Are these anti-Hamas demonstrations in Gaza really anti-Hamas?

How can we know? Let's look and reflect.

First of all, do you think these anti-Hamas demonstrations would have happened had Israel not renewed the fighting there? I don't. And herein is, perhaps, our first hint. Keep in mind that I have become cynical. Maybe you are not as cynical as I am and so you will interpret what you see differently. I can only tell you what I see.

Some questions

Do you think that these anti-Hamas crowds (anti-Hamas, that is, now that they see the destruction) are pro-Israel? I am sure they are not. But maybe that’s just me.

Will Hamas put these demonstrations down? Do they have the manpower to do that after the beating they have been getting?

Does Hamas even want to put these demonstrations down? In other words, are these demonstrations part of Hamas tactics? We must consider this.

First, some X posts by ex-pat Gazans who many are promoting as pro-peace activists. And finally, my analysis.

Khalil Sayegh,

touted as being pro-peace, writes:

You won't see this picture of Palestinians in Gaza protesting against Hamas on media. Many media outlets want to dehumanize Palestinians by claiming they all support Hamas, while far-left and pro-Palestine media won't report it because it undermines their narrative about Hamas.

It is certainly getting lots of air-time and website space on Israeli media.

I will be writing more about Sayegh in a future article.

Now I look at what has been posted by reputedly pro-peace ex-pat Gazans about whom I wrote in an article looking at their responses to the murder of the Bibas babies. In that article, I describe who each of these people are. (I did not include here Bassem Eid because he is not Gazan.)

Aziz Abu Sarah

Nothing. Hmmm. Nothing to say about this? It’s not that Abu Sarah wasn’t posting at all. An hour ago, he shared a post related to Huckabee’s statement in favour of Israel extending our sovereignty to Judea-Samaria, commenting that “extreme right-wing settlers in the West Bank, pushing for generations of war instead of peace.”

And 14 hours ago, he shared a post about how Israel labels Gazan journalists as terrorists, writing: “We must recognize the disinformation campaign against journalists used to justify their killings.”

You can look at his account here to see if anything comes up after I publish this article.

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib,

who I discussed in a separate article, posted on X yesterday:

Yes to peace! כן לשלום

Tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza are demonstrating for peace, against Hamas, against war - support them; listen to them; amplify their voices. This is a historic moment - if you are truly pro-Palestine, elevate these courageous Gazan voices!

And he uploaded a video of the mayor of Beit Lahia saying he speaks for the people of the city who, and I quote from the Hebrew subtitles to the video: “demand peace and security and say no to incitement and war.”

We are those who need to decide and we will decide who will control this city. We are living under very harsh people who nobody can tolerate. Therefore everyone must stand together and prevent anyone from trying to destroy our future here…

We say: “Yes, peace. No to tyranny that destroys our future.

After him, a demonstrator jumped up to say they don’t want war; they want to live, not die.

And seven hours ago, he posted a video with this accompanying text:

Nighttime anti-war, anti-Hamas protests in Gaza continue: "we want world nations and leaders to get Hamas out of Gaza - we don't want Hamas!"

To make sure that is what the demonstrator is shouting, I ran the video through a transcription programme and then translated that into English:

Today, we are protestors. We were expelled from Beit Hanoun. We have nothing to do with this. Today, the Jews are in the middle of the camp, in the west of Gaza. We have nothing to do with this. Today, we have nothing to eat. We have nothing to drink. We have nothing to do with this. Look, look, we are sitting now in the garbage. We are sitting in the garbage, in the middle of it. We don't want Hamas. OUT! We don’t want Hamas. OUT!

If you are like me, you will be saying that …. well, we’ll leave this till the analysis part of this article.

John Aziz:

You can tell who really cares about the Palestinian people and who is just looking for an excuse to bash Israel by whether or not they talk about when Palestinians in Gaza in their thousands come out and protest against Hamas and call for peace.

Before that, and along the same line, he wrote this:

Ilhab Hassan

Hassan uploaded many posts about these demonstrations. Here is one from five hours ago:

Just finished checking some Hamas propaganda channels — Telegram, Facebook, X. They’re shaking. They’re already trying to spin the protests as if they were just about ending the war, but their lies are painfully obvious. The chants were clear: "Down with Hamas."

and this from yesterday:

BREAKING: The Assembly of Southern Gaza Clans has issued a powerful call for a popular uprising (Intifada) against Hamas, accusing the group of gambling with Palestinians’ lives for its own narrow, self-serving interests.

Hamza Hawidy

about whom I wrote in a separate article. He has bona fides — he was one of the organizers of the “We want to live” demonstrations in Gaza in 2019 and was imprisoned and tortured for that before he was able to escape to Germany.

What did he post about the demonstrations?

For over 18 months, we were dehumanized in the worst ways imaginable. Our deaths were justified as necessary. Our suffering was dismissed as deserved. Our misery was framed as a consequence of our own choices, as if we had chosen to live under Hamas, as if we had the power to resist them without being killed. We were treated as if we were all terrorists, stripped of our humanity, and blamed for our own destruction. The world watched as entire families were wiped out, as neighborhoods were turned to dust, and still, the excuse remained the same: They are Hamas. They brought this upon themselves.

