Pro-Palestinian Activism: Paving the Way for Future Attacks
The Rise of the Idiots and the Collapse of Reason
Hamas official Ghazi Hamad, never one to shy away from a bit of self-congratulation, has triumphantly declared that the events of October 7 threw a massive spanner in the works of Arab-Israeli normalisation efforts. He’s practically patting himself on the back, claiming that this bloody day didn’t just disrupt peace talks but also pushed the Palestinian cause to the top of the global political agenda. Bravo, right? And it seems Western pro-Palestinian activism played no small part in this, effectively bolstering and legitimising the attacks, paving the way for future ones.
In an earlier chat with Lebanese media, Hamad promised that Hamas would happily repeat the actions of October 7 "again and again." Because, you know, once just isn’t enough. Both he and his interviewer, Khaled Al-Rehab, had a bit of a love fest over the attacks on southern Israel, where Hamas fighters went on a rampage, killing over 1,200 people. Al-Rehab kicked off the interview with a hearty, “We say long live October 7, which has brought the Palestinian struggle to the top of the agenda of global politics.” Lovely.
Hamad went on to assert that Israel, with its Western friends and robust economy, had been cosying up to countries in the region, hoping to normalise relations and cement its place as a regional player. But, according to Hamad, the October 7 attacks “turned the tables on this whole view.” Because nothing says “let’s rethink this relationship” like a day of bloodshed, all the more bolstered by the Western pro-Palestinian activism that cheered it on.
When it came to the hostages taken to Gaza, Hamad initially claimed that Hamas had targeted the “Gaza Brigade of the Israeli army,” intending to capture soldiers. However, many hostages were civilians, including very young children, like one-year-old Kfir and five-year-old Ariel Bibas, whose bodies have since been returned to Israel after they were brutally murdered by Hamas.
During a BBC interview, when confronted about civilian deaths, Hamad stuck to his guns, insisting that Hamas didn’t mean to kill any civilians. When pressed further, he had a bit of a diva moment, ripping off his mic and storming out with an “I want to stop this interview.”
Hamad also couldn’t resist a bit of a victory lap, celebrating what he called a shift in foreign perceptions of the occupation. He pointed to international organisations and universities cutting ties with Israel, with the October 7 attacks apparently giving the normalisation process a good slap in the face. “The seventh of October was able to slap at the progress of the normalization effort, and this is, of course, a very important political success,” he smugly noted. And let's not forget, Western pro-Palestinian activism was right there, cheering them on, making it all the easier.
Despite all the chaos and destruction unleashed by Hamas, Hamad insists that “resistance is the clear option for the Palestinian people,” dismissing “capitulations and negotiations” as pointless. He took a swipe at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claiming that Netanyahu’s desperate attempts to hold onto power are tearing Israeli society apart, with protests and internal divisions apparently doing Hamas's work for them.
On the subject of a two-state solution, Hamad reasserted Hamas's familiar stance: “Having peace with Israel is not possible. There is not one Palestinian child who will accept peace with this occupation.” And just in case there was any confusion, he clarified, “We will never accept anything less than the historical Palestine. We do not believe in a two-state solution. We will never recognise Israel, and [although] we might accept the creation of a Palestinian state or a Palestinian entity on the '67 borders with its capital as East Jerusalem, we would never recognise Israel… We hold fast in refusing to accept the two-state solution, refusing to recognise Israel, and holding fast to historic Palestine and the resistance as a strategy of struggle."
In a final flourish, Hamad claimed that October 7 had achieved more in a single day than 30 years of Fatah’s negotiations. “We saw that the seventh of October has given us this recognition and not the negotiations,” he boasted. So, thanks to the resounding success of that day, it seems the door is wide open for future repeats, with a little help from their Western cheerleaders. How reassuring.