RSS
‘Hamas Offered Hope’: Sky News’s Absurd Analysis of the October 7 Attacks
The body of a motorist lies on a road following a mass-infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Sderot, southern Israel October 7, 2023. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
In a mind-boggling blend of speculation and misconceptions, Sky News military analyst Sean Bell’s latest “analysis,” says that Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel was a calculated move meant to provide a catalyst for international intervention in the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and to “perhaps kick-start progress towards an enduring two-state solution.”
In order to reach his conclusions, Bell would have to disregard Hamas’ ideology and modus operandi, the history of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and the intense anti-Israel hostility that permeates Palestinian society.
Speculating that Hamas launched a war to focus attention on achieving a two-state solution is what passes as “analysis” from @SkyNews.
Hamas is open about its aims – the destruction of Israel. A two-state solution isn’t compatible with that.
Reminder to military analyst Sean… pic.twitter.com/5DfXc7Rs2c
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) December 23, 2023
For Sean Bell, the failure of Israel and the Palestinians to reach a peaceful solution via diplomatic and political channels, coupled with a spiraling decline in the quality of life for Palestinians in Gaza, presented Hamas with an opportunity to provide an alternative way of moving toward an “enduring peace.”
In Bell’s words, “Hamas offered hope.”
This “hope” took the form of the October 7 attacks, which Hamas calculated would unleash an unprecedented Israeli response but would also provoke international (particularly US) intervention in the region, laying the groundwork for a “more sustainable long-term solution.”
Thus, according to Bell, the vast tunnel network created by Hamas with millions of dollars of aid money was built so that the Palestinian terror organization could weather out Israel’s response while awaiting the international intervention that was destined to follow.
In Bell’s eyes, Hamas is a rational actor, providing an alternative to the fruitless path of political negotiations by engaging in barbarism and cruelty.
To make this case, Bell must ignore the fact that in the years following the signing of the Oslo Accords, Hamas engaged in a campaign of terrorism directed at Israeli civilians, the goal being to derail the ongoing peace process.
In addition, for Bell to make Hamas into some sort of advocate for a two-state solution, he also has to disregard statements made by Hamas leaders in the wake of October 7.
These statements include the remarks by Ghazi Hamad, who called for repeated October 7-like attacks until Israel is destroyed, and Osama Hamdan’s recent assertion that Hamas’ stance remains the refusal to recognize Israel’s legitimacy in any part of the land.
Hamas Official Ghazi Hamad: We Will Repeat the October 7 Attack Time and Again Until Israel Is Annihilated; We Are Victims – Everything We Do Is Justified #Hamas #Gaza #Palestinians pic.twitter.com/kXu3U0BtAP
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) November 1, 2023
Following the presentation of his faulty analysis, Bell then seeks to corroborate his claims by noting that, despite the destruction wrought by Israel’s response to Hamas’ atrocities, the terror organization’s popularity has risen in both Gaza and the West Bank.
For Bell, the reason for this hike in support is that the attacks have shone a light on the fact that Israel “has no intention of pursuing a two-state solution.”
Aside from the fact that Bell bases this assertion on the remarks of one Israeli official (hardly evidence for what Bell deems to be “Israel’s pursuit of a one-state solution”), his explanation for this burgeoning support is not borne out by the facts.
In the same poll that documented the rise in Palestinian approval for Hamas, it was noted that only 34% of Palestinians support a two-state solution, and that almost 70% of Palestinians support the use of armed resistance to achieve Palestinian goals.
Therefore, is rising Palestinian support for Hamas post-October 7 due to its causing the world to pay attention to the region — or is Palestinians’ support of Hamas an affirmation of the terrorist organization’s audacious invasion of Israel and the blow that it dealt to the Jewish state’s security?
With his rationalization of Hamas’ invasion, it would appear that Bell is almost legitimizing the terror group’s activities on October 7.
Perhaps that is why he felt it necessary to punctuate his piece with statements like “this in no way justifies Hamas’s brutal atrocities on October 7.”
