Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib
@afalkhatib · Palestinské hlasy
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib je americký publicista původem z Gazy a člen Atlantic Council, který ve válce ztratil desítky příbuzných a otevřeně vystupuje proti vládě Hamásu.
Varoval vůdce Hamásu Sinvár Netanjahua před 7. říjnem? Nový investigativní článek Ha'arecu přes noc obrátil svět vzhůru nohama, jeho tvrzení jsou však vratká, rozporuplná a na několika místech jednoduše neuvěřitelná. Začíná dramatickým tvrzením, že prezident Spojených arabských emirátů MBZ v září 2023 varoval Netanjahua, že Hamás připravuje proti Izraeli něco násilného, což by mohlo destabilizovat region. Poté přechází k mnohem širším tvrzením: údajně probíhala izraelsko-hamásovská jednání o „zrušení blokády“ prostřednictvím výměny vězňů, údajná Sinvárova zpráva Netanjahovi prostřednictvím prostředníků palestinského mocenského hráče Muhammada Dahlaná působícího v SAE hrozila „zemětřesením“, pokud Izrael nepřistoupí na dohodu s Hamásem, a tvrdí se, že po útoku ze 7. října tato teroristická skupina nabídla „bezpodmínečné“ propuštění izraelských civilních rukojmích krátce poté, co je odvlekla do Gazy. Zde jsou některé úvahy a reakce na tento článek: 1. Pravděpodobně je pravda, že prezident SAE varoval Netanjahua před zpravodajskými informacemi získanými emirátskými službami a osobami blízkými Abú Zabí, včetně Dahlaná, který udržoval kontakty s Hamásem roky před 7. říjnem poté, co se skupina v rámci snahy čelit prezidentovi Palestinské samosprávy Mahmúdu Abbásovi usmířila s tímto kontroverzním palestinským mocenským hráčem. Podle zprávy Ha'arecu však varování zřejmě nebylo konkrétní a bylo dostatečně vágní, aby nevyžadovalo žádné určité opatření. Stejně jako Netanjahu údajně prozradil svou návštěvu SAE během americko-izraelské války s Íránem, čímž rozhněval emirátské představitele, může nyní Abú Zabí oplácet laskavost tím, že tyto informace zveřejňuje měsíc před zásadními izraelskými volbami, v nichž je Netanjahuovo politické přežití v sázce. 2. Izrael měl zájem o dlouhodobé příměří s Hamásem v Gaze. I proto povolil měsíční katarské převody hotovosti této teroristické skupině, vydal 20 000 pracovních povolení obyvatelům Gazy k práci v Izraeli s plánem program rozšířit a podporoval další ekonomické iniciativy zaměřené na zlepšení podmínek v tomto území. Tvrzení, že vydání těl dvou izraelských vojáků z války v roce 2014 a dvou izraelských civilistů držených Hamásem by vedlo ke zrušení blokády, však jednoduše není věrohodné. Blokáda byla uspořádána tak, že její úplné odstranění nebylo možné, dokud Gazu ovládala těžce vyzbrojená teroristická organizace s rozsáhlou sítí tunelů. Hamás čelil arabským, regionálním a mezinárodním omezením a sankcím kvůli své militantní ideologii a historii násilí; žádné dočasné ujednání ani „hudna“ s Izraelem by tuto realitu zásadně nezměnily. Dokud Hamás vládl Gaze, úplné zrušení blokády nikdy nebylo realistickou vyhlídkou. 3. Tvrzení, že Hamás skutečně chtěl propustit izraelská civilní rukojmí, která zajal 7. října, ale Izrael nebo tehdejší americký ministr zahraničí Blinken mu v tom zabránili, je nepravdivé tvrzení, které skupina opakovaně používá k odvrácení odpovědnosti. Hamás nenabídl jejich bezpodmínečné propuštění. Jak popisuje zpráva Ha'arecu, chtěl, aby k jakémukoli propuštění došlo prostřednictvím prostředníka, který by mohl utvářet rámec následných jednání o propouštění rukojmích, což bylo ze své podstaty podmíněné a obtížně slučitelné s chaotickými následky útoku. Hamás také přijal širokou definici