Mailbox: Feeding Hamas, not Gaza - How famine became a weapon of deception

Key topics:

• Hamas exploits famine to gain sympathy and maintain control in Gaza

• Global bias shields Hamas while blaming Israel for Gaza's crisis

• Misplaced aid and false media fuel hatred, ignoring Hamas atrocities

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By Thabelo Mahangani*

Gaza has long been the tragic stage where extremist ideologies, from neo-Nazis to radical Islamists, the far-left, and the “woke” activists, converge, distorting reality and fuelling hatred against Israel and the Jewish nation worldwide. The ongoing crisis is broadcast relentlessly on our screens, with Jewish hatred disguised as sympathy for “Free Palestine,” all while innocent Palestinian lives hang in the balance. This narrative is not just misleading, it is a calculated shield that protects Hamas from accountability and keeps the funding flowing, even as they perpetuate suffering.

The international community’s tolerance of Hamas, protected and sometimes enabled by the United Nations (UN) is nothing short of heartbreaking. The atrocities committed by Hamas, before and after the horrific attacks of October 7, 2023, remain unaddressed by global powers. As a perceptive journalist once remarked, “The world will never know peace until Palestinian parents start loving their children more than they hate Jews.” This bitter truth underpins the devastating humanitarian crisis we see today.

The so-called “famine” in Gaza is often cited as evidence of Israeli cruelty. But the reality is far more complex and sinister. Despite the massive food supplies held by UN agencies within Gaza, Hamas deliberately withholds these essentials, weaponizing hunger to garner sympathy and blame Israel. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) face the brunt of international condemnation for a famine they did not create. The truth is Hamas resists UN humanitarian aid precisely because it threatens their grip on power and control over the Palestinian population provided they are not the distributors.

The leadership of Hamas, whose founders and families enjoy lavish wealth abroad, estimated to be worth over $11 billion, profits from this suffering. They live comfortably in places like Qatar and Turkey, while Palestinians inside Gaza endure starvation and violence. The wife of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s military leader, was seen escaping Gaza through tunnels into Egypt and then she boarded to Turkey, where she reportedly changed her identity followed by remarrying with funds generated from bloodshed and famine. Such stark hypocrisy fuels the deception that Hamas perpetuates.

Mainstream media outlets frequently blame Israel for Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, while conveniently ignoring the true architects of violence and terror. Hamas’s responsibility for the massacre at the Nova Festival, the brutal attacks on kibbutzim, and the horrific atrocities of October 7 is rarely confronted. The narrative shifts instead to painting Israel and its intelligence agencies, IDF and Mossad, as the villains, while Hamas’s use of starvation as a weapon goes unchallenged.

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Starvation as a deliberate tactic finds a grim parallel in certain extremist interpretations of Islam. The observance of Ramadan, fasting from sunrise to sunset, is sometimes manipulated by terrorists to validate suffering and endurance as religious virtue. Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of a Hamas founder, bluntly stated, “Islam is not a religion of peace. Islam is a religion of war, and most Muslims don’t understand the true nature of Islam.” Such perspectives underscore the ideological foundation Hamas uses to justify terror and manipulation.

Further fuelling misinformation, images meant to evoke sympathy are often misused or taken out of context. The case of Osama Al-Rakab, a child with cystic fibrosis, was exploited as “proof” of the Gaza famine, despite his transfer to Italy for treatment coordinated by Israel. Another image, published by The New York Times, showed Mohammed Al-Matouq, a child with a movement disorder, purportedly starving, though his mother and brother appeared in good health, highlighting the disingenuous nature of the famine narrative. These deliberate distortions inflame hatred against Jews and mislead donors worldwide.

Corruption within the so-called humanitarian mission is also staggering. A recent incident exposed a 70-year-old Norwegian woman, allegedly on a mission to deliver baby food and medicine, smuggling cannabis through shocking means of using her genitals. This exemplifies the lawlessness and moral decay tolerated in Gaza, fuelled by blind calls to “Free Palestine” that fail to condemn Hamas’s criminality.

In recent days, Israel has demonstrated its humanitarian intent by opening airspace corridors and directly dropping food parcels into Gaza, efforts ignored or dismissed by the global community. Instead, international bodies unite to condemn Israel, refusing to recognize its efforts or condemn Hamas’s deliberate starvation campaign.

The world has amassed overwhelming evidence to condemn Hamas and its reign of terror. Only by recognizing the real enemy, terrorist groups masquerading as freedom fighters, can we hope to liberate the Palestinian people and restore peace. Our collective focus must shift from propaganda and false narratives to confronting terror and corruption, wherever they arise.

Meanwhile, countless minorities, Druze in Syria, Christians in Nigeria, continue to suffer brutal violence, barely noticed amid the manufactured Gaza famine crisis. This global selective outrage must end.

To the world: it is time to wake up.

Freeing Palestine means freeing its people from Hamas, not funding their oppressors. Only when we stop enabling terrorists through misplaced sympathy and political correctness can we work together to bring lasting peace and justice to the region and beyond.

*Thabelo Mahangani is a biologist, human rights activist, and former student leader at the University of the Witwatersrand. A Pentecostal scholar and vocal pro-Israel advocate, He engages critically with issues of religious freedom, regional security, and the rise of extremism in Africa and the Middle East, in the world at large.