An Imaginary Conversation

“Do you condemn Hamas?” I don’t know about you, but I experience this question not as a question at all, but as a demand. It’s essentially saying, “Join us in condemning Hamas, or you’ll be branded as a supporter of terrorism.” A great many well-intentioned people have been bullied into going along with it. Alternatively, imagine, if you will, a conversation that unpacks the insidious layers of this loaded question.

“Do you condemn Hamas?"

“What aspect of Hamas? Hamas is an Islamic resistance movement. Under international law, subjugated people have the right to resistance, including armed resistance. I do not condemn this aspect of Hamas. They have the right to fight for their freedom.”

“Stop changing the subject. Do you condemn Hamas?”

“I’m staying on topic. It’s important to be specific. Hamas has an administrative function – they are a political organization with Ministries of Health, Education, and General Welfare. They maintain water treatment plants and oversee agriculture, power plants, and cell phone towers, etc. I do not condemn this aspect of Hamas. They won a free and fair democratic election in 2006 and they have governed Gaza ever since. There are problems with their governance, but their self-governance per se I do not condemn.”

“You’re dodging the central issue: Do you condemn Hamas?”

“Hamas also has a charitable, social services aspect. This stems from Zakat, or charity, a religious duty, one of the 5 pillars of Islam, taking care of the poor, the sick, and the most vulnerable. I certainly do not condemn this aspect of Hamas.”

“That’s all well and good. But Hamas is an evil terrorist organization. Do you not condemn terrorism?”

“Colonial regimes like Israel always criminalize resistance and label it “terrorism.” Terrorism is violence for violence’s sake. It is nihilistic. It is separated from any rational purpose. This is not the violence that Hamas employs against Israel. The violence they employ against Israel is purposeful. It is designed to bring about a change in Israel’s policies and practices. It is not terrorism. It is more accurate to characterize it as anti-colonial or revolutionary violence. Colonized, subjugated people have the right under international law to fight for their freedom using all available means, including armed resistance. Palestinians have tried diplomacy repeatedly, and watched as Israel seized more and more Palestinian land. They tried nonviolence in the Great March of Return in 2017, and Israeli snipers shot out unarmed protesters’ kneecaps and targeted medics and journalists and people with disabilities. While I would much prefer that oppressed people win their freedom through nonviolent means, it is not my place to stand in judgment about the choices oppressed people make to end their oppression. That said, everyone should have a say in the kind of world they want to live in, and I take some comfort in the provision in international humanitarian law that all actors, including non-state actors like Hamas, are expected to respect and maintain the distinction between combatants and non-combatants. Under this provision, taking the fight to Israeli soldiers is allowed, killing civilians is not. Firing rockets into densely-populated urban areas in Israel, and staging numerous suicide bombings in crowded areas, as Hamas has done – these are war crimes. But, to be fair, this must be qualified. Israel has routinely obliterated the distinction between combatants and non-combatants throughout its dealings with Palestinians. In over 400 days of genocide in Gaza, Israel has slaughtered an estimated 70,000 Gazans, 75% of whom are women and children, thousands still buried under the rubble. If you take all the violence Hamas has visited upon Israel, including the war crimes, and multiply it by 1000, it would still be nowhere near the devastation and state terror that Israel has rained down on the Palestinian people for over 100 years. Instead of the question, ‘Do you condemn Hamas?’, we should be asking the far more appropriate question, ‘Do you condemn what Israel has done to the Palestinian people?’”

“On October 7th, Hamas slaughtered 1400 Israelis, beheaded babies, and horribly raped women and girls. Are you telling me you don’t condemn that?”

What Hamas did on October 7th caused deep pain to hundreds of Israelis who lost loved ones and who are still waiting anxiously for their loved ones who were taken hostage in Gaza. It is heartbreaking and deeply regrettable when innocent people lose their lives, as Palestinians know so well. Unfortunately, we have yet to hear, and may never know, the full truth of what actually happened on that fateful day. The Israeli government has reduced the death toll several times, and has been forced to admit that several of the claims they made about Hamas were false. There were no beheaded babies. There are no victims’ testimonies, no credible eyewitness accounts, and no forensic evidence to verify any incidents of rape. A sensational NY Times story about rape was discredited because it relied on unreliable sources and unsubstantiated claims. Moreover, perhaps hundreds of Israelis were killed by “friendly fire” from Israeli tanks and Apache helicopters when the Israeli military invoked the Hannibal Directive, an order to kill Israeli civilians rather than allow them to be kidnapped by Hamas. It’s also the case that there were many other armed Palestinians – gang members, members of other armed factions, and individuals acting on their own, who entered Israel when the Gaza fence had been breached. The violence they committed was not part of Hamas’ plan, which was to kidnap Israeli soldiers for a prisoner exchange. This plan was based on a successful prisoner swap in 2011, when Israel traded 1,027 Palestinian political prisoners for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

“What about the vile antisemitism in Hamas’ charter? Surely you condemn that!”

“It is true that the original charter of Hamas in 1987 did contain antisemitic tropes, and referred repeatedly to “the Jews” as enemies of Palestine. But it is important to recognize two truths about this that are not often heard: the original text of the Hamas charter was written by one man, a teacher in a refugee camp in Gaza. It wasn’t a statement that went through a rigorous vetting process speaking for everyone in the Hamas organization. The other truth is that social movements evolve. The views of an earlier generation do not necessarily represent the views of succeeding generations. In 2017, Hamas revised its charter. That document went through a much more thorough consultative process, and it was guided by a more sophisticated author, Khaled Mashal. The antisemitic references were removed, and the charter made clear that it was Zionists, not Jews, who were the enemy of the Palestinian people. This view much more accurately reflects the broad history of the Arab world and its relationship with Jews. This drew upon the common bonds of the three Abrahamic religions – Jews and Christians, like Muslims, were seen as “people of the book.” For centuries, there was a stable pattern of peaceful coexistence, with Jews prospering and integrating well into many Arab societies. There were thriving Jewish quarters in Palestine, Iraq, Persia, Yemen, and Morocco. In fact, when antisemitism in Christian Europe periodically exploded in pogroms, Jews found refuge in the Arab world, where they were welcomed and treated well.”

Grace, peace, and solidarity,

Mark