toho, kdo je necivilním rukojmím, a za vojáka často považoval prakticky každého Izraelce ve věku od 18 do 60 let, včetně žen. Kdyby skutečně chtěl izraelské civilisty okamžitě osvobodit, existovaly praktické možnosti. Mohl koordinovat postup s egyptskou rozvědkou, převést civilní rukojmí na hraniční přechod Rafáh a předat je k bezpečnému návratu do Izraele. Místo toho Hamás rychle zvýšil své požadavky, zavraždil několik civilních rukojmích a další držel stovky dní. Tvrzení, že neměl žádný realistický způsob, jak civilisty krátce po jejich zajetí propustit, odporuje logice a vyvolává zásadnější otázku: pokud neměli být vyjednávací pákou, proč byli vůbec zajati? 4. Přibližně před dvěma měsíci premiér Netanjahu zastavil postup projektu komunity financovaného Emiráty a ovlivněného Dahlanem, plánovaného na západě Rafáhu v jižní Gaze za Žlutou linií, navzdory měsícům práce Rady míru a schválení izraelskými vojenskými a zpravodajskými představiteli. Jeho obrat na poslední chvíli vyvolal frustraci v Radě míru, SAE i u Dahlaná. V tomto kontextu může načasování zveřejnění článku Ha'arecu a zmínky o Dahlanově muži „Coal Eyes“ odrážet snahu Dahlaná a koalice arabských a západních aktérů oslabit Netanjahua před rozhodujícími volbami, které by mohly utvářet budoucnost Izraele i širší směřování Blízkého východu. 5. Tento článek byl mimořádně škodlivý a byl široce posílen v pro-palestinském hnutí, v prohamásovském táboře i v kruzích, které chtějí zmenšit odpovědnost Hamásu za masakr ze 7. října, jenž způsobil nejhorší katastrofu moderních palestinských dějin. Mnozí izraelští levičáci, novináři a aktivisté vystupující proti Netanjahuovi se natolik soustředí na jeho politickou porážku, že jej často vykreslují jako hlavního viníka 7. října a skutečného pachatele útoku, Hamás, někdy odsouvají do vedlejší role. Článek podpořil konspirační teorie, podle nichž Netanjahu vědomě dovolil, aby k 7. říjnu došlo, aby ospravedlnil tažení „genocidy“ v Gaze. Obecněji debata kolem článku dále narušila jakýkoli smysl pro palestinskou schopnost jednat, odpovědnost či vyvozování odpovědnosti; někteří dokonce tvrdí, že se Hamás fakticky pokusil Netanjahua před útokem varovat, ale byl ignorován, takže byl téměř neochotně donucen útok zahájit. 6. Představa, že by Hamás varoval Netanjahua a obětoval prvek překvapení, je krajně nepravděpodobná. Před 7. říjnem zůstávaly schopnosti Hamásu zásadně asymetrické, takže prvek překvapení byl nezbytný k vyvážení drtivé izraelské vojenské převahy. Je těžké uvěřit, že by Sinvár záměrně upozornil Izrael na možnost operace rozsahu 7. října jen několik týdnů před jejím zahájením, zvláště vzhledem ke zprávám, že Hamás s jejím plánováním začal v roce 2022. 7. Ačkoli byl Netanjahu nakonec odpornou a zločinnou postavou, častěji jej charakterizovala opatrnost než jestřábí postoj. Před 7. říjnem jej mnozí Izraelci kritizovali jako nerozhodného a neochotného podniknout odvážnou vojenskou akci. Potýkal se s bezprecedentními domácími nepokoji kvůli své justiční „reformě“, usiloval o normalizaci vztahů mezi Saúdskou Arábií a Izraelem, snažil se zachovat Abrahamovy dohody a zápasil s udržením křehké koalice, v níž působili krajně pravicové osobnosti jako Ben Gvir a Smotrič. Především chtěl udržet Gazu v klidu, zatímco na Západním břehu rostlo násilí a íránský jaderný program byl stále větším problémem. Tato touha po klidu téměř za každou cenu pravděpodobně přispěla ke katastrofální nedbalosti, která 7. říjnu předcházela, protože byla ignorována četná varovná znamení, nikoli k úmyslné snaze nechat útok proběhnout a vyvolat válku, jež