians where and how they could. Brotherhood among ordinary citizens, rescue mission against all odds and raising against common, terrible danger that unifies people above divisions is a powerful story.

The film was to make premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September this year. The original title “Out of Nowhere: The Ultimate Rescue” was changed to “The Road Between Us” at the request of TIFF.

Recently, according to film making team, they were receiving signals that they should pull back from the festival. They did not. This week the film’s invitation has been withdrawn by TIFF organizers. TIFF said the documentary was removed "because general requirements for inclusion in the festival, and conditions that were requested when the film was initially invited, were not met, including legal clearance of all footage." (according to Associated Press). TIFF statement continued that: ““The purpose of the requested conditions was to protect TIFF from legal implications and to allow TIFF to manage and mitigate anticipated and known risks around the screening of a film about highly sensitive subject matter, including potential threat of significant disruption.”

These “legal clearance of all footage" refers to the use of Hamas’ live streamed video of the rape, murder and kidnapping of Jews. Yes, you heard it right, organizers insisted the filmmakers need the rights from the terrorist group to use their horrific footage of the massacre. And TIFF was supposedly afraid to show the truth from terrorists’ go-pros because they might have been sued by the murderous terror organization.

In reality they were probably concerned about security issues, similar to ones I described writing years ago (2011) about Israeli Film Festival held in Dublin, Ireland. Nevertheless, when completely stunned filmmakers stated that TIFF has “defied its mission and censored its own programming by refusing this film” the matter became very public. American, Canadian and Israeli media commented the situation widely.

That caused TIFF’s reaction and yesterday, late in the evening, its CEO, Cameron Bailey, offered his “sincere apologies for any pain this situation may have caused” adding that it was never his “intention to offend or alienate anyone.” The milk has spilled but Cameron Bailey stated that he remains “committed to working with the filmmaker to meet TIFF’s screening requirements to allow the film to be screened at this year’s festival.” We will see in September. Nevertheless, the pure idea that the material made available as life streaming of the massacre by Hamas needs to be cleared legally by them in order to remind how this war has started and what really happened on October 7 (and about what they bragged publicly) is exorbitantly absurd.  Or was it, before we moved to post-truth world?