Hundreds of Palestinians rallied last week in Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza, chanting, among other things: “Out, out, Hamas out!” This is the first time masses of Gazans have openly called for the terrorist group to be removed from power. Protests against Hamas rule have since spread throughout the Gaza Strip. Good news, right?
But wait: Why have no pro-Palestinian protesters in the West stepped up to support these brave demonstrators? Why have no mass protests been held echoing Gazans’ demands that Hamas relinquish power?
No surprise, of course: Pro-Palestinian protesters in America and around the world ignore the war-mongering jihadists who forced these Palestinians into the gates of hell … preferring instead to blame Israel, whose primary crime is defending its citizens from bloodthirsty terrorists. If the protesters truly cared about the Palestinian people, then they would focus on the disaster zone of the Gaza Strip, where 2 million Palestinians are held prisoner by Hamas.
It wasn’t Western protesters who demanded that Palestinians be given the right to emigrate from Gaza and take refuge in neighboring Arab lands; it was U.S. President Donald Trump. But this humanitarian idea has drawn virtually no support from progressive voices, NGOs, the United Nations or other world leaders.
Likewise, most proposals for ending Israel’s war with Hamas envision the Hamas monsters remaining in place, if not in power. This notion contradicts both U.S. and Israeli plans for the territory, which call for Hamas’s elimination. It also contradicts even the remotest sense of sympathy or desire to ease the Palestinians’ plight.
Gaza is a prison: Hamas are the wardens. In 2005, Israel withdrew completely from Gaza, allowing the Palestinians there to govern themselves. Two years later, Hamas seized power in the territory from the Palestinian Authority. Since then, the terrorist group has run Gaza as an iron-fisted authoritarian state.
Here are facts that no “pro-Palestinian” protesters—or the progressive media—will tell you: In Hamas-ruled Gaza, there is no free speech, no free press, no elections. No rights of any kind for women or LGBTQ+ people. Arbitrary arrests and torture are commonplace. Those now demonstrating against Hamas rule are taking a mortal risk, since the terrorist group ruthlessly suppresses dissent. Hamas also has complete control of the economy, heavily taxing impoverished Gazans. No wonder Hamas leaders are some of the world’s richest terrorists.
Hamas, not Israel, is responsible for Palestinian suffering. It is Hamas that wields absolute control over Gaza. Yet protesters on U.S. college campuses and public squares worldwide irrationally blame Israel for the Gazans’ misery. Similarly, mainstream media push a narrative in which Israel, not Hamas, is the cause of the Palestinians’ suffering.
Another hard fact: Israel has not occupied Gaza for 20 years, nor does it have any political power over Palestinians there. Free Palestine from what?
Furthermore, it was Hamas that started the war against Israel, when they invaded it on Oct. 7, then murdered, raped, tortured, incinerated, decapitated and kidnapped roughly 1,500 people, mostly Jewish civilians. Naturally, Israel retaliated, waging a military campaign to free the hostages and remove Hamas from power, thereby liberating the Palestinians. Though any other country would have done the same, no other country would suffer such vitriol for doing so.
Those claiming to support the Palestinians force them to remain prisoners. Because of Hamas’s belligerence, Gaza is almost completely destroyed. It is virtually unlivable. Thus, Trump wants to allow Gazans to leave and build better lives elsewhere. Here’s one more fact most major media have ignored: A recent survey published in the British newspaper The Telegraph reveals that fully 52% of Gaza residents would leave the territory either temporarily or permanently if given the opportunity.
Unfortunately, leading NGOs, the United Nations and Arab leaders refuse to resettle Gazans, condemning them to imprisonment in a hellhole and accusing Trump of attempting ethnic cleansing. Human Rights Watch, in February, for example, issued a news release with the headline, “Trump indicates intent to escalate ethnic cleansing in Gaza.”
Trump never advocated forced displacement. In fact, when questioned by reporters last month, he said: “Nobody is expelling any Palestinians.”
Why should Gazans be compelled to live under Hamas boots? The Institute for Social and Economic Progress, an independent research institute, conducted a representative poll in Gaza on Jan. 22, revealing that only 6% of Gazans prefer Hamas to rule post-war, while a mere 5.3% would vote for the group in future elections.
Strangely, most proposed plans for post-war Gaza would enable Hamas to keep ruling over its population, or at least be able to emulate the tyranny that Hezbollah exercises in Lebanon. The Arab plan for Gaza’s reconstruction, for example, doesn’t even mention Hamas. It talks of a committee of technocrats who would temporarily govern the coastal enclave. What they don’t tell you is that these technocrats would be subject to approval by Hamas and the Palestinians’ other dictatorship, the Palestinian Authority.
Even more outrageously, Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, suggested Hamas could continue playing a role in Gaza’s post-war politics provided that they disarm—which, of course, they have no intention of doing. When the Allies defeated Nazi Germany in World War II, they didn’t allow Nazis to participate in governing the country after the war. Likewise, Hamas, who are very much modern-day Nazis, can have no role in governing post-war Gaza.
Palestinians of Gaza have finally risen up against their Hamas oppressors. Sadly, no resolutions have passed at the United Nations calling for Hamas to surrender and relinquish power. No mass of progressive protesters has arisen outside of Gaza calling for Hamas’s downfall. No media or NGO voices demand support for the Gazan demonstrators.
The only support for these demonstrators has come from Israel. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a statement last week saying, “Learn from the residents of Beit Lahiya. Just as they did, demand the removal of Hamas from Gaza and the immediate release of all Israeli hostages—this is the only way to stop the war.”
The truth is that those claiming to support the Palestinians don’t lift a finger to help them. Instead, they continue blaming Israel, rather than the Hamas tyrants, who are the real masters of Palestinian suffering.
Originally published by Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME).