Palestinian Arabs crying out in rage over the abduction and murder of Israel's babies

Part I: Hamza Howidy

I began writing this as the preparations for the Hamas ceremony for releasing four bodies back home to Israel for proper burial had begun. On the silent screen beside me, I saw pictures of the Shiri Bibas and her redheaded boys and of Oded Lipshitz; I saw the talking heads, replays of previous hostage release ceremonies, and when I switched over to the AP live stream, I saw hundreds of Gazans gathered to watch the handover of the bodies to the International Red Cross taxi service. Hundreds of Gazans, and I believe, nary an innocent soul among them.

Then I took a break from this and put together an article showing the depraved “ceremonial” handover of the boxes holding our murdered hostages to the Red Cross, who carried out the only thing they ever did for our hostages during this war — served as a taxi service. Several hours later, I returned to this piece.

On the parts of Israelis, Jews around the world, and our non-Jewish friends and supporters, the social media was awash with raw rage, excruciating pain, blinding tears, breaking hearts.

What could we find on the part of Palestinian Arabs? What were they saying? I begin with Hamza Howidy.

Hamza Howidy is a bona fide peace activist, even for me. He was one of the leaders of the 2019 “We want to live” demonstration against Hamas in Gaza and has been imprisoned and tortured by Hamas for his activism against the terror group. He bravely made contact with Israelis and he put himself on the line in his protests against Hamas until his family bought his escape before Oct 7th as they were afraid his next imprisonment would be his last. I believe he is sincere.

On his “X” profile he describes himself thus: “Exiled Palestinian, anti-authoritarianism, Human Rights and peace advocate.” He tells pro-Hamas demonstrators in Europe and America that they are so wrong in standing with Hamas. You can read an excellent article about him on Times of Israel. So what does he write about the release of the four murdered hostages? (Text copied below the image)

The body of 84-year-old Israeli peace advocate Oded Lifshitz is among those set to be released from Hamas' captivity on Saturday. Oded remained in Gaza after he and his wife, Yocheved, were kidnapped from their house; Yocheved was freed after 17 days of captivity. In particular, Oded transported Palestinian patients from Gaza to Israeli hospitals for medical care, displaying his commitment to promoting peace and helping others. Although I can't even begin to understand Yocheved's pain and anguish today, I do know that carrying on with his work of building bridges, helping others, and advocating for mankind honors his soul. May his soul be blessed. [emphasis added]

Given that Howidy would likely regard Oded Lifshitz as a pro-peace colleague, I find this post rather understated — where is the rage?

Howidy knows the Gazans — after all, he grew up there. Nine years old when Hamas was voted into power, he saw what happened since then and was old enough to understand. Still, does he really believe that there are enough Gazans like him with whom Israel can “build bridges?”

And does he really think it is still possible to “build bridges” with those who abducted families from their beds and dancers at a music festival, who commited the atrocities that are already fading into a dull muted memory in so many minds? If Lifshitz had come home alive, would he have agreed that this is the way to honour him? Or perhaps he would have, like Mia Shem, come home saying “There are no innocent civilians in Gaza.” We don’t know.

Here is how Howidy responds to Ramy Abdu, chairman of Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, who blames Israel for having killed Shiri and her sons in a bomb attack (we don’t know if that is true):

Disgusting as always. Ramy, do you remember how Hersh Goldberg, along with 5 other Israeli hostages, was deliberately executed by Hamas' terrorists the moment they realized the Israeli army was nearby and could've freed the hostages and made Hamas lose "the bargaining chips" they used? The only party to blame for the killing of the Bibas children and the mother is Hamas, period. [emphasis added]

At least he is clear about that.

Later on, as the “ceremony” for the transfer of the bodies from the terrorists to the Red Cross taxi service continues, he writes more clearly:

How depraved and rude you should be to stage a parade to hand over the dead remains of children you stole alive, locked up in tunnels for over a year, then murdered while you were keeping them as hostages?

Then he reposts, without comment (meaning he agrees with it), a long post by Deputy Permanent Observer of the “State of” Palestine to the UN, Majed Bamya (originally from Jaffa, apparently, and so calls himself a refugee). Here is the link to Bamya’s post so I will allow myself to paraphrase:

Bamya draws an equivalence between Gaza’s children and the Bibas children. He says all children are innocent and need to be valued and protected. And no child should be used to push a “political narrative.”

