By Gulamhusein A. Abba
Note:The Israeli lobby has cells in every city and town,
members of which receive talking points about current topics to use in
responding to any article, letter to the editor, interview, editorial that may
be published or aired that is critical of Israel. Members of the cell
diligently do just that. So much misinformation is packed in these responses
that, in answering those, counter responders get tied down to the issues raised
therein thus preventing them from moving on to fresh topics. Thus the cells
control the issues being discussed.
A case in point is an article of mine that is posted in
this blog (see Israel’s ‘final solution’
to Gaza). A slightly shortened version of it was published in the News
Times under the heading In the Middle
East, Israel is getting away with murder. (see http://www.newstimes.com/opinion/article/By-Gulamhusein-A-Abba-Israel-s-final-solution-5661170.php
)
A response to this by Mr. Bert Boyson was published by
the News Times under the heading Hamas is
a terrorist group using civilians (see http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Hamas-is-a-terrorist-group-using-civilians-5698974.php
)
This is a classic example of Israeli Hasbara (PR). Short.
Avoids answering specific facts mentioned in my article. Very professionally
crafted. Loaded with images calculated to influence readers subconsciously.
As this is the stance and language currently being taken
by Israeli lobbyists/supporters, I have written this post to lay bare the
tactic and serve as a sort of talking points for responding to these claims and
allegations.
Mr.Boyson’s words appear in italics followed by my ‘response’.
******************************
Hamas is a terrorist group using civilians
Published 6:17 pm,
Tuesday, August 19, 2014 on line edition
Published Wedesday, August 20, 2014 print edition
Gulamhusein Abba, in his Aug. 1 Where I Stand piece,
"In the Middle East, Israel getting away with murder," has shown
himself to be a stout defender of Hamas, a terrorist organization that has ruled Gaza since Hamas ousted the
Palestinian Authority.
*01 ANSWER: The “Terrorist
Organization” label is a deliberate tool created to enable damning the
organization in the eyes of a a reader without one more word more being said. Many
countries have NOT named Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Hamas “ousted” PA from Gaza only after it learnt of a
plot by US and Israel against Hamas by using the notorious Muhammad Dahlan. This
shady deal was exposed by Vanity Fair (http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/04/gaza200804)
*******************************
He supports their use of rockets against
civilian population centers in Israel. Hamas
rockets supplied by Iran
and North Korea are smuggled
through tunnels into Gaza and it was only a matter of time before Hamas rockets would cause major
civilian casualties in Israel.
*02 ANSWER: What is supported is the right of the Palestinians
to resist the illegal occupation and the illegal siege and blockade – a right
recognized under international law.
There is no way for Iran or North Korea to supply rockets to
Hamas. Gaza is under siege and blockade. Nothing can enter or leave Gaza.
Supplies did get smuggled through tunnels. No Iranian or Korean rockets came
through. None have ever been reported by Israel. Had they been used, Israel
would have trumpeted the news from rooftops. Dragging in the name of Iran and
Korea is a cheap ploy to damn Haamas by associating it with countries that
Americans love to hate.
The tunnels from Egypt have long been blocked by Egypt. The
alleged tunnels from Gaza to Israel could not possibly have been used for
smuggling in rockets into Gaza!!!
Fear of Hamas rockets causing major civilian casualties
in Israel is just speculation of
what might happen in the future. Super
“major civilian casualties” being inflicted by Israel on Gazans is a fact happening right now in the present.
**************************************
Israel
had to act and to their
surprise they found dozens of tunnels under Gaza's border that were to
be used not for smuggling but for a major Jewish New Year ground attack on villages and kibbutzim in
southern Israel. Judging from
past performance Hamas would have left many dead civilians in their
wake, consistent with
Islamic Jihad thinking
*03 ANSWER: To their “surprise”?
Netanyahu said the ground troops were sent specifically to ferret out the
tunnels and destroy them. Obviously Israel KNEW of the tunnels.
Bert must be having a super intelligence service of hs
own to know when and where the imagined attack would take place.
What “past performance” is Bert talking about? There is
not a single instance where Hamas “left many dead civilians in their wake.”
“consistent with Islamic Jihad thinking” is another scurrilous
attempt to exploit the current anger and outrage against “Islamic Jihad thinking”.
By linking Hamas to “Islamic Jihad thinking” he seeks to paint their struggle against
the illegal Israeli occupation of their lands as being “Islamic” (vs Judaism)
and in line with the murderous thinking and actions of the current misnamed “Islamic
Jihadists” (misnamed because there is no Jihad involved here as laid down in Islam.
**************************************
Mr.
Abba seems convinced that Hamas is no longer dedicated to destroying Israel.
However, their leadership
still calls for the end of Israel, and rules out negotiations to achieve their aims.
