by Josefa Gonzalez
The protesters in Gaza, chanting “Hamas are terrorists!” are risking not only their livelihoods but their lives to speak out against an oppressive regime.
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Thousands of Gazans have been risking their lives by protesting against Hamas, while college students on US campuses continue to protest on behalf of the terror group. The protests in Gaza are the largest anti-Hamas protests the enclave has seen since the war started. We are witnessing a dramatic disconnect between Western Pro-Palestinian interpretations of liberation and the liberation sought by Gazans.
For months, college students have protested – some peacefully, some violently (most protests containing deeply antisemitic messaging) – against Israel’s campaign against Hamas, the terrorist organization that infiltrated Israel’s border on October 7 and massacred over 1,200 people.
Over the past year and beyond, the war has wreaked havoc on Gaza. Large swaths of the enclave do not exist anymore. There have been countless deaths, both civilian and combatant alike. Notably, the civilian-to-combatant ratio is one of the most precise for urban warfare. As with all wars, tragedy is inevitable; civilians often find themselves helpless as destruction rages around them or are forced to flee.
But the Israel-Hamas War, in particular, is more tragic than most because the forces claiming to fight “on behalf of Gazans” are not actually fighting for them. Instead, Hamas is unabashed in its genocidal aims directed at Israel and the Jewish people. In many cases, Hamas militants stage their attacks and launch rockets from civilian areas.
Why are Gazans protesting against Hamas?
For months, Hamas has seized aid intended for Gazans in need, commandeering trucks filled with humanitarian supplies and positioning themselves atop them with machine guns. Those brave enough to risk their lives speaking out against Hamas often face brutal beatings as a grim display of force.
That’s why protests in Gaza against Hamas are significant. Hamas was never and will never be the solution for the Palestinian people. The idea that a terrorist group fighting for “liberation” would not be the right conduit for “Freeing Palestine” is a taboo concept to pro-Palestinian (and Marxist) college students who claim to protest on behalf of “Gaza.”
We Westerners are blessed not to know what real oppression feels like. Yet some of these college students are too oblivious to appreciate our freedom. Instead, they play-act as oppressed figures, absurdly demanding “basic humanitarian aid” in the form of DoorDashed dinners.
These so-called “pro-Palestinian protesters” are not advocating for what real Gazans want or need. Instead, they are parroting talking points directly from Hamas while threatening Jews on campus. Even worse, it is alleged that some pro-Palestinian student groups were tipped off about October 7 before it took place.
The protesters in Gaza, chanting “Hamas are terrorists!” are risking not only their livelihoods but their lives to speak out against an oppressive regime. As we’ve seen in the Women, Life, Freedom protests in Iran, a movement can be born when enough citizens come together to voice their dissent. We can only hope that the Gazan civilians who are speaking out will not be fatally punished for their actions.
Josefa Gonzalez is the director of communications at the Philos Project, writing
on the intersection of US and Middle Eastern affairs.
Source: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-848295
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