The Gazans are protesting Hamas. It’s about time.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday (March 26):

Palestinians protested in Gaza on Tuesday in a rare show of dissent against Hamas, with some chanting slogans critical of the armed group’s grip on the territory after more than a year of devastating war with Israel. … On Wednesday, hundreds of people gathered for the second straight day in Beit Lahiya, some chanting “Hamas out! Hamas is terrorism!” and “We want to live freely.” There was another smaller protest in Gaza City, also in the north, with chants against Hamas. …

Said Lulu, a 38-year-old from Gaza City in the north who is now sheltering in the southern city of Khan Younis, said, “I can tell you hundreds responded with ‘Yes! We are joining you.’ Many of the individuals who are members of big families are joining the protests.”

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib is a Palestinian humanitarian activist who describes himself as “proud American, Gaza native, pro-Palestine, pro-Peace, anti-terror & occupation.” He said on X:

Everywhere in Gaza, in the north, center and south, the people are continuing to speak up, failed by a terrorist regime, a complicit international community, powerless Arab states & a pro-Hamas “solidarity” movement in the West. “For God’s sake, Hamas barra/out,” they chanted!

In what is being dubbed the “flood of life,” tens of thousands throughout the Gaza Strip are continuing their organic, spontaneous demonstrations against Hamas’s terrorism, violence, iron-grip & death-cultism. They are demanding that the group gets out of their lives.

Have no illusions. It is not as if these Gaza demonstrators are friends of Israel. It is not even the case that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” But they are fed up with Hamas.

As are their counterparts on the Israeli side — Israelis who are fed up, sick to death, really, of the Netanyahu government, sick of the war and heartsick for the return of the hostages. 

But Alkhatib also wrote: 

Calling out the “pro-Palestine” professors, journalists, activists & online personalities — where you at when tens of thousands protesting against Hamas & your beloved “resistance” terror organization? Speak up, or forever be known as the fraud pro-Hamas that you’ve always been.

I wondered if there would now be demonstrations and rallies on college campuses with kaffiyeh-clad students and others marching with signs that say, “Free Gaza from Hamas!” Apparently not, and that’s because this new protest movement only seems to be about the Palestinian people.

Consider audio released by the Israel Defense Forces of a Hamas fighter on Oct. 7, 2023, who called his parents to boast: “Look how many I killed with my own hands! Your son killed Jews!”

Not Israelis, or Zionists. He killed “Jews.”

When we consider the ubiquitous war chant of Oct. 7 — “Allahu akbar” — we were hearing the cries of jihad. This was about a holy war against the Jews, a continuation of a war that has been in effect for more than a millennium.

And, on college campuses? Was this ever, really, about the Palestinians?

As Brendan O’Neill writes in his book “After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation,” there were two eruptions of barbarism against Jews that happened as a result of Oct. 7. The first happened on the Gaza-Israel border. The second was on university campuses. He writes: 

We need to talk about the exhilaration of the educated classes upon seeing kibbutzim invaded and Jews’ homes set on fire. We need to talk about the left’s rationalization of the pogrom. When barbarism visited Israel, when fascism reared its head once more, many of our young took its side. … Hamas’ carnival of killing confirmed what many of us already knew about Hamas: that it is a Jew-hating war machine that masquerades as a national-liberation movement.

Protests at Columbia University have been held in support of the Iran-backed Houthis. Activists and students chanted: “Yemen, Yemen make us proud, turn another ship around,” in support of attacks on ships in the Red Sea. As I write this, alarms are going off all over Israel as the Houthis fire missiles.

You think the campus protests are about the Palestinians? Wrong. They are just one more salvo in the drama of jihad. The same is true about the Islamic State, Boko Haram and the Taliban.

Consider, now, the purported American supporters of the Palestinians.  

Several years ago, a good friend of mine, a now-retired Episcopal minister, told me his diocese was considering an endorsement of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. There was a public meeting to discuss the BDS resolution, where he stood up and asked, “I suppose that we are considering this resolution because we are pro-Palestinian. Am I correct?” There were vigorous nods all around.

“Fine,” he said. “I am also pro-Palestinian. I want to help Palestinians. I want to help them have decent lives, opportunities and an increased standard of living. Am I correct that these are values that we all share?” Once again, vigorous nods.

“Good,” he said. “So, let me ask: How does this BDS thing help the Palestinians? Yes, we would be divesting from Israel. But, would we then be investing in the Palestinians? Are we building schools and playgrounds for their children? Are we building better homes for them? Are we sending medicine to them?”

Stunned silence.

“Then,” he said, “I can only assume that the sole purpose of this BDS resolution is to engage in anti-Israel posturing. That does nothing, except to alienate our Jewish friends, neighbors and partners in many worthy communal endeavors. And it does nothing to make the daily lives of Palestinians any better.”

He sat down. He lost the vote, but he won the moral contest.

To those citizens protesting Hamas in Gaza, I pray sincerely your cries will not fall on deaf ears. I hope you will succeed in eradicating Hamas from your midst, so you can go on to live the full and fruitful lives you deserve. You deserve better than Hamas, and always have.

And to the Western enablers of Hamas, their sycophants, fans and supporters who parrot its rhetoric but barely understand the implications: Where are your voices? Are they in support of those in Gaza who truly want to be free?