by posloužila jako politická záminka. Jeho odpor k úplnému vyšetření selhání ze 7. října se pravděpodobněji vysvětluje snahou vyhnout se zkoumání této nedbalosti, možná dokonce trestné nedbalosti, než důkazy o širším spiknutí. Zamyslete se nad načasováním tohoto článku; zamyslete se nad tím, kdo se nadšeně snaží zbavit Hamás odpovědnosti; zamyslete se nad nelogickým rámováním některých předkládaných bodů; a zamyslete se nad možností, že v této expozé mohou být některá zrnka pravdy, ale že působí síly velmi zainteresované na manipulaci vnímání reality před 7. říjnem, v níž byl Hamás hluboce nepopulární, nenáviděný, bez možností a vedený dvěma psychopaty, Sinvárem a Dáífem, kteří promrhali životy a budoucnost dvou milionů Palestinců.
Přeloženo z jazyka angličtinaHi Mehdi – good of you to unblock me on Twitter a month ago after blocking me 2 years ago for I don’t know what reason. If you recall, soon after dozens of my family members were killed in Gaza in Israeli airstrikes, I messaged you and asked for your help in elevating my voice and telling their story, but you ignored me completely. I see you’ve been talking to Peter Beinart, and I had wanted to respect that he reached out to me privately 2 days ago, but since he’s spilling the beans, I’ll take the liberty of telling you what I told him. I fail to understand why an anti-Zionist Jew, and in your case, an Indian-British man, see yourselves as the most suited arbiters or facilitators for such conversations. I don't get the point of having a debate with other Palestinians with someone like yourself being a moderator. Why can’t you speak with me, and you’re welcome to speak with any of the others on your own time? I told your producer that I don’t want a debate, but rather a discussion and conversation, one that is elastic and doesn’t necessitate a “winner” and “loser,” but creates an opportunity for mutual learning and exploration. It seems that this has never been your interest, and your whole shtick is trying to ambush, dogpile, and play your clever, manipulative gymnastics to make a point, not make a difference. The points of view that most of your supremely “representative” Palestinians guys want to yell and scream at me are staples in the "pro-Palestine" industrial complex, so ubiquitously stated and repeated as part of a stale and useless diet for all to feast on. Though I speak for myself, my perspectives are rarely heard even though they are so prevalent among so many Gazans, the majority of whom are singularly focused on Hamas and blame it for their misery, both contemporarily and historically. Therefore, I'm not interested in talking to your pals - what I would be interested in is having a 1-on-1 conversation with you about the New York Times article and other topics that we can raise relevant to Gaza’s conditions and pathway forward. Please stop this elitist and horrifically pompous attitude that you, Peter Beinart, and countless others display as if you are the “truth tellers” when it comes to Israel and Palestine or as if you can proclaim who is a real or authentic Palestinian. Palestinians and their views/opinions are so deeply divided between Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, inside Israel, Arab & Muslim countries, and the Western world. The few Palestinians that you and Beinart love to salivate over are ultimately an irrelevant drop in the ocean. If you want to kill a civilization, Mehdi, keep suppressing opposition and dissent like you’re doing – seemingly to gather likes and shares on social media. I hope you’ll change course.
