History Speaks
I have criticized Hamas’ horrible atrocities—in public and private, in Arabic and English—constantly since 7 October. As a historian who knows military history, I refuse to promote ridiculous propaganda about how guerrillas in possibly the most radically asymmetric war ever—they have no tanks, no artillery pieces, and no planes, yet are up against f-35s—must be embedding among civilians and militarizing civilian infrastructure as a conspiracy to try to kill their civilians, rather than as a strategy to facilitate Guerilla tactics (Hits and run, ambushes, etc), and not be destroyed in five seconds. Ludicrous north-Korea tier propaganda is your thing, charlatan. For me I look at history and see Hamas’ conduct of the war in Gaza as analogous to what the Viet cong did against the Americans and other such cases of radically asymmetric Guerilla warfare.
Haviv Rettig Gur
You’re right. We’re all just propagandists. 500 km of tunnels in which no civilian foot has been allowed to tread in 20 months is a sign of Hamas’s concern for civilians. Hamas leaders extolling the need for martyrdom as the necessary path to liberation is just all mistranslated. And the growing mass protests against Hamas and hatred directed at it by Gazans in part because of how it has systematically stolen aid to sell via its black market and to hold as leverage over the civilian population has nothing to do with Hamas’ sudden humanitarianism. You call people propagandists only so you can continue to carry water for Hamas. I don’t criticize those who oppose the war or criticize tactics or strategies that carry great costs for civilians. War must always be a horrific last resort, and criticizing this one is the most legitimate and moral thing an outsider can do, even if I sometimes disagree with a particular critique. But to back Hamas, to pretend Hamas doesn’t seek to burn us all to the ground, doesn’t think Gaza’s destruction is a worthwhile sacrifice to lay on the altar of Israel’s destruction - is as monstrous as it is ignorant. You know nothing at all about Hamas, its strategy, its ideological lineage, its sense of history and interpretation of Islam. You spout meaningless pablum you picked up on social media and call it righteousness. But yeah, sure, I’m the propagandist.