Those who admire Hamas, support Hamas and happily celebrate the atrocities should be treated as such.
By Hugh Fitzgerald, Frontpage Magazine
One of the soothing notions being disseminated by the Biden administration is that Hamas must be clearly distinguished from the “ordinary people” in Gaza, who, we are led to believe, deplore the terrorist atrocities and want only to be left alone to lead peaceful lives.
It’s a comforting thought, but it isn’t true.
In recent polls, taken after October 7, 76% of Gazans said they support Hamas, in full knowledge of what Hamas did on that day, when it beheaded babies, burned children to death, raped, tortured, and murdered young girls, gouged out eyes, sliced off breasts, and cut off the genitalia of Israelis, both before and after death, murdered children in front of their parents and parents in front of their children.
Three-quarters of those we keep being told are “innocent civilians” have approved of those atrocities. Can they be called “innocent”? More on this can be found here: “‘Show Me One Palestinian Who Tried to Save a Jew on Oct. 7’: Hostage Families Highlight Culpability of Gazan Population,” by Debbie Weiss, Algemeiner, November 27, 2023:
Families of hostages seized by the Hamas terror group on Oct. 7 experienced a mix of relief and anxiety at a rally marking “50 days of hell” on Saturday night as they grappled with the bittersweet reality of the release of some hostages while many others remained in captivity, amid multiple delays on the part of Hamas.
Speakers at the rally, which drew some 100,000 people to the renamed Hostage Square outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, called to “bring home all of them now.”
As of Sunday night, a total of 40 Israeli hostages were released with Hamas indicating that it was interested in extending the ceasefire. Terrorists led by Hamas abducted over 240 people during their Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
Thirteen hostages, mostly from Kibbutz Be’eri, were released on Saturday some six hours after the 4 pm deadline after Hamas accused Israel of short-changing on the promised delivery of fuel and humanitarian aid — a claim that was denied by the International Committee of the Red Cross — and releasing the wrong Palestinian security prisoners in exchange.
As usual, Hamas makes unfounded accusations against Israel — claiming that it had “short-changed” on the amount of fuel and humanitarian aid it had promised to allow into Gaza. But this time, the ICRC (the International Red Cross) firmly took Israel’s side, and Hamas dropped its specious complaint.
Be’eri resident Nir Shani, whose son, Amit, turned 16 in captivity, was not surprised by the delay.
“It’s not unexpected, sadly. It would’ve been weird if it would have gone smoothly as planned. It was obviously going to happen,” Shani told The Algemeiner.
Shani further said he wasn’t surprised by the Oct. 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas.
“They did exactly what they said they would do if they got the chance. We’ve seen it before,” he said, pointing to terror attacks against Jews even before the founding of the state.
Shani’s views stand in sharp contrast with those of other members of his kibbutz, who maintain that a peaceful resolution to the conflict — likely in the form of two states — is still possible.
He also refused to extend clemency to the Palestinian population in Gaza as being innocent.
“I don’t make a distinction between them and Hamas. We’ve all heard about the righteous among the nations in the Holocaust. Tell me of one Palestinian who tried to save one Jew after Oct. 7,” he said.
There are no such stories, alas. Not a single Arab appears to have tried to save an Israeli’s life.
In fact, it was not only Hamas operatives who committed atrocities that day, but also ordinary people from Gaza who accompanied the Hamas invaders, joining in the orgy of killing, theft, and also in raping Israeli girls, taking some of them back into Gaza — these are not, remember, Hamas operatives but ordinary Gazans joining in the fun — to serve as sex slaves. Some of them, not in Hamas’ hands, may still be alive.
Shani cited Daniel Lifshitz, the grandson of 85-year-old released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, as saying that his grandmother was “spat on by hundreds of Gazans on the back of a motorbike.”…
The contempt and cruelty shown by “hundreds of Gazans” who spat on an 85-year-old Israeli grandmother, who had been taken into Gaza by a Hamas operative on a motorbike, is one more bit of evidence that we should not call such people “innocent civilians.”
Images of Ohad Munder, who turned 9 in captivity, blowing bubbles and playing with a Rubik’s cube shortly after his release on Friday, flooded Israeli media. He was released along with his mother, Keren, 54, and grandmother Ruth, 78. His grandfather, 78-year-old Avraham Munder, is still in Gaza.
Avraham’s niece, Merav Mor Raviv, cited Keren as saying that the food supply in captivity was up and down and on some days there was nothing more than a bit of rice.
She told Israel’s Channel 12 that there “were also many Hebrew speakers [in Gaza], who spoke to them.”…
Who were these Hebrew-speaking Arabs? They were undoubtedly among the 20,000 Gazans who had been given permits to work in Israel. Some of them, we now know, provided information to Hamas on the best ways into Israel, the layout and populations of the kibbutzim, the presence or absence of security, and in some cases, even the number, and age, of family members.
Despite Israel’s claim that the ceasefire agreement included the release of mothers whose children were set free, Hila Rotem, a 13-year-old, was captured by Hamas terrorists along with her mother Raya Rotem, aged 54, but only Hila was released on Saturday, leaving her mother still held hostage in Gaza….
By freeing 13-year-old Hila Rotem but not her mother, Hamas has violated the agreement, by which it had been obligated to release mothers whose children were set free.
But no Israeli is surprised that Hamas tried to get out of honoring its solemn promise. There will be many more such violations, by Hamas, during this interminable hostage-for-prisoner exchange.
As for those “innocent civilians” whom the terrible Israelis have not spared with their airstrikes, let’s not forget that three-quarters of them approved of Hamas’ atrocities.
And don’t forget, either, about the mobs of Gazans who screamed blood-curdling threats, and threw rocks at the hostages as they were brought into Gaza on October 7.
And what shall we call those hundreds of Gazans who spit on an Israeli grandmother as she was brought to Gaza on a motorbike?
What about the Gazans who threw rocks at the hostages who were being taken out of Gaza to be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners?
Can any of these people be considered “innocent” civilians? Given half a chance, they would set upon these Israelis and finish the job that Hamas operatives had chosen not to complete, in order to use those Israelis as bargaining chips in a trade for Arab prisoners.
There are some “innocent civilians” in Gaza. But there are not nearly as many as we are led to believe by the media, which assumes that anyone who is not a member of Hamas automatically becomes an “innocent civilian.”
Those who admire Hamas, support Hamas, happily celebrate the atrocities it committed, who furthermore express murderous hatred of Israeli hostages, both as they were first brought into Gaza and then, in the hostage exchange, brought out, should be considered willing collaborators with the terror group, and ought to be treated as such.