I gift this piece to Mehdi Hassan, Hamas's lawyer Ramy Abdu, Wahajat Ali, anti-Zionist “heroes” like Zachary Foster, terror enthusiasts like Muhammad Idrees Ahmed at New Line Magazine, the Middle East Bureau Chief of the Los Angeles Times, so-called academics and journalists, and oracles of the "pro-Palestine" industrial complex. May your reading comprehension, logical argumentation, rejection of Hamas's terror, acknowledgment of Palestinian agency even while recognizing Israel’s culpability, and actual care for the Palestinian people improve and evolve.
In a new opinion piece for the Forward, How Hamas still holds Gaza captive, I describe the stalemate in Gaza, Hamas's vile criminality, the dehumanization of Gazans, the normalization of Hamas's narratives and offer a plea to the "pro-Palestine" community. https://t.co/UyH7ycVEdv
An excerpt from "To Save Gaza, Resist Hamas": While many play verbal gymnastics to mask support for Hamas, or resist calls to denounce them, the rhetoric makes that support clear. Efforts by university administrators, the media or members of the public to push back against this devolution by pro-Palestinian activists were met with cries of censorship. Despite this obfuscation, the boundary between solidarity with the Palestinian people and endorsement of their Palestinian oppressors dissolved. As the horrors continued, the people of Gaza made it clearer, despite repression from Hamas, that they were disgusted with the group and wanted it out. There were several rounds of anti-Hamas protests during the war calling for the group to stop the disaster it began, to leave Gaza and release the hostages. Opposition to Hamas’s torture, extremism and failed governance has been strong and present for years. There were mass protests against the group in 2023 before Oct. 7, and in 2019 and 2017, sometimes under the banner of “We want to live.” Hamas brutally suppressed those demonstrations. The people of Gaza clearly did not matter to those claiming to champion Palestinian lives. Two months ago, 44 percent of American Muslims surveyed by Pew Research said they had a favorable view of Hamas, a number I believe understates the true level of support among Arab and Muslim diaspora communities. I cannot enter a mainstream Arab, Muslim or Palestinian American space and critique Hamas meaningfully without facing backlash or outright hostility. Hamas is now facing a humiliating defeat. Despite Israeli rejection of the initial phased disarmament framework, Hamas acquiesced to the Board of Peace’s demands. All the devastation was for nothing. Large segments of the pro-Palestinian community and Western left bet on a losing horse and embraced a rotten resistance narrative now invalidated by Hamas itself. The last thing Palestinians need is more denial from the left. The Palestinian national project has a rare chance to evolve toward nation-building, peace and coexistence alongside a Jewish Israel that is not about to be exterminated. Chants of “from the river to sea” and the like are destructive conceits.
A bizarre alliance to shield Hamas? Zachary Foster, one of the biggest clowns and least informed or compelling commentators in the Israel and Palestine space, and a living demonstration of how “anti-Zionism” has devolved into cultism, launched into a hate- and insult-filled tirade against me after I published an op-ed in The New York Times. He is frothing at the mouth with deranged language and rage, regurgitating incoherent talking points to say that Hamas are the valiant, amazing angels of reasonable compromise, and Israel is the evil root of all ills in Gaza; the predictable low-grade commentary one has come to expect from unhinged oracles of the “pro-Palestine” industrial complex. This is especially true of certain Jews who now express a violent rebellion against Zionism and Israel, due to feelings of guilt or “they lied to me at summer camp” vibes that many anti-Zionist Jews frequently express. Hilariously, the post was immediately reposted by Hamas’s chief lawyer in Europe, Ramy Abdu, who started the fake “EuroMed Monitor for Human Rights,” and another voice strangely obsessed with shielding Hamas from accountability and blame for Gaza’s destruction and the devastation of Palestinian national aspirations and hopes. Isn’t it ironic: an anti-Zionist Jew, a Hamas lawyer, and a firebrand in journalism, all in a furious frenzy to delegitimize me and my arguments – and ultimately, protect Hamas.
