Dan

Countries halting funding to @UNRWA: Australia 🇦🇺 Canada 🇨🇦 Finland 🇫🇮 Germany 🇩🇪 Italy 🇮🇹 Netherlands 🇳🇱 Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 UK 🇬🇧 United States 🇺🇸

Ceasefire now? It is evident that #Hamas, in its own callous & destructive way, isn't seeking a rapid end to the horrendous Israeli war on #Gaza that's destroying the Palestinian population there. In so doing, Hamas ironically has sinister common ground with Netanyahu & Company who want to prolong the conflict & don't seem particularly concerned about the hostages' return. Hamas is desperately trying to gain any "achievement" that it can sell its people because it knows that in a Gazan context, its rule and legitimacy are finished. It doesn't matter that its propaganda has fooled many in the Arab or Muslim worlds or folks in the West Bank who haven't endured life with the consequences that a Hamas rule would bring. The group can never recover its former standing in the coastal enclave. While Gazans are furious at Israel for inflicting unspoken death & destruction upon them, Hamas will forever be held in contempt for initiating yet another deadly war that was entirely avoidable. A 9-year-old video clip is making the rounds of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who sometimes has bursts of brilliance and reasonable commentary, even with all of his faults and weaknesses. In it, he describes the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas and how he asked Egypt's President el-Sisi to put forth a ceasefire initiative early in the conflagration. El-Sisi, who despises Hamas & its ideological mothership, the Muslim Brotherhood, nevertheless came back with a reasonable framework for a ceasefire that restores the previous arrangements between Israel & Hamas agreed upon in 2012. Instead of agreeing to the proposed ceasefire initiative & saving the maximum number of Gazans’ lives, Hamas refused and brought up unreasonable demands such as establishing an airport, a seaport, and the complete lifting of the blockade. These demands were entirely out of the question, especially because Hamas didn’t offer Israel much of anything in return: It didn’t want to renounce violence, agree to a long-term ceasefire, or unify Gaza politically with the West Bank – as in, what moron thinks that Israel would simply grant Hamas all of its wishes without anything in return. Abbas continued that despite efforts to convince Hamas otherwise, the group refused a ceasefire and needlessly kept the war going for 51 days, after which it agreed to an almost identical ceasefire framework that neither lifted the blockade nor allowed for an airport/seaport. This means that in 2014, over 2,200 Gazans died needlessly without any results or a meaningful outcome. Similarly, Egypt is now proposing a vision to stop the current war. It entails Hamas (& the Palestinian Islamic Jihad) agreeing to relinquish control over Gaza, with guarantees to their members’ safety, and turn control over to a new government led by the Palestinian Authority with international monitoring & support while also releasing all Israeli hostages and beginning negotiations to achieve a two-state solution. The vision deliberately leaves the issue of disarmament somewhat vague. Still, it is understood that Hamas would ultimately need to abandon armed resistance in Gaza. Predictably, Hamas & the PIJ largely refused the vision. The groups keep demanding that Israel completely stop the war before any negotiations take place. While I want the war to end right this second, we know that’s not going to happen, especially with Netanyahu wanting to prolong the conflict to save his collapsing political career. I share this because it’s not possible to simply put all the focus on Israel and keep calling for a ceasefire without fundamentally understanding what’s at play here. Of course, the priority is to put an immediate end to the horrendous bombardment and the horrific/at times criminal conduct of the IDF in Gaza. But Hamas’s role, actions, decisions, and priorities are inexorably linked to the current war & misery of Palestinians. The eventual cessation of the war will require pressure applied on Hamas to compromise, accept its responsibilities, and pay the necessary price to save what remains of Gaza & Gazans – and to prevent possible forced displacement into Sinai/Egypt (or "voluntary" ethnic cleansing) that’s being touted by Netanyahu & senior Israeli officials. I urge those who support Palestinian lives/rights and want to see an end to the horror – please understand the terrible role of Hamas in the current disaster and don’t give the group the benefit of the doubt. They deserve to be ruthlessly condemned and strongly pressured to act quickly and stop the needless killing of their people in Gaza; start pairing calls for a ceasefire with demands for the hostages' release & a political change for the people of Gaza. Palestinian political factions and leaders have agency and can make decisions to end the slaughter of their own people. Hamas is not worthy of any direct or tacit support; we must understand their destructive/immoral calculus and unequivocally reject it.