And now, thousands of Gazans have risked their lives to say it clearly: Hamas is a terrorist organization. We want them gone. They called for peace—loudly, unmistakably. They demanded an end to this war. After months of relentless devastation, starvation, and displacement, they stood up and made it clear: We refuse to be pawns in this war any longer. We want a future without Hamas. We want to live.

Yesterday, he posted this video saying that “The people are demanding Hamas to release the hostages, to step down from ruling Gaza, and to end this war." I listened. I know the Arabic word for hostages and I did not hear it in this video. But….

not one to leave anything only partly done, I used an online transcription programme and then translated the Arabic into English; here is what the speaker on the video said:

It's a mass protest from home. It won’t be extinguished now. Against Hamas rule. What’s happening in Gaza? It's a disaster. Here, people and citizens are demanding the release of prisoners [okay, so they call the hostages ‘prisoners’] in order to survive.

Here, Hamas is demanding that the people remain steadfast.

How can they remain steadfast while they are dying and bleeding? …

These thousands came out to get their message across to the whole world. We reject Hamas rule and we reject what is happening.

Finally, something about the hostages.

I’m sorry, not sorry

I must ask this: How many of those (supposedly/perhaps) demonstrating against Hamas were here in the crowd in this video, cheering the return of terrorists bringing in booty and abductees?

Thus we need to ask: Are the anti-Hamas demonstrators truly anti-Hamas?

I am waiting to see if someone from among these supposedly anti-Hamas demonstrators give the IDF information about where the hostages are. I am cynical. They can get $5 million for giving information leading to the release of just a single hostage. Let’s see if someone actually does that.

Or, perhaps these demonstrators getting paid by Hamas to demonstrate.

What purpose could there be in Hamas staging the demonstrations themselves?

It can be camouflage behind/beneath which Hamas is busily reorganizing/rearming/recruiting. After all, is the IDF going attack crowds of “innocent civilians” protesting against Hamas? As suggested by a fellow member of a private FB group:

Call me a cynic but could these demonstrations be a huge human shield to cover Hamas activity and of course halt the advance of our troops. Imagine if Israel bombed a target and hit these demonstrators out on every street it would be a huge disaster and tragedy in all respects. So could this be why Hamas hasn’t broken them up yet they have plenty of man power and weapons at their disposal with their newly released savages.

I would look behind these lines for signs of activity, it reminds me of the riots that Hamas instigated by the border fence before 7 October in order to create a smokescreen and prepare for their invasion. One thing we learned from this war is that no one moves in Gaza without permission from Hamas.

We must wonder: How many Hamas terrorists are among these demonstrators?

Even if the Hamas-associated news agency, Shehab, is announcing that opposition to Hamas is collaboration with Israel, that can also be a trick.

Remember, Hamas is expert in psychological manipulation/warfare/terrorism. When they come out with fresh in-captivity proof-of-life videos of hostages we have not yet seen, they do it when it can most effectively be used by anti-government protesters to increase the venomous attacks against Bibi.

And now they may have manufactured an anti-themselves demonstration to lull us into complacency, into thinking that finally the “innocent civilians” are rising up against their tyranical controllers. And that could be the final straw that is needed to tip the scales into Israel accepting a “deal” that would stop the war prematurely. Another ceasefire, another hudna — another opportunity for them to regroup and prepare for the next Oct 7th-type massacre.

My final word:

I think there are enough reasons to doubt that this is a genuine anti-Hamas protest. And even if the anti-Hamas sentiments are genuine, there is enough reason to believe that it won’t last. At the first sign that Hamas is regaining its strength and doing damage to Israel, you will see them out cheering again and handing out candies to celebrate the deaths of Jews.

In other words — it doesn’t matter if they hate Hamas. It does not mean that they hate Israel/Jews any less than they did before they saw what Hamas has brought down upon them.

Ex-pat Gazan journalist, Ayman Alaloul, living in Belgium posted about hating Sinwar back in Dec 2023. But all he could say was that Sinwar was bad because he underestimated the destruction Israel would bring down upon Gaza, not because killing and abducting Jews is bad.

I will watch developments with interest. And even if the demonstrations turn out to be a truely organic uprising against Hamas, it does nothing to change my opinion about “innocent civilians.”

There is one thing that might change my mind

And that is if I see these crowds raise our remaining hostages onto their shoulders as we see guests raise the bride and groom at wedding celebrations. If I see these crowds bring the hostages to IDF posts, with respect and awe for what they have endured. If I see the crowds bring out coffins draped with the Israeli flag and hand them over respectfully to our soldiers.

If I hear them shout out their apologies, adding “Never again.” We want to live in peace alongside you. Well, I might be willing to reconsider.

---

Because Israel is not supported on the Substack payment platform, I have set up an alternative for those who want to support my work.

You can make one-time or repeated donations in your own currency using Paypal (Buy me a Coffee, above) or the Ko-fi payment platform here. Israelis can send me a private message for another option.

Articles will always be free for all subscribers but a one-time or repeated donation is a way to help me sustain myself while doing all the work involved in putting these articles together and would be greatly appreciated.

Thank-you to all those who have supported my work by subscribing and/or by donating coffees.