NN: Huzzah for Hamas?
What happened 10/7 and how long and how fully does it define Hamas and who else?
This is part of the sprawling No Nichols complex of posts analyzing the rhetoric and reasoning behind certain sorts of support for Israel.
Hamas rejects the state of Israel and affirms armed struggle. Their founding charter was deeply antisemitic, and opponents say its replacement was mere PR and they want the death not only of the Israeli state but of all Israelis. Hamas may deserve complete condemnation and absolute hatred.
But even the strongest hatred of Hamas does not answer all questions or license all actions. And Hamas gives nobody a basis to judge all Palestinians. One of several big reasons is how Hamas gained power. They won a single election, back in 2006, by a plurality of 44.45% to 41.43%. Gaza has such a young population that the majority of today’s Gazans were not even alive then. In fact Gaza’s age distribution, voting age, and voter turnout in 2006 mean that less than 8% of current Gazans helped put Hamas in power.
Among American supporters of Palestinians are some people who profess varying degrees of support or sympathy for Hamas. But many denounce Hamas without hesitation or qualification.
So as I now hit you with some arguments regarding Hamas (one recording and three older posts) please for the sake of your own clarity of thought remember a few things. Plenty of supporters of the Palestinians and critics of Israel’s military action would reject these arguments. If something I say gets you angry I’m the one who deserves that anger, not all supporters of Palestinians. And similarly whatever hatred you have for Hamas itself should be aimed at Hamas itself not at all Palestinians. I hope you hold onto that clarity.
#3: Hamas might be worse than ISIS. But even then wouldn’t it still be bad for the American-Israeli military machine to slaughter thousands of Palestinian women and children?
#2: Staring and feeling vs. thinking and judging. Backing opposing sides for identical reasons. From hellish war crimes what can we infer about those who commit them, the group they fight with, and the cause they fight for?
On the idea that Hamas can be blamed not only for the people they killed in Israel but also for the people Israel has killed in Gaza.
I Condemn Hamas. Then I do dialectics.
An absolute and emphatic condemnation of Hamas for their totally unprovoked attack. Then some dialectical refinement.
And lastly something brand new. On atrocities, enemy admiration, war orphans, how armed conflicts can change character over time, varied vibes, tanks and prayers, and fighting ghosts:
Thank you for your interest friends and enemies and internet strangers.