Hamas, not Israel, blocks path to peace - Nicholas Woode-Smith

Key topics:Hamas violated multiple ceasefires, not IsraelCasualty numbers from Gaza are inflated and unreliableICJ has not found Israel guilty of genocide.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By Nicholas Woode-Smith.Israel is not committing a genocide in Gaza, and the article by Raji Sourani, Issam Younis and Shawan Jabarin claiming otherwise is spreading blatant misinformation. Israel did not break the ceasefire. Hamas violated the terms of the ceasefire, over and over.And let us not forget that there was a relative peace in Israel and Gaza, besides the occasional terrorist attack and rocket attack against Israel, before October 7th 2023. The authors of the article make no mention of the brutal invasion of Israeli territory, where 1200 Israelis were brutally murdered by terrorists originating from Gaza. A further 251 people were abducted, including babies, the elderly and children.This gross violation of international law, actions which would be rightly condemned as the criminal behaviour of a cartel or terror group, goes ignored by the authors of the article, which twist facts and spread libel to act as if Israel is waging an unjustified extermination on the Gazan people.But the military operation in Gaza is by no means a genocide or an extermination. The number of dead, reported by the authors as being over 50,000 as of April 11th, is not a reliable estimate. It is reported by the Hamas owned Gazan Ministry of Health. A biased institution with an incentive to inflate the number of dead to garner global outrage. The Ministry even calls the dead “martyrs”, belying some twisted theological justification for desiring more death.Already, the number of dead has fluctuated wildly. The Gazan Health Ministry alleged that 500 people were killed at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital merely hours after an explosion. The real death toll ended up being between 100 and 300. The fact that the Health Ministry so flagrantly made up a number on the spot, without counting bodies or even attempting to do so shows that it’s casualty estimates are based mostly on guesswork and conjecture.The number of dead also does not take into account combatants. There is a huge difference between civilian dead and combatants who have been actively fighting IDF troops. Hamas has repeatedly disguised dead terrorists as journalists, civilians and aid workers in the past.It is also important to add that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has not found Israel guilty of genocide. The findings were that there were reasonable grounds to continue the investigation. This is by no means conclusive. It just means that the court is not refusing to hear evidence from both sides. Anti-Israel pundits have been spreading disinformation and lies about the ICJ’s findings.The fact of the matter is that every civilian death on both sides is a tragedy. But Israel is not seeking to commit genocide against Gazan civilians. But Hamas’ aim on October 7th was genocidal. Hamas and its terror group allies actively sought unarmed Israelis, many of whom were advocates for peace and reconciliation with the Palestinian people, and undertook a systematic campaign of rape, torture and murder.Hamas’ charter prophesizes a sought after “Day of Judgement”, which can only be achieved by killing Jews, tracking down Jews wherever they hide, and slaughtering them. Even less zealous anti-Israel terror groups still call for a one-state solution, whereby Israel must be destroyed and replaced by an Arabic and Muslim Palestine.Read more:.FT: How Israel's aggressive new security plan is reshaping the Middle East.There is no country in the Middle East other than Israel where Jews are allowed to practice their culture and faith freely. In fact, Israel is the only true democracy and multi-cultural society in the Middle East. Where women can enjoy the same rights and privileges as men, I might add. If even secular, anti-Israeli groups got their way, there would be a genocide of the Jewish people in the region, and a pluralistic, democratic and human rights respecting Israel would be replaced by yet another crackpot Middle Eastern dictatorship.The authors also fail to realise one simple fact. If Hamas hadn’t invaded Israel on October 7th, there would be peace. If Hamas hadn’t violated ceasefire after ceasefire (including a ceasefire a mere month after the October 7th massacre), there would be peace. If Hamas released all the hostages, there would be peace. If Hamas and other Palestinian groups agreed to a two-state solution, and didn’t just insist on a one-state, genocidal plan to destroy an entire country, there would be peace.Hamas continues this war. Not Israel. The onus is on Hamas to end the conflict. Not Israel.But it should come as no surprise that this article is so full of factual holes and libel. Raji Sourani is a former member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist organisation responsible for calling for the overthrow of Morrocco and Jordan’s governments, opposing lasting peace through a two-state solution, and undertaking dozens of violent attacks against civilians, resulting in hundreds of innocent lives being lost. Sourani is a director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which has been identified as spreading misinformation, is tied to the PFLP and actively celebrated the slaughter of civilians on October 7th.Issam Younis is the Director of the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, another organisation that spreads libel about Israel, and has actively participated in events alongside Hamas and the PFLP, showing support for terror groups.Shawan Jabarin is the general director of Al-Haq and has been accused of being a “senior activist” for the PFLP, while also being issued with travel bans. Notably into Jordan, which has first-hand knowledge alongside Israel of what Palestinian terrorist groups can do to a country.These are by no means innocent analysts or virtuous humanitarians. They are ideologues with a bone to pick, who don’t care about peace, but desire the destruction of a country that has existed for over 70 years, and a people that has resided in the region for nearly 4000 years. We should take any statements they make about the conflict with a large pinch of salt..*Nicholas Woode-Smith is an author, political analyst and economic historian.

Hamas, not Israel, blocks path to peace - Nicholas Woode-Smith

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