However, despite his protestations, it is clear that Bell believes there was a calculated logic behind Hamas’ October 7 attack, with a long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as its ultimate goal.
Along with his characterization of the attack as possibly a “prudent strategy” and his questioning of whether the tunnels are “a very astute investment by Hamas on behalf of the Palestinian people,” it is clear that Sean Bell’s analysis is steeped in a simplistic and naïve understanding of Israel, Hamas, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Is this the type of analysis that Sky News finds worthy of publication?
The post ‘Hamas Offered Hope’: Sky News’s Absurd Analysis of the October 7 Attacks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
A pro-Israel rally at the University of Toronto was headlined by Columbia University professor Shai Davidai
Around 200 people gathered for a pro-Israel demonstration at University of Toronto’s downtown campus at King’s College Circle—which was the site of one of Canada’s largest pro-Palestinian encampments during May […]
The post A pro-Israel rally at the University of Toronto was headlined by Columbia University professor Shai Davidai appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
RSS
‘Not Welcome’: New Pro-Hamas Campaign Aims to Abolish Hillel Campus Chapters
A statue of George Washington tied with a Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh inside a pro-Hamas encampment is pictured at George Washington University in Washington, DC, US, May 2, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Craig Hudson
The campus group National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) is waging a campaign to gut Jewish life in academia, calling for the abolition of Hillel International campus chapters, the largest collegiate organization for Jewish students in the world.
“Over the past several decades, Hillel has monopolized for Jewish campus life into a pipeline for pro-Israel indoctrination, genocide-apologia, and material support to the Zionist project and its crimes,” a social media account operating the campaign, titled #DropHillel, said in a manifesto published last week. “Across the country, Hillel chapters have invited Israeli soldiers to their campuses; promoted propaganda trips such as birthright; and organized charity drives for the Israeli military.”
It continued, “Such actions reveal Hillel’s ideological and material investment in Zionism, despite the organization’s facade as being simply a ‘Jewish cultural space.’”
DropHillel claims to be “Jewish-led,” although only a small minority of Jews oppose Zionism, and the group has been linked to and promoted by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters.
Hillel International has provided Jewish students a home away from home during the academic year. However, NSJP says it wants to “weaken” it and “dismantle oppression.”
The idea has already been picked up by pro-Hamas student groups at one college, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, according to The Daily Tar Heel, the school’s official student newspaper. On Oct. 9, it reported, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) unveiled the idea for “no more Hillel” during a rally which, among other things, demanded removing Israel from UNC’s study abroad program and adopting the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. Addressing the comments to the paper days later, SJP, which has been linked to Islamist terrorist organizations, proclaimed that shuttering Hillel is a coveted goal of the anti-Zionist movement.
“Zionism is a racist supremacist ideology advocating for the creation and sustenance of an ethnostate through the expulsion and annihilation of native people,” the group told the paper. “Therefore, any group that advocates for a supremacist ideology — be it the KKK, the Proud Boys, Hillel, or Heels for Israel — should not be welcome on campus.”
The #DropHillel campaign came amid an unprecedented surge in anti-Israel incidents on college campuses, which, according to a report published last month by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), have reached crisis levels.
Revealing a “staggering” 477 percent increase in anti-Zionist activity involving assault, vandalism, and other phenomena, the report — titled “Anti-Israel Activism on US Campuses, 2023-2024” — painted a bleak picture of America’s higher education system poisoned by political extremism and hate.
“As the year progressed, Jewish students and Jewish groups on campus came under unrelenting scrutiny for any association, actual or perceived, with Israel or Zionism,” the report said. “This often led to the harassment of Jewish members of campus communities and vandalism of Jewish institutions. In some cases, it led to assault. These developments were underpinned by a steady stream of rhetoric from anti-Israel activists expressing explicit support for US-designated terrorists organizations, such as Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and others.”
