Anderson Cooper had on a former Israeli intel chief who said, "The noncombatant population in the Gaza strip is really a nonexistent term because all of the Gazans voted for Hamas, and...most of the population in the Gaza strip are Hamas."
Cooper didn't push back.
Again, #Hamas won an election with 44.5% of the vote 17 years ago, before around half of the population of #Gaza were born, and then seized complete power in a bloody civil war with Fatah.
#israel #media
@JoshuaHolland Joshua, this really is not the platform for a nuanced conversation on this issue. And, of course, the million children in Gaza do not deserve what this.
At some point we have to admit the people of Gaza have tolerated Hamas for 16 yrs. They are not without any agency. I’ve never lived with terrorist firing rockets from the roof of my apt bldg. I also know that I would not live in a building and allow that to happen. Yes, I would probably end up dead pretty fast.
@MiriShuli @JoshuaHolland could I ask for possible alternatives to living in a building with terrorists in Gaza? It's not that they can move out so easily. Even those who managed to do it are now accused of extremism for protesting peacefully in Berlin, London or New York.
@mapto @JoshuaHolland They voted Hamas into power in 2006. At no time have the 1.45 million adults who are not Hamas fighters appealed to the UN or any other nation to help them remove the terrorists org. At no time have those 1.45 million adults tried to stop rockets from being fired into Israel on a near daily basis over the last 16 years. There have been no protests anywhere over *Hamas* controlling Palestinian lives.
@MiriShuli @mapto Hamas won an election with 44.5% of the vote 17 years ago, before around half of the population of Gaza were born, and then seized complete power in a bloody civil war with Fatah. And it was a weird hybrid-model, with half the seats allocated proportionally and half winner-take -all. If it had been a normal proportional election, Fatah would have formed a coalition with smaller parties and Hamas would have ended up an opposition party.
@JoshuaHolland @mapto Right. But that’s 17 years ago. No coalition of adults have tried anything since that point? What am I missing where 1.45 million adults have absolutely no agency at all? I realize the Hamas millionaires and billionaires actually live in Qatar. But billions have been poured into the strip and all they’ve managed to do it build and underground fighting force?
Why didn’t you turn Gaza into a Singapore AND and underground fighting force?
@MiriShuli @JoshuaHolland because this is not what the agreement with Netanyahu was about
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4268794-the-symbiotic-relationship-between-netanyahu-and-hamas/
@mapto @JoshuaHolland I’m not talking about Netanyahu or Israel or anyone else. I’m asking why the 1.45 million adult Gazans (leaving out the children), plus all the rich Palestinians, and Hamas does have a few billionaires amoung them, didn’t do something, anything, other than building a terrorist group intend on destroying Israel?
Is every single adult Gazan a victim of Hamas?
@MiriShuli @JoshuaHolland would it be whataboutism if I ask you why you allowed Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca, Kissinger, Cheney, Trump? I am not talking of Saddam, Osama, Putin or anyone else. Why didn't you do anything else, but create ISIS?
Forgive me, but this attempt to make you reflect on how absurd your claims are, is the last response you are going to see from me.
@mapto @JoshuaHolland I can ask all kinds of questions about those other world events also.
And I know every government, every security apparatus has their own set of lies they want to the public to swallow.
If America re-elects Trump we will deserve what we get.
But none of that excuses 1.46 million people from any responsibility for the world they have chosen to live in. They are not devoid of _all_ agency.