*04 ANSWER: This statement is like an attorney asking an accused
if he had stopped beating his wife! The question itself is a condemnation,
taking it for granted that the man was previously beating his wife. Bert’s
sentence is cleverly crafted, intermingling “destroying Israel” with “end of
Israel”. There is a BIG difference. “Destroying Israel” stirs up images of physically
obliterating Israel along with all the Jews in it. Images immediately come to
mind of the Holocaust and of “never again”, and, like Pavlovs dogs, readers
react with “this can never be allowed to happen. Hamas must be put out of
action”. Actually Hamas, like millions
of others all over the world, want to bring to an end the existence on the
State of Israel, and replace it with a unified government where ALL those now
living in Israel, West Bank and East Jerusalem can live together in peace and
friendship under the protection of law that applies to everyone equally. There
was a time when a “Two State” solution was promoted vigorously. But Israel, by
its expansionist policies and expanding ‘Israelis only’ settlements in West
Bank and East Jerusalem have, with their own hands, rung the death knell of the
two state solution. Even US has been warning Israel that the window on the two
state solution is closing. It has in fact closed and the end of Israel is
inevitable.
It is true that Hamas scorns negotiations. It was created
to offer Palestinians, who were fed up with ceaseless negotiations without an
end to the occupation anywhere in sight, an alternative, and that alternative
was a return to PLO’s original policy of RESISTENCE. Hamas remains convinced
that Israel uses “negotiations” merely as a pretext to continue the occupation
and grab more and more Palestinian land and build more and more Israeli
settlements and Judaize more and more Palestinian Arab areas. Experience has
proved Hamas right. Even the blind know what Israel is doing in the West Bank, from
where no rockets fall into Israel and where the PA has been patiently and faithfully
following for years the Quartet crafted Road Map of negotiations.
************************************
Only
recently Iran's Ayatollah reiterated calls for Israel's destruction. Iran is
the chief sponsor of Hamas terror and the U.S. and the European Union have labeled Hamas as a terrorist
group and will not have any direct talks with them.
*05 ANSWER: This is another despicable attempt to damn
Hamas by association, by coupling it with a country Americans love to hate.
There is no evidence of Iran being the chief sponsor of Hamas “terror”. And you
cannot bomb Gaza because Iran’s Ayatollah allegedly recently reiterated calls
for Israel’s destruction. Another thing. Why blame Hamas for refusing to
negotiate with U.S. and Israel when according to Bert’s own admission the U.S. and
Israel will not have any direct talks with them? Finally, why would Hamas want
to play this game of “negotiations”
when it sees that years of negotiations by Fatah has produced nothing except
more loss of land, even though no rockets are being launched by Fatah towards
Israel?
**********************************************
Israel's
leadership undertook the ground assault with great trepidation since urban
warfare is bound to cause significant casualties to the IDF and as we have witnessed
Hamas infrastructure, launching platforms, weapon storage, and tunnel entrances
have been placed in civilian locations and they urge their civilian
populace to act as HUMAN
SHIELDS
during attacks.
SHIELDS
during attacks.
*06 ANSWER: Really? If
Israel was so concerned about not causing “significant casualties” it would
have lifted the siege or at least started the process of lifting the siege.
This was one of the terms of the last truce. But it did nothing. Even then
Hamas held its fire. Only when, under the pretext of searching for the murderer
of the three Israeli youngsters, Israel, without any evidence, declared that
Hamas was responsible for the murders and, with that cover, broke into homes of
Hamas supporters, arrested dozens of them and terrorized them in the West Bank.
As for civilians being
used as human shields, there is no evidence that Hamas does so. As against
this, there is video evidence of the IDF using Palestinians as human shields.
Not to mention testimonies from the brave and conscientious vets of IDF who
have chosen to speak out.
Bert’s accusation against
Hamas is based on the allegation that Hamas weapons, including rockets etc,
“have been placed in civilian locations.” Israel has imprisoned nearly 2
million people on a thin, small sliver of land. It is one of the most densely
populated area in the world. ANYWHERE
would be near a civil location.
**********************************
Every photo of dead or injured civilians is
used to demonstrate to the world the tragedy that ironically they have brought
to their own PEOPLE.
.
*07 ANSWER: Israelis
plaintively complain about rockets being launched by Hamas towards Israel and
aggressively challenge anybody who questions their inhuman massacre of Gazans
by asking “What would you have done?” The question should really be the other
way around. What would you have done if a foreign country, who had been granted
a “homeland” on your land, turned round, and instead of being grateful,
imprisoned you on a small sliver of land, effected a complete blockade and
effectively crippled and strangled you? All of it illegal. All of it under the
plain gaze of the entire world. And no one did anything to get this illegality
ended. And worse, allowed the aggressor, the culprit to make more demands to undo
the wrong it has done. Demands like surrendering all arms, agreeing to be
demilitarized, and recognizing the right of the aggressor’s right to have a
state on your land! While it refuses to recognize your people’s right to a
state on only 22% of the land that once belonged to you in entirety. And
imports millions of dollars’ worth of heavy and sophisticated weaponry from the
U.S. and other countries.
Claiming that Hamas
itself has brought this unprecedented tragedy on its own people is like arguing
that if only the murdered woman would not have resisted so violently while the murderer
was trying to rape her, the murderer would not have been so enraged as to
murder her. In other words she brought about her own death!
So. Hamas by resisting
the illegal, strangling and crippling siege and blockade, has enraged the
aggressor so much as to make the aggressor launch this inhuman attack and has thus brought about
this tragedy on its own people! What could be more Orwellian?
What Bert, and Israel is saying is tht if only the Gazans had
laid on their backs and meekly submitted in total to all that their occupiers
did, none of this would have happened. Typical Zionist thinking. Typical
example of Israeli Hasbara.
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