Hamas Movement is not supported by all Palestinians, as per many Palestinians in Gaza Strip.
Editor’s note: Yasmine Mohammed is the author of “Unveiled: How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islam.”
She is also the president of the nonprofit organization Free Hearts Free Minds.
The views expressed in this commentary are her own.
When my father, who was born and raised in Gaza, was still alive, he often spoke out against Hamas.
Calling it the ugly face of the Palestinian struggle everywhere.
It is an insult to Palestinians to refer to these terrorists as our freedom fighters.
Since Hamas’ attack on Israel.
As I have read post after post on social media referring to Hamas as freedom fighters involved in anti-colonial resistance.
I have been struck by the devastating weight of this lie. It is an insult to Palestinians to refer to these terrorists as our freedom fighters.
My father hated that Hamas had dominated the conversation.
And also positioned itself as the face of Gaza worldwide.
My dad was born and raised in the Gaza Strip and lived there until he went to Egypt to attend university.
Although he left Egypt for San Francisco and later moved to Montreal, he always carried Gaza in his heart.
He had a Facebook page and a YouTube channel dedicated to sharing images and videos of a Gaza before it was overrun with terrorists.
There is nothing he hated more than Hamas.
In words he posted to social media:
“May God curse the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, they have brought us nothing but backwardness in our Arab societies.”
My father knew that if you spoke up against these tyrannical oppressors, you were swiftly dealt with.
And your family, too, for good measure. Hamas has never shied away from violence.
To throw all Gazans in the same bucket as Hamas is a grave insult — one that people on both sides of the political spectrum are committing.
Many people on the left, for example, conflate Hamas with all Palestinians and then deem them all the oppressed — the minority group, the victims, the besieged.
Hamas is happy with this misguided and confused perspective.
Because it allows the group to hide under the umbrella of “oppression” to justify its violence.
It would rather, of course, be seen as freedom fighters than terrorists.
Among the hard right, many people are conflating Palestinians with Hamas to justify the flattening of Gaza.
While cutting power and water to civilians violates international law.
Cutting water and electricity to terrorists is justified, according to that line of thinking.
The truth is, Hamas is not Gaza, and Gaza is not Hamas.
Gaza is an area of land with people who are trying to do the best that they can to survive under abysmal circumstances.
Hamas stands next to al Qaeda and ISIS in perpetuating deadly terror attacks against civilians.
I believe Israel has every right to protect its people from a vicious, violent and ugly terrorist group.
Jewish history is fraught, with generation after generation having to face various groups wanting to eradicate the Jewish population.
I am heartbroken, of course, that Gazans will now have to pay the price for Hamas’ depravity.
It is brutal and horrific. War always is.
Sadly, Hamas will likely continue its destruction.
Its funding will still flow in from Iran, though perhaps it will need to rebrand under a different name.
It is Gazans who will never recover. It is Gazans who will have to give up on their dream of a homeland forever.
If you want to help Gazans, conflating them all with a terrorist group is not the way.
Instead, you can help them to get out from under the tyranny of Hamas.
Share the voices of peace-loving Palestinians such as activist Bassem Eid.
Elevate the words of secular politicians who do not use religion to sow division and encourage hate of the other.
I fear none of us will ever get to see Gaza as an independent state freed from the clutches of terrorists.
I will never see my family’s two buildings there that my father so desperately wanted me to visit.
They probably won’t be left standing.
I will likely never set eyes on his beloved olive trees. They will return to the earth as he has.
It could have been so different. Ignorance and religious zealotry ripped away any chance that Gaza had.
Mercifully, my dad died thinking that one day his dream of freeing his homeland from the clutches of Hamas.
So the Gazan people could breathe and flourish might be realized.
He didn’t have to endure the heartbreak of seeing the reality playing out today.
When my dad died, I mourned mostly for what could have been in my relationship with him.
Now I am mourning for what could have been for his homeland.
The article is quoted from CNN Website …
Read More:
For The Peace in Gaza, UAE Leads More Discussions.
Compassion for Gaza: A Campaign to Help the Palestinian Brothers
UAE President & Blinken Discussed Gaza Humanitarian Corridors
The UN Started Urgent Appeal to Raise $294 million for Palestine.
