So much has happened since the horrific Hamas invasion of Israel a week ago. We have seen an overwhelming deluge of news and discussions as we wanted to know more. But there also has been a lot of misinformation being spread on social media.
Everyone, including myself, is seeking to digest the outflow of information to try to understand the reasons for this inhuman act. Was it out of desperation and who were the ultimate victims of this human tragedy? There are so many sides to this and the long history behind the build-up to this moment.
I felt sick to my stomach last weekend as I read about the massacre of innocent victims being slaughtered indiscriminately. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The videos of the kidnaps and abuse of the bodies made me want to puke. The horrors of pure evil were too much to bear and I was highly disturbed by the images. I resolved to seek to gather more information in order to comprehend why it happened.
When Israel started to fight back and retaliate, there were widespread protests in many cities worldwide in support of Palestine, especially for its helpless citizens stuck in Gaza. Everyone was forced to take sides in this ensuing conflict. This could easily escalate into a regional Middle East shitshow if more players want to come into the conflict. The Americans immediately sent their aircraft carriers rushing to the seas near Gaza to ensure that other players like Hezbollah and pro-Hamas Iran do not jump into the fray and make matters worse by expanding the conflict zone.
There were many analyses of the historical background of Gaza that could be found online and they were helpful to me as I try to read more. There are 2 sides to every story and things are more complex than one can imagine.
I do not claim to be an expert in this whole situation but what is clear to me at this point in time is the following. The common people in Gaza are at the short end of the stick and have been suffering for a long time. It will be getting worse for them as we speak. Israel has the right to defend itself and to try to rescue its kidnapped citizens. Hamas is pure evil for launching their attack last Sat. How can their religion excuse their behaviour to execute innocent unarmed victims in such a horrific way, beheading many in the name of their cause?
Since the 1940s, there have been multiple attempts to resolve this conflict. There were at least 5 serious initiatives to allow Palestine to form a new country. But for various reasons, Palestine’s leadership had turned down Israel’s offer each time.
The failure of each subsequent Palestine leadership to accept a compromise solution has led to the formation of a more radical political party subsequently. This has resulted in greater hardship and suffering for its citizens. Hamas came to power in 2006 when they won the last elections against the corrupt Fatah ruling party by gaining 57% of the votes. Multiple infighting and assassination attempts over the next few years caused the Gaza economy to collapse.
Since then, there have been no new elections for the last 17 years and Hamas ruled with an iron fist, smuggling in thousands of rockets instead of helping its citizens improve their lives. The periodic firing of rockets into Israel naturally made them want to counterattack to stop Hamas. It does not help that they also want the destruction of Israel as a goal which they would not denounce as a condition for peace talks. Meanwhile, Netanyahu is getting less popular in Israel as his leading political party is getting more far-right and moving away from democracy, favouring absolute power. This is a deadly combination that has exploded into full view now.
What led to Hamas condoning this invasion last week? Were they pushed to a corner to react? Didn’t they know that this could result in a total annihilation of Gaza by Israel as a response? What were they thinking? It looks like a death wish that was not properly thought through at all.
There is a possible theory to justify their reasoning. It started in March this year when China wanted to up its game on the world stage for the first time. It stood up to broker a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which was a strong supporter of Hamas. Not to be left out, America then decided to initiate another one between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Hamas must have realised that its worst-case scenario will happen before its eyes if the above goes through. The support for Hamas in the Middle East will diminish considerably and it will become irrelevant to the big boys. No one will pay attention to its causes anymore.
The attack on Israel might have been a desperate attempt to preserve its relevance as a last-ditched hope to rally the world to the Palestine cause. But this has now given Netanyahu a perfect opportunity to obliterate Hamas once and for all. Was the Israeli intelligence’s missed oversight of the attack actually an internal plan to unite the country against a common enemy instead?
As this situation continues to evolve, we should be standing up for common basic human beliefs that terrorism and inhuman acts cannot be tolerated for whatever the excuse may be. That it was wrong for Hamas to execute brutal attacks on innocent civilians, killing 200+ unarmed concert participants and multiple families, and kidnapping hundreds of people as hostages in Gaza City.
The citizens of Gaza should not be made to endure the leadership of Hamas anymore. They have suffered enough since 2006 with empty promises to get rid of the corruption of the previous Fatah party and now replaced with evil terrorism. Could Israel finally help them escape from the clutches of Hamas once and for all? Only time will tell.
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