The Nazification of the so‑called “pro-Palestine” movement is no exaggeration. Large segments of this conglomerate have turned what should be a moral cause into an exceptionally hateful, racist, antisemitic, homophobic, and toxic ecosystem of low‑information activists, journalists, academics, and online personalities. Since my New York Times opinion piece, “To Save Gaza, Resist Hamas,” I have been targeted by a global smear campaign driven by Hamas, “pro-Palestine” fascists, antisemites, racists, and deeply disturbed individuals with hundreds of thousands of followers. They have circulated AI‑generated images and fabricated posts claiming I am Jewish, an Epstein‑connected agent blackmailed by Mossad, a closeted gay man, and a paid influencer funded by Israel (I am none of those things, in case you are curious). This is happening at the same moment other corners of the “pro-Palestine” industrial complex are calling a Black member of Congress a “monkey” and a “boy.” Add to that the meltdown among supposed journalists, academics, and influencers who clearly did not read the op‑ed and reacted only to the title, furious that I criticized Hamas, their favorite “resistance” Islamist fascist group in Gaza, or that I refused to place all blame for the coastal enclave’s problems on Israel. The backlash actually proves my central argument in this piece. Many in the “pro-Palestine” industrial complex refuse to engage with complexity around Gaza, Hamas, and Palestinian agency and responsibility, even within the reality of Israel’s overwhelming power advantage. By personalizing their reactions and resorting to insults instead of substance, including my explicit critique of Israeli policies, they are doing exactly what I argue must change. Palestinians and their allies can criticize Israel as much as they want, but fantasies about Israel’s destruction are neither moral nor pragmatic. Most critically, no one holds a monopoly on what counts as a legitimate Palestinian viewpoint. Palestinians are diverse, their opinions are deeply fragmented, and many in Gaza are furious with Hamas’s narratives and actions, a reality ignored by externally based Palestinians and non-Palestinians in the “pro-Palestine” industrial complex. It is time to delegitimize, call out, resist, and dismantle the current “pro-Palestine” movement and build an entirely new apparatus that rejects the hateful, bigoted, racist, homophobic, Jihadi, violent, and antisemitic voices that have become mainstream within this failed environment.
Imagine [hopefully] reading a piece that calls for Gaza to become the pride and joy of the Palestinian people and a hub of compelling Palestinian national identity by rejuvenating the territory, embracing peace, and rejecting a terror organization that admitted to refusing Gaza development offers worth billions, including an airport and seaport, only to proclaim that the op-ed is "pro-genocide." And how was this brilliant conclusion reached? Because the article I published in The New York Times didn't do the ubiquitous "everything has to be Israel's fault" that seems to be the only line of thinking within the supposed "pro-Palestine" camp. Speak to Palestinians in Gaza who aren’t Hamas or making content for the “pro-Palestine” community abroad, and you hear the same thing again and again. They describe, plainly and without theatrics, how Hamas halted Gaza’s development and crippled the broader Palestinian national project since its founding in 1987. They do not need to mention Israel in every sentence to sound authentic to outsiders, including other Palestinians or non-Palestinians alike. They simply recount their lived reality. For Gazans, Hamas is the central problem. There were no Israeli soldiers inside Gaza before October 7. The blockade that everyone loves to speak about was imposed after Hamas’s cross‑border abduction of an Israeli soldier in June 2006 and tightened after the group’s violent takeover of the territory on June 14, 2007. From that point forward, Hamas massively built tunnels, fired rockets, smuggled weapons, waged repeated rounds of conflict, and declared its intent to “destroy” Israel, while turning Gaza into a fortress of armed “resistance” that got Gaza destroyed, tens of thousands killed, millions displaced, and wasted billions of dollars. Hamas imposed punishing taxes on Gazans to fund its terror; stole diesel from Gaza’s only power plant and caused chronic power outages; suppressed women’s freedoms; blocked travel for anyone it disliked; and routinely killed, tortured, jailed, beat, and humiliated countless Gazans. Research the political and cultural divides between Gaza and the West Bank, and you quickly see how many Gazans resent West Bankers for cheering Hamas and October 7. These dynamics are complex, real, and central to understanding Palestinian politics, yet they are brushed aside or overlooked to satisfy low‑information audiences who consume the toxic narratives produced by the "pro-Palestine" industrial complex. Some people are simply uninformed. Some are unsophisticated. And then there are those who know exactly what they are doing and deliberately twist, manipulate, and distort reality to manufacture ignorance and maintain obedience and Orwellian-grade compliance among the crowds.
