But what about Hamas?

17 Oct

Someone recently asked me ‘what do you think about Hamas?’

My thoughts on Hamas are complicated and come with caveats, because Hamas is an opposition group which can never be separated from what they are opposing. There is a widespread belief that the entire conflict is borne of Hamas-led atrocities, but this erases 77 years of occupation and apartheid and whitewashes the crimes of not only Israel but many powerful states. And the amount of misinformation and Zionist propaganda that we have all been fed means that there are so many inherent beliefs that need to be debunked when you’re trying to answer this one sentence question.

Although I’m terrified to delve into such a difficult topic on the internet, I think it is important to talk about this so I have tried to answer as best I can. Here goes nothing...

First, the existence of Hamas is a response to decades of violent colonialism, apartheid and ethnic cleansing. The Nakba officially began 77 years ago with the creation of a Jewish state in an already populated country. [1] Hamas wasn’t formed til 1987, after nearly 20 years of apartheid. In 1948 alone, Zionist militias expelled 750,000 Palestinians, destroyed 531 villages/towns/cities and committed 155 massacres. [2]

The persecution of Jews has been horrific for hundreds of years, culminating in the Nazi holocaust. However the so called ‘solution’ to the problem, financially and politically endorsed by the UK alongside many other powerful countries, was colonisation. When has colonisation not ended in bloodshed?

Hamas is a terrorist organisation and I don’t agree with their methods at all. Obviously the attacks on October 7th were horrendous. However, the fact that both Israel and Hamas have committed atrocities is often used to call the ongoing genocide a war between two equally bad sides. The current conflict did not start on October 7. Israel had already killed and injured more than 66,000 Palestinian civilians in Gaza alone from 2008-October 2023. [3] For decades, Israel has flattened homes and infrastructure, created a water crisis, and effectively caged millions of people into a nearly uninhabitable tiny strip of land that it frequently bombs.

The United Nations warned in 2012 that the Gaza strip would be uninhabitable by 2020 [4] so the humanitarian crisis has been a ticking time bomb for a long time.

If we take a look at history, what happens when a group of people is abused in this way for decades? Resistance groups form. Often violent terrorist groups.

And we can sit on our high horses (comfy sofas) with food in our bellies and safety for our families and judge to our hearts content. However we must realise that our pacifism only functions because of our privilege. More on that later...

And yet, Israel is not waging a war on Hamas. They are executing a ruthless genocide on Palestinians. The Israeli military is one of the most well-funded in the world, backed by the US. We have seen Israel conduct incredibly precise targeted strikes on individual people or buildings in different countries. [5,6] Yet in order to subdue Hamas in Palestine they have to kill civilians? They have to kill journalists? (Just as a reminder, 250+ journalists have been killed in this conflict, the most in any conflict to date [7]). They are using the existence of Hamas as an excuse to further their colonial agenda – flattening entire cities, starving anyone who survived, and isolating Palestine from the eyes of the world.

Let’s quickly debunk some common talking points:

‘But Palestinians voted for Hamas!’

Hamas is not representative of Palestinians. The last election in Palestine was in 2006, so over 50% of the current population was either not born or not eligible to vote in that election. Using Hamas to justify the violence against Palestinians is akin to the racism directed towards Muslims after 9/11 – the general population are not connected to the actions of a few.

‘But Hamas uses civilians as human shields!’

Amnesty International has repeatedly investigated this claim and found no evidence to back it up. [8, 9] On the other hand, the Israeli Defence Force has been repeatedly documented using civilians as human shields. [10,11,12] The phrase ‘every accusation is a confession’ is used for a reason.

‘But Israel has the right to self-defense!’

This argument ignores the fact that Israel is the occupying force and the resistance is the direct result of said occupation. Also, in no world is a genocide ‘self defense’.

‘But Hamas is stealing the aid!’

This claim has been disproven by every major humanitarian organisation on the ground in and around Gaza. An internal US government analysis found no evidence of Hamas stealing aid [13] whereas Israel announced that they would be imposing a blockade in March [14] and announced that they would allow a ‘minimum amount of aid’ in to Gaza in July [15] – they are clearly in control of the aid. Palestinians have been experiencing a manufactured famine.

‘But none of this bloodshed would have happened if Hamas didn’t take hostages!’

During the two years Hamas held the October 7 hostages, Israel has rejected offers from Hamas to return them in exchange for not entering the Gaza strip. [16,17] Israel has also continuously and indiscriminately bombed Gaza which has led to the deaths of at least 60 Israeli hostages. [18] Finally, Israel holds far more Palestinian hostages than Hamas does Israeli hostages [19] although the media calls them prisoners despite many being held with no charge. This whole thing was never about the hostages.

Reading the news in the UK will not give you a clear picture of the situation in Palestine because our government is complicit in Israel’s crimes. We send components for drones and F-35 jets. Keir Starmer refuses to call it a genocide because he wants to keep Trump happy. Even though there is consensus among genocide scholars and experts that Israel is enacting genocide. Even though the United Nations says it is genocide. [20] Even though the Labour Party, his own party, just voted that it is a genocide. [21]

Bear with me while I pivot slightly.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine starts at the end of a 50 year long brutal occupation. The Federation has moved in to help the Bajorans rebuild and become independent after they won their freedom. One of the main characters, Kira Nerys grew up in a resistance cell and was a terrorist for years in an attempt to free her people from violent colonisation and ethnic cleansing. In the pilot episode, she has become a major in the newly set up militia, she is now working within the system to make the world a better place.

Whilst the show is goofy at times (it is Star Trek after all), it deals with her experiences and her guilt over becoming a terrorist in order to achieve liberation. The show humanises Kira and many episodes deal with the grey morals of freedom fighters, terrorists and resistance groups. It’s complicated, it’s murky. It forces the viewer to question the assumptions they hold about pacifism, war and resistance.

In a post 9/11 world, I honestly don’t think this show would ever have been made. It’s all very black and white now. We don’t have conversations about the reasons why people become terrorists. Why people fight back.

Why we have left people alone and isolated with no other option than to fight violence with violence or die a horrific death.

I want to stress, I do not agree with or support Hamas. I’m not trying to belittle or justify the bad things they have done. However I also don’t believe that it is appropriate for us white folks relaxing in our privileged, comfortable lives to dictate how desperate, oppressed people resist violent oppression.

This is also connected to the myth of the perfect victim. When a woman says she has been abused, she had better be the perfect victim, otherwise no one will listen. If she’s too strong, too outgoing, too confident, too aggressive, too messy, then she can’t have been abused, because she’s not a perfect victim. If she fought back, she’s no longer the victim. Think Sally McNeil, Amber Heard.

The term ‘mutual abuse’ floats around a lot. In reality, most abusive relationships do not fall neatly into a category of either an evil abuser and a perfect victim or two equally toxic people. Mutual abuse is a myth, there is abuse, and reactive abuse. Victims sometimes fight back, because they have to in order to survive, or to protect their children. This doesn’t invalidate the abuse they experienced. The black and white thinking we have towards moral issues ends up hurting the victims of abuse and oppression, both on and individual level and on an international scale.

In reply to the question ‘what do you think about Hamas?’ I’d like to add two questions of my own.

First, will you properly research every claim you hear?

Second, will you admit that your privilege puts you worlds away from this situation, and give some grace to the people who are living in it?

My answer is, in short, Hamas is bad. I do not support them, I am not cheering them on. Hamas is bad, however, don’t let that distract you from what is far worse: colonialism, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, genocide and Israel, the terror state.