Gazans Speak Out: Hamas’s Warmongering Keeps Us Oppressed and Poverty Stricken

Dear Friend of Israel, Friend of FLAME:

A recently released series of videos—“Whispered in Gaza,” produced by the Center for Peace Communications —features heartbreaking testimonials from Gaza residents, who expose their tragic suffering.

These besieged, ordinary Gazans give voice to the fact that the ruling Hamas terrorist regime is one of the world’s harshest and most unsympathetic dictatorships.

Quotes from the videos, originally released byTimes of Israel, dramatize the oppression, deception and corruption perpetrated by Hamas:

“They (Hamas) didn’t bring reform and change. They brought looting, theft, oppression, humiliation, nepotism, and unemployment.”

“They [Hamas] exploit us under the pretext of resistance.”

“Support Gazans who want better lives and want to be rid of Hamas”

A poignant wake-up call for Hamas sympathizers

The voices of these desperate citizens—who spoke only on condition of anonymity—should serve as a wake-up call for anyone who sympathizes with the Palestinian cause in general and the brutal Hamas faction in particular.

These testimonials confirm facts about the Hamas regime that are often ignored by the mainstream press under Hamas’s threat of reprisal against foreign journalists.

Above all, a close look at conditions in Gaza reinforces the reality that Hamas leaders’ primary concern is not freedom for the Palestinian people, but rather maintaining an iron grip of control over their powerless subjects.

To ensure its absolute rule, Hamas deprives Gaza residents of all semblance of individual and social freedoms, using torture, imprisonment and murder as weapons.

Adding to Hamas’s authoritarian oppression are the terrible living conditions its people suffer, brought about by the group’s dedication to jihad at the expense of their society’s economic health.

Media refuse to report Hamas’s belligerence

Unfortunately, the mainstream media and international community have generally ignored Hamas’s warmongering—preferring instead to blame Israel for any violence and the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.

Nonetheless, facing a preponderance of evidence, most media have been forced to reveal that every few years Hamas starts wars against Israel without provocation—not to “liberate Palestine” as they claim—but as a means to burnish the group’s reputation with the “Palestinian street.”

However, their strategy doesn’t always work: One of the “Whispered in Gaza” interviewees revealed that, “If you’re a Gazan citizen who opposes war, and says, ‘I don’t want war,’ you’re branded a traitor. It’s forbidden to say you don’t want war.”

It’s also well known that Hamas usually targets Israeli civilians with their missiles, which is a war crime. Likewise, the world has long been aware of Hamas’s tactic of launching rockets from residential areas and school sites, using their citizens as human shields —also a war crime.

Hamas’s torture of citizens: A crime against humanity

What Americans have heard even less about from Western media is Hamas’s cruelty to its people—curtailing their civil rights and harshly punishing them for any infractions.

The group Human Rights Watch reports that Hamas in Gaza “have in recent years carried out scores of arbitrary arrests for peaceful criticism of the authorities, particularly on social media, among independent journalists, on university campuses and at demonstrations.”

An anonymous Whisperer on video confides, “It’s forbidden to speak freely in Gaza.”

According to the UN Watch organization, Hamas regularly “torture[s] human rights activists, women, LGBT persons, political opponents, so-called ‘collaborators,’ and Palestinians who sell land to Jews.”

Human Rights Watch says the torture practiced by Hamas “may amount to a crime against humanity, given its systemic practice over many years.”

Of course, Hamas suffers no accountability by Gazan citizens for its brutal oppression, since the U.S.- and European Union-designated terror group has not held elections since 2006.

Hamas responsible for Gaza’s “unbearable” living conditions

While friends of Hamas enjoy accusing Israel of making Gaza “an open-air prison,” in truth Hamas is responsible for what ReliefWeb calls the “unbearable” living situation of most Gazans.

Moody’s Analytics service reports that “Under Hamas control, Gaza has suffered from rising unemployment, elevated poverty rates and a sharp contraction of the private sector.”

What’s more, Hama’s irresponsible military adventures against Israel have inevitably led to massive destruction of residential areas—where missile launchers are invariably sited—and of public infrastructure, such as water processing and electricity production.

No wonder one Whisperer complains, “Hamas leaders hide safely in their hideouts and bunkers while ordinary Gazans get injured and killed by Israel’s retaliation for attacks on its citizens.”

Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on earth. WebRelief estimates that 80% of its 2.1 million people are dependent on humanitarian relief and that 70% of young people are unemployed.

One major reason for this economic failure is the land and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip, enforced by Egypt and Israel in response to Hamas’s constant belligerence.

Motivating Hamas’s attacks on Israel is the group’s Charter, which calls for Islamic-inspired jihad—the killing of Jews and the liberation of “all of Palestine” using violent means.

Despite Gaza’s bankruptcy and its dependence on financial infusions from Iran, the Hamas regime spares no expense in manufacturing increasingly sophisticated missiles for attacking Israel. The group also funds its war efforts by imposing oppressive taxes on its impoverished citizens.

As one Whisperer notes, “Hamas makes it very difficult for anyone trying to make a living. Gazans are taxed heavily, nepotism abounds.”

Who will the media blame the next time Hamas attacks Israel?

It’s inevitable that the next time Hamas believes it is losing ground to its political rivals—or credibility with the “Palestinian street”—it will start a war with Israel. Western politicians will just as certainly decry the region’s “cycle of violence” and demand calm from both parties.

Please emphasize to friends, colleagues, relatives—and in letters to the editor—that the fate of Gaza is in Hamas’s hands. While Hamas is free to declare peace—and Israel would certainly welcome it—the terror group believes it is on a holy mission from Allah to rid Islamic lands of Jewish invaders.

While against all evidence Hamas sympathizers blame Israel for Gaza’s plight, most Gazans surely understand who is really to blame. As one Whisperer said it, “I want Gaza to be liberated from the government of Hamas.”

I hope you’ll also take a minute, while you have this material front and center, to forward this message to friends, visit FLAME’s lively Facebook page and review the P.S. immediately below. It describes FLAME’s new hasbarah campaign—”Demand Justice for Jewish Students”—which exposes rising attacks on Jewish college students’ identity and how these acts of antisemitism can be defeated.

Best regards,

James Sinkinson, Publisher
Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)

P.S.

You’ve surely seen headlines describing increasing attacks on Jewish students—in the classroom and in the public square—by radical anti-Zionist students, as well as faculty members. So far, university administrators have failed to prevent this kind of antisemitism on campus. At the heart of this discrimination, Israel’s enemies outrageously claim that Zionism is not part of being Jewish. No wonder more and more Jewish students are hiding their Jewish identities on campus. I think you’ll agree that we supporters of Israel need to speak out. FLAME’s new hasbarah—explanatory message—“Demand Justice for Jewish Students” tells how new law suits based on Title VI anti-discrimination laws are putting pressure on college administrators to protect Jewish students from such attacks. I hope you’ll review this convincing, fact-based editorial, which FLAME intends to publish in the New York Times, Washington Post, New York Post, Miami Herald, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and San Jose Mercury News. This piece will also be sent to all members of Congress, Vice President Harris and President Biden. If you agree that this kind of public relations effort on Israel’s behalf is critical, I urge you to support us. As of today, more than 15,000 Israel supporters receive the FLAME Hotline at no charge every week. If you’re not yet a subscriber, won’t you join us in receiving these timely updates, so you can more effectively tell the truth about Israel? Just go to free subscription.