I'm sure you're able to read & caught the title of the article & the substance which is about Gaza, not the West Bank. Plus Hamas's actions for 3 decades empowered anti-Palestinian forces within Israel who play a role in what's happening in the West Bank now. Please read/re-read.
Get your priorities straight, anti-Hamas dude: your starting point must always be occupation, genocide, apartheid & settler-colonialism; any energy left in you afterwards, you can talk about Hamas or expect others to. Otherwise, you're not a real or "representative" Palestinian!
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassim issued a statement attacking my New York Times op‑ed and denouncing the Board of Peace and the U.S. State Department for sharing it. Just four months ago, the terror group’s Politburo senior leader, Basem Naim, also incited against me, calling me a “suspicious individual” after I exposed his group’s obstruction of efforts to improve Palestinian lives. In its new statement, Hamas accuses the U.S. government and the Board of Peace of promoting “incorrect information and biased opinions” against the “resistance,” and absurdly claims that my op‑ed and the Board/DOS resharing “adopt” the Israeli narrative. Hamas is clearly irritated that anyone notes its acceptance of the Board of Peace’s disarmament demand, even though the group has in principle agreed to disarm. It is time for Hamas to be honest. Are you actually willing to give up your weapons, and therefore ready for Palestinians to ask what the last four decades, from 1987 to October 7, were for? Or are you now backing away from disarmament and simply trying to suppress any article or statement that exposes that fact? Hamas is panicking that its narrative is being challenged like never before and is fully cognizant that Palestinians in Gaza are ready for something fundamentally different. The age-old tactic of simply blaming everything on Israel no longer works on Gazans, though it still works for the “pro-Palestine” industrial complex in the United States and Europe, including supposed journalists, academics, experts, famous and online personalities, and low-information activists. Read what the Board of Peace shared and tell me this isn’t exactly what genuine pro-Palestine sentiment looks like: “In the next decade, Gaza should become the pride of the Palestinian people and the crown jewel of Palestinian national identity. Gaza must become a model of effective Palestinian self-governance, strengthening confidence among allies and Israel that Palestinian aspirations center on freedom and prosperity, rather than Israel’s destruction. To achieve this, Gaza needs to be reimagined so it is no longer sustained by an NGO complex or a refugee framework. Gaza will need deep deradicalization across schools, mosques, media and public language to cultivate and produce builders and creators.”
Yup, the "pro-Palestine" left, as I shared in my New York Times op-ed, have lost their mind, for they are racist, bigoted, pro-Hamas, antisemitic, pro-fascism, and ultimately, heavy on rhetoric, extremely light on solutions, ideas, and proposals. Calling black people "monkeys"🤷♂️🤦♂️
Hamas terrorists are beautiful "genocide victims," said their "human rights lawyer" Ramy Abdu in Europe. To give people a sense of who the terror organization dispatched to launch a counteroffensive against me for the New York Times op-ed I published today, this is what he posted two weeks ago. He shared an image of a Hamas terrorist whom Israel had eliminated and proceeded to claim that Israeli propaganda is deliberately making “Palestinian resistance fighters” look ugly and savage as a form of racist stereotyping. Of course, Abdu was too busy praising October 7 and didn’t bother looking at the actual savagery from his favorite “resistance” terrorists on that fateful day that ushered in the worst catastrophe in Palestinian modern history. He urged his followers to exercise “caution” when sharing images of “genocide victims” whose footage might be manipulated by artificial intelligence to make them look ugly, I suppose instead of their beautiful selves. This is a clear admission that Hamas and its lawyer networks, with Ramy Abdu chief among them, have been counting dead terrorists as “genocide victims” when they should be counted as militants in a war that they and their movement started on October 7.
