Memo From a Gazan to Campus Protests: You're Hurting the Palestinian Cause
www.newsweek.com
As a Gazan and as a Palestinian, I want the protesters and the organizers of these protests to know that their hateful speech harms us.

It’s unconscionable. But it’s not just the antisemitism that has me despairing. It’s the hypocrisy. Where were these caring young people when Hamas took over Gaza and slaughtered hundreds of Gazans, or when Hamas held 2 million Gazans captive for more than 17 years? Why didn’t they speak out about the fact that Hamas led Gazans into this conflict, which resulted in more than 30,000 dead and 80,000 injured, according to Gazan municipal authorities? Where were they when Hamas’s failed missiles claimed the lives of hundreds of Gazans on October 17, or when Hamas murdered young people in order to steal aid and resell it to Gazans at massively inflated prices?

But the protesters aren’t interested in peace. Some of the groups have been blocking Palestinian peace activists like me—and I am from Gaza, the very place they claim to care about! Instead of blocking peace activists, they should be inviting us to join these protests and guide them in the right direction—a place without hatred with a focus on calling for the release of the hostages who have been held captive by Hamas for more than 210 days.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
    194·
    6 months ago

    I don’t think it’s defensible at all, whether he genuinely believes it or not.

    The protesters, overall, have not been protesting in favor of Hamas. They’re protesting against Israel. They want to end the killings. Hamas right now is not the one doing the majority of the killing. Not even close. It’s only “defensible” if everyone in Gaza is a member of Hamas, even the babies.

    And this guy is just full of shit if he’s claiming that these campus protesters are stopping Palestinians calling for peace from speaking.

    • jet@hackertalks.comEnglish
      33·
      6 months ago

      Based on the authors stated history they are coming from a position of strong emotional hate for Hamas, fair enough. I can see why they want to focus here to be on Hamas. I think the author is incorrect in saying that protesting to stop the genocide is helping hamas.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
        102·
        6 months ago

        I think you’re narrowing what he’s saying down to a single point while ignoring all the other ridiculous things he says in the article, such as berating college students for not condemning Hamas 17 years ago.

        And there are so many half-thoughts too.

        I assumed individuals who initiated these slogans were uninformed about what they were advocating for. I saw the LGBTQ flag frequently flown among people chanting lines from Hamas’s charter, and I initially wanted to educate them, to warn them that the group they are honoring would most likely toss them from the top of a building or murder them like they did to Mahmoud Ishtiwi, a Hamas commander accused of homosexuality.

        So why didn’t he educate and warn them? Who knows. He didn’t say.

        • Altofaltception@lemmy.worldEnglish
          71·
          6 months ago

          berating college students for not condemning Hamas 17 years ago

          Just like Israel holds all Gazans responsible for electing Hamas, despite the majority of Gazans not being born yet.