Let me respond to Bamya and to Howidy: Gazan children are born innocent and then, through abusive education and indoctrination, they are raised to believe they serve their people best by dying while killing Jews. We would never see the Bibas boys in school or summer camp plays killing Arabs like the Gazan kids put on about killing Jews. Here is one example of a Gazan play:

Therefore, Howidy, as you put out your anti-Hamas arguments, you must include child abuse as one of the crimes you oppose.

And finally, near the end of the “ceremony,” Howidy reposts this:

Hamas is fully aware that their parade to return the dead bodies of babies will be used to dehumanize Palestinians and incite more violence against us.

They did it anyway. They just want the world to hate us more—pure depravity.

This was put up by Christian Palestinian Ihab Hassan, from Ramallah, now living in Washington. More about him in a separate article.

What does this mean? The parade of dead babies will be used to dehamanize Palestinians?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, to dehumanize is “to remove from a person the special human qualities of independent thought, feeling for other people, etc.” Do they not dehumanize themselves by their own actions? It is not a matter of anyone else using their displays to dehumanize them — Hamas and other terror groups brainwash their own people and, in doing so, they are the ones who dehumanize them.

Hamas wants the world to hate the Palestinians more? And that is where the depravity lies? This does not even make sense. Not to me, anyway. Maybe they want Israel to hate them more….but the world? I don’t get it. I wonder how Howidy would explain this to me.

I am showing here only Howidy’s posts about the release of the bodies of the four murdered hostages. If you check out his “X” profile, you will likely find posts that you agree with and others that make you raise you eyebrows.

I do believe he is sincere. I do believe he would have wanted Gaza to be a place where people could have led good lives, concerned with raising physically and mentally healthy children, educating them to do good in the world, etc. After all, he continued to speak out against Hamas even after having been imprisoned and tortured. Not only does that show his sincerety, in my opinion, but that shows that it is possible to resist Hamas.

Therefore, when people say that the Gazans who just want to live dignified lives without having to live under the oppressive Hamas regime cannot rebel against Hamas because of the risk to their lives, you need to remember Howidy and his two friends who were involved in organizing the “We want to live” demonstrations. If they could do it, others could have. And if they had reached a critical mass, Hamas could possibly have been taken down.

I wonder, had he not fled Gaza before Oct 7th, would he have let the IDF know where hostages were being held? Because apparently nobody else did.

Oh. And as a last word, Howidy published an article in Newsweek in January 2024 telling Gazans to demand the release of the Israeli hostages, because failing to speak up “allow[s] Hamas to paint the entire population of Gaza as a group of terrorists.”

They did not heed his advice and yes, I am sorry, Howidy, I paint the entire population of Gaza as terrorists until proven otherwise.

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UPDATE today (21 Feb) after the horrific discovery of the brutal murders of the Bibas babies a month after they were abducted and the despicable replacement of Shiri’s body (if she really is dead) with a random Gazan woman’s body, what did Hamza post today?

Post one:

Hamas has once again revealed its true face, not only for Israel, but to anyone who believes in human dignity, by handing over a wrong body instead of the remains of Shiri Bibas, the mother of kidnapped Kfir and Ariel Bibas, after weeks of disturbing displays of dead bodies and using human suffering for propaganda.

This was no accident. It was a calculated act of cruelty. Hamas meticulously orchestrated their unsettling parades, utilizing new vehicles to amplify the chilling spectacle. They cleverly maintained these details for their perverse propaganda; however, when it came to the fundamental humanitarian obligation of returning the correct body, they fell short.

At this point, it seems clear: Hamas is begging for the war to continue. Their actions, including disturbing parades and deception in hostage negotiations, aim to provoke suffering and undermine any chance for a resolution.

“Fell short?” An understatement if there ever was one!

Second post:

Caravans should have been permitted entry into the Strip at the onset of the war to prevent displaced individuals from enduring months in tents and to avert a potential healthcare crisis driven by the environmental catastrophe in Gaza. Nevertheless, Israel persistently delayed their arrival. Even with the ceasefire in effect, Israel is allowing only a limited number of caravans into the enclave, prolonging the suffering of its residents.

Which individuals? The “uninvolved innocent” civilians who abducted Shiri and her boys? Those who raped and burned Jews? Really! We should care about the suffering of Gazans. Pardon me for disagreeing.

Hamza, if you cannot see why we should not be stopping all deliveries to Gaza, regardless of their origin, you do not understand peace or war. You are well meaning, and I wish you success in your new life as an expat Gazan. But you have nothing meaningful to tell Israelis until you tell Gazans that they have shown they have no right to anything.