Hamas just dispatched Ramy Abdu, its chief lawyer in Europe, to attack my New York Times op‑ed. He runs “Euro‑Med Human Rights Monitor,” the biggest and most sophisticated front operation Hamas has ever built. It is a fake “rights” group in the heart of Europe designed to launder Hamas narratives and operate through the same networks that produced Abdu from Gaza. He is doing exactly what his Jihadi handlers expect: flood the zone with emotionalism, repeat “Zionist” and “Genocide” nonstop, bury facts, smear anti‑Hamas Gazans as treasonous puppets of Israel, and enforce discipline among the pro‑Palestine foot soldiers so the focus never shifts from Israel. Major media outlets have unfortunately legitimized him by citing Euro‑Med’s fabricated data, even though the group has been thoroughly exposed as a polished cover for a terrorist organization responsible for severe harm and human rights violations. If you want to understand how Hamas’s propaganda became mainstream, look at “lawyers” like Ramy Abdu in Europe.
In an op-ed for The New York Times, I argue that saving Gaza & its Palestinian people requires resisting Hamas, weaving in personal themes, addressing issues with the Left & "pro-Palestine" movement & proposing a vision for Gaza's future Transformation. https://t.co/X4OCVETl8M
Hamas’s fascist militias attacked civilians in Khan Younis today, shooting, wounding, and kidnapping several, then retreated straight into the Nasser Hospital Medical Complex, where they’ve built torture rooms and interrogation chambers in full view of UN agencies and international NGOs. And still, the “pro‑Palestine” industrial complex won’t say a word. Not Hasan Piker, not the DSA, not SJP or AMP, not the activist mobs, influencers, journalists, Hollywood names, singers, members of Congress, or Senate candidates. None of them will touch the fact that Palestinians are being brutalized by Palestinian oppressors like Islamist terrorists such as Hamas, throughout Gaza and especially inside Gaza’s hospitals - because for them, Palestinian lives only seem to matter when Jewish Israelis are involved. Tell the truth - is that not the case? Am I wrong?
Israel’s Defense Minister Katz is once again recycling the same empty election‑season lines about expelling Gaza’s population and claiming he is arranging pathways for Gazans to leave if another country accepts them. He drags President Trump into the fantasy even though the United States made clear in the October 2025 ceasefire that Palestinians are meant to remain in a rebuilt and revitalized Gaza. Yes, many Gazans have voiced a desire to leave after years of Hamas’s rule, despair, war, and destruction. But many more want to stay. Gaza is their home, their memory, or the place they hope will finally become something better. Israeli politicians pushing expulsion are not speaking about welfare or safety. They are indulging a vision of erasure that is fascistic and despicable. I and many others have repeated the same principle: any Palestinian from Gaza who wants to leave and has a destination deserves safe passage and the right to return. Those who stay deserve the chance to build new lives beyond Hamas, beyond radicalization, and beyond permanent Israeli military control. If Israel’s legitimate security needs are met, then Katz, Ben Gvir, Smotrich, Netanyahu, and others have no right or credibility to speak about draining Gaza of its people under the disguise of voluntary migration. The trauma of October 7 is real and understandable. And, it does not justify rhetoric that treats forced displacement as an acceptable solution.
