Hi I Have Been Reading Many Of Your Post On The Conflict Between Israel And Hamas And I Have Found Much

Hi I have been reading many of your post on the conflict between Israel and Hamas and I have found much of it to be insightful and well researched. However, I struggle to get past Hamas’s killing of innocent civilians in October 7th. I could understand the killing of soldiers and security forces as attempted resistance against the oppression brought about by Israel but that doesn’t excuse attacking civilians. Am I not looking at this correctly or have I been misinformed in my research on this incident? I am not trying to attack you or say that you are wrong I just am struggling to understand supporting Hamas even as I support Palestinian Liberation.

hello! alright so… i am sick and my brain is a lil foggy, so bear with me, i’m having trouble focusing. i’ll try my best to be clear and concise. i’ll start by citing some articles and facts. and then i’ll give my opinion at the end. anyway, let’s start.

firstly… let’s discuss the facts of oct 7.

we do not know what exactly happened on that day. the story keeps changing (on israel’s end). but here’s what we do know:

the original death toll was said to be 1,400

then it was dialled down to 1,200, with the other 200 being bodies of hamas members that were badly burned and deformed.

the finally, it was dialled down to 695 Israeli civilians, 71 foreigners, and 373 security forces, giving a total of 1,139 (the new arab)

now, that’s the death toll that does not differentiate between people killed by hamas vs people killed by idf. and there have been several reports and eyewitness statements that confirm a good number of the deaths on oct 7 were caused by israeli forces.

survivors of the attack said that israeli forces fired indiscriminately, including firing tank shells into houses where Israelis were being held (the new arab)

a police investigation also found that an israeli military helicopter opened fire on the assailants but also hit some people attending the festival. no further details were provided (Haaretz). after the news went public, suddenly the police backtracked on this information (Anadolu). so :/ so much for transparency, huh?

an israeli source also reported that “at least” one fifth of the israeli army deaths in gaza since the ground invasion began were also due to “friendly fire” incidents aka the idf shot their own troops.

in another report in the hebrew edition of haaretz on 11 oct by journalists nir hasson and eden solomon—a deputy commander of an israeli armored reserve battalion described how he and his tanks unit “fought inside the kibbutz, from house to house, with the tanks” basically blowing up civilian houses. “we had no choice,” he said (Electronic Intifada 2)*

idf refuses to carry out a proper investigation. here’s what they have to say:

Citing new data released by the Israeli military, Zeitun wrote that: “Casualties fell as a result of friendly fire on October 7, but the IDF [Israeli military] believes that … it would not be morally sound to investigate” them. (Electronic Intifada)

i’d suggest reading the whole article to get full clarity. there is a lot more information on how israel has been found to have been covering up parts of what happened on oct 7. here’s another article that explains israel’s complacency and complicity in the deaths of its citizens.

and here is one that outlines the statement of an israeli survivor of the kibbutz be’eri attacks (the ones reported about on oct 11)* on how it was the idf who harmed the citizens. the article also mentions another report by the haaretz from 20 oct on how the israeli military was “shelling houses with all their occupants inside in order to eliminate the terrorists along with the hostages”. interestingly enough. this article was also only published in hebrew.

now let’s talk about why oct 7 happened

to address why oct 7 happened, we need to know the bigger picture—the history of palestine. which, since you said you’ve seen my posts, i assume you know about. if you don’t, i would suggest you read up on the nakba (from palestinian sources).

history did not begin on 7th october. it was a consequence of more than 75 years of israeli settler-colonialism, and it was triggered by the unbearable conditions in gaza amid israel’s 16-year siege and imprisonment of more than two million people in the territory.

now specifically where hamas is concerned…

they’ve talked about how their specific objective was to take hostages to negotiate for the release of palestinians being kept as political prisoners, as well as deterring the idf from attacking al-aqsa mosque, a sacred institution. here’s a pretty comprehensive post on who the prisoners are and how they’re treated. here’s another article on how palestinians are treated in administrative detention (Mondoweiss). and this doesn’t even scratch the surface. a diabetic man was also force fed sugar while in detainment. do you understand how utterly cruel and sadistic that is?

what are palestinians meant to do if not resist such treatment?

tareq baconi, a scholar in politics and specifically, politics surrounding israel and palestine, has explicitly explained how hamas’ motivations are solely rooted in the liberation of palestine and are a consequence of an almost century old oppressive apartheid regime.

tareq baconi also talks about an evolving effort to change the existing “violent equilibrium” between hamas and israel whereby military force emerged as a means for negotiating concessions. hamas would use missiles and other tactics to compel israel to ease restrictions on the blockade, while the latter responds with overwhelming force to build deterrence and secure “calm” in the areas around gaza. so in a way both entities were stuck in this loop that never broke past the structural violence and oppression against palestinians.

it’s simple, really. hamas’ objective is to act as a military power that comes to the defense of palestinians against israeli colonial violence throughout the land of historic palestine. hamas only exists because israel has been violently oppressing palestinians since its formation in 1948. israel is the root cause of this violence.

