7 Truths to Help Those Advocating for the People of Gaza

It has been reported that the Israeli Defense Force is now on the ground in the Gaza strip, beginning what will probably be a long operation to rescue the over 200 Israeli and other foreign hostages from Hamas.

As this is happening, I want to remind you of a few things:

1. The bombs dropped on Gaza was not for revenge, nor was it punishment for the Israeli hostages.

   1. Within the first 48 hours of Hamas’ invasion into Israel on October 7th, Hamas fired over 5000 rockets into Israel. This rocket attack began before the invasion began, and continued until just a couple of days ago. The bombs being dropped from Israel was to neutralize Hamas, who continuously barraged Israel with rockets. Can’t really ceasefire when the other side keeps firing.

2. Israel does everything it can to avoid killing civilians. Hamas does everything it can to get them killed, including kill the civilians themselves.

   1. Israel drops notes, sends text messages, and even hacks television sets to tell the people of Gaza to evacuate, and the fastest routes to take to do so. Hamas routinely blocks the roads. If a Palestinian tries to leave on foot, Hamas threatens to kill them. Hamas shoots bullets at the people, and tells them if they try to leave, Hamas will kill them.

3. Hamas has every capability to provide for its own people, but it chooses to keep them poor.

   1. The only job opportunities in Gaza are working for Hamas. The ones who do are paid extremely well. The ones who don’t are stuck in poverty.

4. Hamas controls speech in Gaza.

   1. For Gazans, it's forbidden to even say that you don’t want war. Journalists are tortured, beaten, and killed if they report anything other than what Hamas tells them to report. Any Palestinian outside of Gaza who calls attention to it, if they have friends or family in Gaza, Hamas threatens and tortures them.

5. Hamas controls speech in Gaza.

   1. No, that repeat isn’t an accident. It is a reminder for those who are unwilling to connect the dots to do so. If Hamas is so incredibly strict on the press and opinions of the general public, there is much to be said about the messaging that does freely come out of Gaza.

   2. For example: Hamas has many people—young people—on their payroll to tell the Hamas narrative and nothing else. And for an organization worth billions of dollars, this is a well-oiled, propaganda machine.

6. Every single civilian casualty in this war is Hamas’ fault.

   1. Based on everything provided in this article, it would be difficult, dishonest even, to conclude otherwise.

7. Every single gruesome and grotesque thing Hamas did to Israelis on October 7th, they’ve done to the people of Gaza since 2007.

   1. Hamas executes homosexuals. They use their vehicles to drag the bodies of dissenters in the streets. They rape their women. They kill their children. Their top leaders have mansions in Gaza and other homes in Qatar where they flee to while wars they instigate wages. And they do all this while feeding disinformation to the world about why and how their people are suffering.

Since I’ve written these past 15 articles, and have been posting on this issue, I’ve been accused of hating Palestinians. Not only is that not the case, I think whoever dons the Free Palestine hashtag, posts the Palestinian flag, and chooses to make noise about this and ignore these seven unfortunate truths, does not care for Palestinians at all. Your goal is not true justice. Your goal is comfort. You’re speaking out because the issue has infiltrated your space, and now you feel you have to. You are unwilling to truly go against the grain if need be for your cause. You’d rather stay in the framework given to you.

That’s pretty selfish.

The people of Gaza who have been posting videos lambasting Hamas with their faces shown fully are the true heroes. They are the Martin Luther Kings and Nelson Mandelas of our time. They deserve to have their voices amplified by those who claim to speak for them. If you claim to be for the Palestinian people, but will not, you are hurting them.

Change comes from the people. And change, like peace, and like true justice, must be rooted in truth.

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