The report added that 10 campuses accounted for 16 percent of all incidents tracked by ADL researchers, with Columbia University and the University of Michigan combining for 90 anti-Israel incidents — 52 and 38, respectively. Harvard University, the University of California – Los Angeles, Rutgers University New Brunswick, Stanford University, Cornell University, and others filled out the rest of the top 10. Violence, it continued, was most common at universities in the state of California, where anti-Zionist activists punched a Jewish student for filming him at a protest.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post ‘Not Welcome’: New Pro-Hamas Campaign Aims to Abolish Hillel Campus Chapters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
‘Muslim for Trump’ Launches Initiatives in Key Battleground States, Says Candidate Will Bring ‘Peace’ to Gaza
Former US President Donald Trump is seen at a campaign event in South Carolina. Photo: Reuters/Sam Wolfe
The “Muslims for Trump” organization has officially launched initiatives to help elect Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to the White House, arguing that he would be more likely to end the war in Gaza than Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
In a statement released on Monday, the group said it will focus on recruiting Muslim voters in key battleground states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina. The organization both praised Trump for his supposed “peace-focused” approach to ending the war in Gaza and condemned Harris for helping facilitate a so-called “genocide.”
“After meeting with President Trump, it was clear to me he is the right leader for Muslims to get behind,” Rabiul Chowdhury, co-founder of Muslims for Trump and former co-chair of the “Abandon Harris Movement,” said in a statement.
Chowdhury added that during his discussions with Trump, the former president vowed to “ending the escalation of wars and bringing peace to war-torn regions.” In contrast to Trump’s promise to stop the “bloodshed” in Gaza, he claimed, Harris has “recklessly pushed us toward World War III.”
Chowdhury, a self-described “peace advocate,” urged the Muslim community not to fall victim to supposed “misinformation” campaigns by the media and Democrats that paint the former president as hostile to immigrants. He claimed that the former president’s focus is on “ending war, not dividing families through false immigration claims.”
Samra Luqman, chair of the Michigan chapter of Muslims for Trump, underscored the need to punish the Biden administration for what he described as supporting a “genocide” in Gaza.
“The goal of this election is to hold the Biden administration accountable for a genocide. No amount of fear mongering or scare tactics will persuade my community into forgiving the mutilation, live-burning, and genocide of over 200,000 people,” he said.
According to data produced by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, roughly 40,000 people have died in Gaza since the war began last October. Israel has said that its forces have killed about 20,000 Hamas terrorists during its military campaign.
Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication.
On the organization Muslims for Trump’s official website, it claims that the Abraham Accords, a series of historic, Trump administration-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and several countries in the Arab world, helped stabilize the Middle East. It also says that had Trump not lost the 2020 presidential race, the so-called “genocide” could have been prevented.
“Under Trump’s leadership, the Abraham Accords were brokered, fostering peaceful relations between Israel and several Arab countries. Supporters might argue that Trump’s diplomacy prioritized peace and stability in the Middle East, reducing the likelihood of large-scale conflicts like genocide,” the group wrote.
Over the course of his campaign, Trump has repeatedly touted his support for the Jewish state during his singular term in office. Trump has boasted about his administration’s work in fostering the Abraham Accords, promising to resume efforts to strengthen them if he were to win November’s US presidential election.
Harsh US sanctions levied on Iran under Trump crippled the Iranian economy and led its foreign exchange reserves to plummet. Trump and his Republican supporters in the US Congress have criticized the Biden administration for renewing billions of dollars in US sanctions waivers, which had the effect of unlocking frozen funds and allowing the country to access previously inaccessible hard currency.
Trump also recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a strategic region on Israel’s northern border previously controlled by Syria, and also moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, recognizing the city as the Jewish state’s capital.
Despite Harris’s repeated efforts to woo Muslim voters, polling data indicates that the demographic has made a dramatic swing away from the Democratic Party. Polling data from the Arab American Institute reveals that Trump slightly edges Harris among Muslim voters by a margin of 42 to 41 percent. A report from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) shows that Green Party candidate Jill Stein leads Harris and Trump with Muslim voters in the key swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona.
The post ‘Muslim for Trump’ Launches Initiatives in Key Battleground States, Says Candidate Will Bring ‘Peace’ to Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login