There is a video that is making its rounds quite quickly of a man in Gaza crying out against Hamas. His face is bloodied, he’s crying, yelling, and cursing Hamas. This was taken just after the rescuing of the four Israeli hostages this past weekend.
The video that has been getting the most attention is apparently edited. There’s another several seconds cropped out where the man also curses the Jews.
It is an unfortunate reality in Gaza. Even amongst those who oppose and hate Hamas, even amongst those with the courage to risk their lives and speak out, there are many of those—I think more than we would like to admit—who have been so brainwashed by their government practically since birth, it is not peace they are interested in; it is simply a regime change.
My take on the man in the videos is that he either is simply another victim of years of Hamas programming, or he said that last part because he knew the first part would get him killed, and he’s trying to save his behind.
Either way, whether intimidated or programmed, this illustrates how pervasive and repressive Gaza’s leaders are.
Some watch the video and say that he implies he knows where the hostages are. I would agree with that sentiment. Not all the hostages were taken by Hamas. Many were taken by Gazan civilians. The four hostages that were rescued were being kept in civilian homes. There are Gazan civilians aiding and abetting Hamas. Again, whether by intimidation or because they truly believe in Hamas, this is a truth we cannot avoid.
This is also why we cannot trust any source that so quickly reports “X amount of innocent civilians were killed.” It’s irresponsible journalism at best when we know that:
Hamas disguises themselves as civilians.
Not all civilians are innocent.
Article 29 of the Geneva Convention on war crimes states that “The Party to the conflict in whose hands protected persons may be is responsible for the treatment accorded to them…” This means that Hamas alone is responsible for the harm or death of civilians which it purposefully places in the line of fire. And the fact that the man from Gaza cursed the Jews does not take away from this truth. He verified what many of us have been saying for years; Hamas wants their people killed. It looks better for them and helps them in the PR war against Israel. Hamas is counting on uninformed activists and crooked politicians in the West to take the faulty information and run with it to further delegitimize Israel and dehumanize Israelis.
What the world is seeing now is the complexities within Gaza. As much of a victim of programming and oppression the people of Gaza are, the fact of the matter is, many of them still hate Jews, still believe in jihad as the way, and many still celebrated on October 7th.
If Hamas were completely destroyed tomorrow, the issue of the programmed people would have to be dealt with head on. How do you deprogram someone who is willing to sell out or kill their own mother and father if they are believed to be working with ‘the enemy’? How do you change someone’s heart and mind who have become so resolute in their hatred, if their very beloved leaders one day said “we were wrong. Let’s make peace with Israel,” they would storm their office and behead them?
We have to remember that some of the Gazan’s who collaborated with Hamas on October 7th, did so by gaining the trust of their Israeli counterparts over two years. You had Israelis inviting their coworkers from Gaza to their houses, or their kid’s bar/bat mitzvah. And all this only to find those Gazans were getting intel on the Israelis to give back to Hamas.
How is this mindset changed?
None of my personal answers are worth writing down at the moment, but we will never even get to this discussion so long as we continue entertaining lies. Peace and truth must go hand in hand.
We see videos like the one posted here a few times in the past; I’ve posted some on this very Substack page. Gaza is crying out. But we do the difficult task of seeing things for what they are — not how we would like them to be.
Peace must be based on truth.
I completely agree. The bigger question is how do you change the opinion and deeply embedded belief that Jews and Israel are bad, and must be eliminated? The indoctrination of Jew hatred is so embedded in the fabric of Palestinian society that I can't fathom how to un-do this evil. Unfortunately, it isn't just in Gaza— this hatred can be seen across the Arab world. I've heard that Islam as a religion does not support or endorse this type of hatred, and if that is the case, how can they explain where this core of hatred comes from? I'd like to believe that as humans we all strive for the same basic goals of life and peace, but clearly that is not the case. Please— if you are Muslim and reading this comment, help me understand where this comes from. Help me understand where radical Islam fits into the Muslim belief system and how Islam differentiates itself from these ideologies.
It's in their cult mindset.
Gain trust, betray, destroy.
Islam plays the long game to take over theur neighbours.
If the army is strong enough they'll invade, if it isn't they send their people to slowly take over areas bit by bit until they are ready to take the nation over.
One day you're going to work, the next day there's an Islamic revolution and democracy dies.