Why I Cannot Support Hamas

I can understand the desire for peace that motivates many in the Global West who are calling for a ceasefire in Israel and the Gaza Strip at this time. War is never pleasant, and it’s especially true when discussing fighting in an urban environment. This is made even worse when civilians are present. Reasonable, rational people want to limit the loss of human life and seek to protect women, children, and other noncombatants.

With the October 7 attack on Israel from Gaza by Hamas, the fragile peace that existed in the region was broken. Hamas fighters destroyed barriers, then attacked military checkpoints and civilian border towns in the surrounding area. These attacks included the Supernova Music Festival near Kibbutz Re'im, an event with no military significance. Much of the attack was filmed by Hamas fighters. Al Jazeera's reporting provides a succinct overview of the day. (1) During the attack, civilian casualties made up approximately 67% of those killed. (2) In addition, Hamas fighters also took approximately 240 hostages. By rational standards, these targeted attacks on civilians constitute terrorist acts and are quite different from collateral damage, something to be expected in military operations in urban areas. (3) Despite this, we have seen large numbers of rallies supporting Hamas and calling on Israel to agree to a ceasefire.

The challenge is that the most common arguments made by people in opposition to Israel and in support of Hamas, listed below, rely on ignoring basic history and facts. Below are my responses to three of the arguments I’ve seen most. I should note that many other arguments rely on one of these three as its basis. For instance, calls for “From the River to the Sea, Palestine shall be free!” require you to believe arguments 1 and 2 below.

1. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/7/what-happened-in-israel-a-breakdown-of-how-the-hamas-attack-unfolded

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Hamas-led_attack_on_Israel#Casualties

3. https://www.wordnik.com/words/terrorism

Argument 1 - Israel is on Occupied/Stolen Land

As one speaker said, "Yes, the Arabs lost some land. That's what happens when you start a war." In other words, Israel did not steal the land and are not colonizers. The government of the old Ottoman Empire ceded control of this land to others by treaty. In World War I, the Ottoman Empire, which formerly had control of the region, sided with Germany against the Allied powers. With the Treaty of Mudros (Oct 1918),(1) the Ottoman Empire began taking steps to give control of the region to the Allied countries. This work continued with treaties overseen by the League of Nations, including the Treaty of Sèvres. (2) These legal frameworks were used to begin the partitioning of the old Ottoman Empire, which eventually led to the establishment of the current Nation of Israel.

Our current population can either: A) live by these treaties and legal frameworks, B) find nonviolent ways to revise these treaties (see things like the Oslo Accords, where both Israel and the PLO expressed interest in coming to a nonviolent solution),(3) or C) continue hostilities. The Arabs and Palestinian groups have chosen option C multiple times, with a commensurate loss of land in many of the wars. Land that has often been returned. (4,5) The current protests directed against Israel seem to be because Israel is so much better at fighting than any Palestinian group.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_of_Mudros

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_S%C3%A8vres

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo_Accords

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_occupation_of_the_Sinai_Peninsula

5. https://www.britannica.com/event/Israels-disengagement-from-Gaza

Argument 2 - Israel is an Apartheid Regime

Apartheid is defined as "A policy or practice of separating or segregating groups."(1) This would be things like Jim Crow laws in the US before the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s or the South African racial segregation that ended in the 1990s. If Israel truly fits this definition, they would be treating ALL Palestinians and Muslim Arabs the same. That is, there would be a legal framework in place that would deny legal standing to Muslims in the nation of Israel, and treat them as second-class citizens. What we see instead is that 1.5 million Palestinian Arabs are citizens of Israel have equal rights, and can be parliamentarians, judges, diplomats, public health officials, and IDF generals. (2) This is bourne out when we see that the Knesset, Israel's main ruling body, has a significant number of Arab members. (3)

1. https://www.wordnik.com/words/apartheid

2. https://www.nationalreview.com/2013/11/arabs-are-prominent-israels-government-deroy-murdock/

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Arab_members_of_the_Knesset

Argument 3 - Israel is Trying to Commit Genocide

The UN defines genocide as “acts committed with [the] intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”(1) Usually, individuals who accuse Israel of genocide use Palestinian casualty numbers suggesting the Israeli armed forces are targeting Palestinian civilians. To do so, they dismiss the unfortunate reality of collateral damage, or that Hamas intentionally places their militarily important targets in locations guaranteed to cause higher civilian casualties (schools, hospitals, etc.). They would also have you think that Israel's 'aggression' is unwarranted. To do so, they ignore the reality of the October 7 attacks that precipitated the latest round of conflict, attacks that targeted civilians with rape and mutilation. During the attacks, Hamas recorded their actions and even took some civilians hostage. (2) These attacks seem more akin to genocide since the attacks specifically targeted civilians, not military personnel, and were "acts committed with [the] intent to destroy" the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel's retaliation against Hamas is justified by Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, recognizing the right of nations to defend themselves. (3)

In addition, accusations of genocide leveled against Israel completely ignore or excuse the genocidal actions of Hamas. The Hamas charter has never recognized Israel's right to exist, not even in the revised charter of 2017. (4) In fact, the original charter basically called for genocide by stating their reason d'etre was the destruction of Israel. (5) Coupled together, it is obvious that Israel is once again in danger of being destroyed, instead of being a perpetrator of genocide.

1. https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml

2. 1. https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-attack-military-war-a8f63b07641212f0de61861844e5e71e

   2. https://www.hamas-massacre.net/

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-defence_in_international_law

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Hamas_charter

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Hamas_charter#Analysis