what hamas does is armed resistance. agree with it or not, its objectives are rooted solely in resistance against occupation and against the countless war crimes and international crimes committed by israel that go unnoticed or unpunished.

in fact… let’s visit what happened in 2021, shall we? over why hamas attacked back then.

israel had been actively working to expel families in the sheikh jarrah neighborhood from their homes to make room for jewish settlers. where is sheikh jarrah? it’s in east jerusalem, which is recognised under international law as part of the palestinian territories.

anyway, this expulsion led to peaceful protests by the palestinians which resulted in the israeli state responding with force and mass arrests. israel’s efforts to disrupt the protests and push forward with its colonization of east jerusalem triggered hamas to respond with rocket fire.

and that’s not all. in 2018-19 during the great march of return when gazans led peaceful protests by the border fence, israel shot and killed 214 people, and injured 36,000+ in a way that left most of them maimed and disabled for life. these numbers include around 8,800 children (UN). you can read more about the injuries here.

and you know what weapons they used against these civilians? the “butterfly bullet”, which explodes upon impact, pulverizing tissue, arteries and bone. dozens of palestinians that were shot with this bullet had limbs amputated. amnesty international reported that “the nature of [the] injuries shows [they are] using high-velocity military weapons designed to cause maximum harm to protesters who do not pose an imminent threat to them."

and these are only incidents of the idf. the israeli settlers are not much different. they partake in mistreatment and oppression of palestinians on the daily as well.

in fact… here’s a thread of israeli settlers terrorising palestinians.

now as for what people feel for the palestinian resistance… i think it’s best for you to read the opinions of an actual palestinian.

the simple truth of the matter is that when the oppressive forces are beyond violent and cruel, you cannot expect the resistance and rebellion to come without violence. no liberation throughout the centuries was achieved with zero casualties.

what matters, dear anon, is where you choose to stand in spite of it all. palestinians themselves are not a monolith. heck, even hamas members themselves are not a monolith. there are disagreements within the organisation on how they go about their resistance. but right now… all of that does not matter.

right now… a genocide is happening. right now… we are seeing an insane amount of disproportionate violence and destruction being exacted upon innocent people. we are seeing journalists be targeted. writers and poets be targeted. houses flattened. graves desecrated and destroyed.

in fact, even historical documents are not safe from destruction. you know what that’s called in the academic world? epistemicide. the systematic destruction of knowledge and ways of knowing, often through the suppression of marginalized or indigenous knowledge systems. and cultural genocide through the destruction of historical cites and monuments.

what i’ve said here merely scratches the surface of the atrocities committed by israel towards palestinians. in fact, here’s a statement by prof. refaat alareer on just how terrible the situation for gazans is like. they cannot even walk without fear of being shot for “walking suspiciously” (and maybe look at the quoted tweet while you’re at it)

if one day of resistance is something you cannot get past… i ask you: how do 75 years of oppression get past you? how do 15,000 murders in 1948 which led to the formation of the state of israel get past you?

how can you sit here… and tell me you cannot get past the deaths of 695 civilians, of which a good number were killed by the israeli forces themselves, but you are willing to overlook EVERYTHING ELSE?

you ask me if you are looking at this incorrectly, i’d tell you you are not looking at this at all. your focus on hamas takes away from the bigger picture. takes away from the decades of resistance of the palestinians. takes away from their rights to return. it takes away from how out of 2.2M people in gaza, 1.92M have been displaced. 21K confirmed deaths. 8K people missing under rubble. 52K injured.

edward said once asked, “since when does a militarily occupied people have the responsibility for a peace movement?”

palestinians shouldn't have to be the perfect passive victims to gain your support. their resistance shouldn’t have to be perfect for you to support their liberation unequivocally. and besides, the conversation of what incidents of resistance we agree/disagree with can wait. right now… there is no space for these conversations while a genocide is happening.

at the end of it all, the simple truth is that the palestinians are victims. from the very beginning. before israel was even formed, the palestinians were the victims. they have been used, abused, mistreated, misconstrued, taken advantage of, murdered…. all for what? what was their crime? what did they do to deserve this? all they did was welcome jewish refugees into their homes. why did this have to happen to them?

at the end of the day, anon. to love palestine is to support their resistance. to give them grace for what happened because no movement for liberation is without casualties. which cannot be said about israel’s killings because israel is the oppressor and aggressor. what they’re doing is doubling down on their oppression and committing deliberate killings in an attempt to ethnically cleanse the land. they are committing genocide.

why are we always considering the oppressed and marginalised to be the barbarians, when they have been pushed to their limits to resist even crueler treatment? that is also a colonial tactic. to be cruel and then scream victimhood when the person fights back.

i don’t want to compare, but truly nothing hamas has done can ever come close to what israel has been doing for the past 75 years.

p.s. i apologise if i sounded harsh anywhere. i wasn’t trying to be, i’m just very blunt when i speak and i can’t quite get my tone across completely when i’m typing. definitely not trying to scold you, just answering your question and asking thought provoking questions for you to investigate within yourself.