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Hamas's Terrorism Isn't Only Aimed At Israel but Against My Palestinian
Brothers and Sisters in Gaza | Opinion
Nov 06, 2023 at 10:15 AM EST

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By Bassem Eid
PALESTINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST
6 In the shadow of Gaza's looming and heart-wrenching humanitarian crisis,
there lies a stark and harrowing truth: Hamas, with its iron-fisted rule
in Gaza, has once again revealed its true colors, not as a liberator of
my people, but as a kleptocratic tyrant. As the international community
scrambles to prevent a catastrophic collapse of essential services in
Gaza, with hospitals running dangerously low on fuel, Hamas has hoarded
over 200,000 gallons of fuel for its own militant apparatus, siphoning
the lifeblood of innocent Palestinian civilians to fuel its hate-filled
agenda against Israel.

The distressing scenes of Gaza's residents desperately storming U.N.
warehouses in search of aid starkly contrast with the calculated
stockpiling Hamas undertakes. Hamas claims to fight for Palestinian
liberation, yet their actions directly contribute to the suffering of
the very people they vow to protect. With a stranglehold on resources,
Hamas has brazenly demanded fuel deliveries, weaponizing the
humanitarian needs of Gazans in negotiations while brazenly diverting
aid to bolster its militant capabilities and terror tunnels.

Hamas's actions are not merely a political maneuver. They reveal a moral
bankruptcy that holds the lives of Gaza's 2.2 million Palestinians as
ransom. As the international community and Israel work to ensure that
humanitarian aid reaches those in need, Hamas's unyielding grip on power
remains the principal obstacle to relief and peace. The audacity of this
group to pilfer fuel meant for emergency services and manipulate the
desperation of Gazans for tactical advantages is not just reprehensible;
it is an act of terrorism by any definition.

Hamas
Palestinian children sit in front of the rubble of a destroyed building
in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 6, 2023, amid the
ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.
SAID KHATIB/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
And here's more truth: It is Hamas that is holding its own people
hostage as human shields. An audio recording published by the Israeli
Defense Forces (IDF) revealed Hamas putting up roadblocks to prevent
Gazans from moving away from the area that Israel had called on them to
evacuate. Hamas's callous nature toward its people's rights includes
storing weapons and other targets of military value next to schools,
hospitals, and mosques. They want to kill Israelis and have Israelis
kill their people and lose global support. Either is a win for them.

On October 17, according to indisputable evidence including audio
recordings of the terrorists and the assessments of world intelligence
services, a rocket launched by Gaza-based terrorists of Palestinian
Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fell short and damaged the al-Ahli hospital. The New
York Times and various Arab and Islamic diplomatic services breathlessly
repeated Hamas's false assertions that Israeli airstrikes were
responsible and that the death toll was over 500.

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The impact of these falsehoods was felt well beyond Gaza. Mobs in Amman,
Jordan attempted to storm the Israeli embassy. In Istanbul, an enraged
crowd nearly overran the Israeli consulate in the aftermath of the
hospital claims. In Beirut, Lebanon, the U.S. Embassy was besieged by
throngs.

This ugliness demonstrates why regional leaders who treat Hamas as
credible do nothing to help the Palestinian people. Turkey's President
Recept Tayyip Erdogan wrongly stated that Hamas was not a terrorist
organization but a liberation group. Jordan's Queen Rania bizarrely
promoted a Hamas-backed conspiracy theory that there was "no evidence"
of the terror group's atrocities, a mind-boggling exercise in victim
blaming that the Israeli government compared to Holocaust denial in
real-time.

READ MORE
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Meanwhile, in the West Bank where I live, senior Palestinian Authority
(PA) leaders praised the Hamas carnage of October 7 as a "dream come
true," a "miraculous victory" and a "source of great joy." These
so-called Palestinian and Arab leaders are cowards who are afraid of
Hamas and its purported "street power" in the aftermath of the killing,
which has inspired the worst elements of society to acts of violence.

Listen, instead, to those of us on the ground. Any legislator right now
calling for a ceasefire is misguided. Leaving Hamas in power after the
horrific human rights violations they have committed is not just
unimaginable because it would leave Israel's deterrence eroded and its
population catastrophically unprotected; it is dangerous in the
short-term to Palestinians in the West Bank and in the long-term to the
world.

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Life under Hamas is unbearable, much like under the similar regimes of
the Taliban and ISIS; many Gazans are tortured and killed for deviating
from the approved lifestyle. Similarly, in the West Bank, the PA
dictator Abbas uses Hamas as a bogeyman when talking to the West—then
actively collaborates with Hamas. The military wing of the Fatah party,
the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, joined in the violent October 7 assault on
Israeli civilians.

And let us not forget why my brothers and sisters in Gaza are in this
situation in the first place. If Hamas had never violated Israel's
borders and butchered 1,400 Israelis, torturing and raping 80 percent of
the massacred, there would be no fuel crisis in Gaza today. This assault
made Israel's decision to cut off fuel painful but necessary. If the
terror group negotiated in good faith to release the 240 innocents who
they still hold captive in Gaza, Israel would not be engaged in a ground
operations against the Strip.

Hamas alone is responsible for Gaza's energy crisis.

Hamas cannot remain in power. The Palestinian people ask one thing of
Israel, the United States, and the whole world community. Do not be
deceived by the power of anti-Israel thugs to besiege embassies and
intimidate dictators. The good people of our nation are with you.
Please, remove Hamas from power and defeat these wicked terrorists who
hold us captive, just as they hold captive over 224 Israelis and
civilians from other nations. Only when you free our people from these
evildoers, who have tried to indoctrinate a generation of Palestinian
youth, will we have a chance at peace and healing.

Bassem Eid is a Palestinian human rights activist. He lives in the West
Bank.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

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