A friend invited me into a WhatsApp group of “Arab queers and LGBT activists” in San Francisco who supposedly cared about Arab culture and food. A handful of pro‑Hamas extremists revolted, called me “shit,” and claimed they were “repulsed” by my presence, insisting I “work for the Times of Israel.” When I challenged their authoritarianism, I was removed because the self‑described “pro‑Palestine” members were so unwell they threatened to leave the group if I stayed, claiming my existence violated their safe space and that they did not want to bother stating why they disagreed with me. This incident reminded me of a prominent Arab feminist page on Twitter/X that eulogized Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar after he was killed in 2024, despite him leading a violently anti‑feminist Islamist organization responsible for immense harm to Palestinian women. The pattern is unmistakable: modern-day leftism has devolved into mental illness that is a political subculture which treats extremism as virtue, punishes dissent, and collapses under the weight of its own contradictions.
Gaza’s deradicalization requires rewiring the public lexicon; the names, symbols, and everyday language that seep into Palestinians’ subconscious. Hamas has spent two decades socially engineering a society around “resistance” and militarism, saturating public space with violent imagery that corrodes civil life and the norms of tolerance and peace. When I was growing up, a street near our home was casually called Nafaq or “Tunnel” street. Later, Hamas built roundabouts featuring rockets, drones, and mock Israeli tanks, and named countless streets after “martyrs” killed in battle. Entire areas were labeled with warfighting terms: “Brigades,” “Company,” “Battalion,” embedding militarism into the geography itself. This must end. Any serious deradicalization effort has to dismantle this linguistic and symbolic architecture as part of reconstituting Gaza toward nation‑building and away from the armed “resistance” narrative Hamas entrenched across the Strip.
In a fiery conversation with Unpacked Media's "Wondering Jews" podcast, I talk with Noam Weissman about my book Hamas and Its Two Million Hostages, pro-Palestine activism & narrative warfare that's undermining the Palestinian people's hopes & aspirations. https://t.co/Oe7l7EzR5I
Actually being pro-Palestine is not the same as being anti-Israel.
What's next after the daring Israeli raid to abduct a senior Hamas security official yesterday (Mo'in al‑Arabid, head of the Internal Security Service/Secret Police), and why did Prime Minister Netanyahu visit Gaza's perimeter today? What's next for disarmament & the population? https://t.co/J5622bKLMl
Gaza received more per‑capita aid and development funding than any conflict zone on earth for nearly twenty years; yet vast NGO and charity networks ultimately helped Hamas entrench its rule, culminating in the October 7 disaster. I explain how this system took shape, how it enabled Hamas and why the pro‑Palestine and NGO industrial complexes ended up harming Gazans rather than serving them. "Ask Haviv Anything" @havivrettiggur
An Israeli raid inside Gaza’s Hamas‑controlled “red zone” resulted in the capture of Mo'in al‑Arabid, the head of Hamas’s Internal Security Service. Al‑Arabid has long been tied to some of the group’s worst abuses against Palestinians: torture, intimidation, disappearances, executions, extortion, all carried out through Hamas’s secret police to maintain its authoritarian grip on Gaza. He also oversaw the operational security architecture that protected both Hamas’s regime and its al‑Qassam Brigades from infiltration and espionage by Arab, Israeli, and Palestinian Authority services. Today’s operation, believed to involve Shin Bet/Shabak units, required heavy covering fire and reportedly caused some civilian casualties. The timing of the special operations raid raises key questions: was it driven by urgent intelligence, election‑season signaling, or an Israeli message that disarmament and withdrawal terms will not soften? What is clear is the reaction inside Gaza. Many Gazans, especially those who suffered under Hamas’s secret police and under al‑Arabid personally, are openly celebrating the fall of a symbol of tyranny, saying they hope he enjoys an unpleasant stay in “Ben Gvir’s prisons.”
In a conversation with Russ Roberts @EconTalker, I discussed my book Hamas and Its Two Million Hostages, and talked about the prospects of disarmament in Gaza, my vision for a demilitarized Strip, a rejuvenated Palestinian identity & ideas for the incoming Israeli government 🇵🇸🇮🇱
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