This is the reality of Hamas

I completely understand why people in Gaza would say they support Hamas. I would probably do the same if I lived there. I would not be brave enough to oppose them.
I don’t understand why Palestinian supporters in this country rarely denounce Hamas.

I’ll try again,

Re I realise some will not be able to conceive that a majority of a population can genuinely support a barbaric terrorist group. But I'm under no such illusion

I can well understand that the majority of a population can genuinely support a barbaric terror group. It happens when a population feels terrorised, under attack, and oppressed by a not only barbaric, but more powerful, well-armed, US-sanctioned military force, and feels their home terror group is their only hope against the outside one.

Blatant Whataboutery and False Equivalence right there.

The two are not the same and how a terrorist group operates, gains support and so on is very different to that of legitimate sovereign Governments.

Always mildly interesting to see the clear attempts at Whataboutery, deflection and False Equivalence.

In case it's escaped your attention, this thread is entitled This Is The Reality Of Hamas.

Nothing else. 🤦‍♂️

As I said, many cannot conceive of how significant groups of people can and do support Hamas. Much as people don't like them, the polls of Gazan and West Bank support is still significant.

Like I said, there is no critical mass of Gazans opposed to Hamas so far. What we're seeing is small rifts, including within Hamas. Weeks ago, I explained how Israel has been using PsyOps to encourage that.

But, as per NATO StratCom COE, its not expected to realise a critical mass of local Gazan population dissent.

I realise some will not be able to conceive that a majority of a population can genuinely support a barbaric terrorist group. But I'm under no such illusion

I hope I am not under an illusion in believing that the majority of Israelis are not as barbaric as their current government, certain of their ministers, IDF commanders, and many IDF soldiers make them appear to be.

Babarians wielding US bomb power, with a majority backing them up, would certainly be something to despair over.

If you read the BBC article itself, it says here,

Fatah, the ruling party in the West Bank and political rival of Hamas, released a statement on Monday condemning “the blatant assault on activist Amin Abed in Gaza”.

It did not name Hamas, but said the "de facto authorities in Gaza" had allowed "criminality" to spread in the enclave and held them fully responsible for Abed's well-being.

I would say that the BBC reported the information they had.

It is a pity Israel does not allow foreign correspondents like the BBC.

There is currently no critical mass of Gazans who are opposed Hamas. Even pre-2023 NATO STRATCOM report was clear they didn't think it was possible to get there due to a number of factors which does include genuinely high level of support for Hamas.

Polls from Palestinian pollsters which also includes the WB is the best indicators we currently have.

I realise some will not be able to conceive that a majority of a population can genuinely support a barbaric terrorist group. But I'm under no such illusion.

Can’t be untoward about genocidal terrorists now can we?

“…group of masked men…” would it choke the BBC to just say “Hamas”? 🙄

Brave man.

Tonight on BBC news they showed a man who had criticised Hamas brutally beaten up by Hamas.

A Palestinian activist known for organising anti-Hamas protests in Gaza has been taken to hospital after an attack by a group of masked men.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx82xx9pj5do

They really don't. The leadership is prepared to let innocent people die needlessly, and anyone who actually stands up to them is in danger. That's one of the reasons why so many people will say they support them, even in supposedly 'anonymous' surveys - they've seen what happens. There is a growing voice of dissent though; hopefully that can continue to grow.

Hamas are pure evil and a threat to decency, democracy and human rights everywhere,

Reality of Hamas is they don't give a fuck about Israelis which is very obvious, but they also don't give a fuck about the very small minority of Gazans who oppose them. 👇

Is this correct?

That men in gaza would rather due than let hamas be beaten? I hope its not.

https://x.com/neveragainlive1/status/1790235523086254400

Because quite a few of them don't want peace, they want Israeli surrender...and all that entails.

Why arent the protestors screaming for this to happen?

The UK was a collection of small hamlets, villages and towns and it's changed massively been invaded often but ancesters of Cornwall don't slaughter ancesters of Devon. I mean they need their heads banging together but hatred goes on and on and on and on. If it wasn't so tragic I'd call it pathetic.

Palestine was Philistia, not occupied by the "tribes of Israel". Not getting into the rest of it - living somewhere doesn't imply exclusive occupation, and the shifting politics of Middle Eastern tribal activities can only be (partially) traced through cross-referencing available ancient artefacts with the documented mythologies.

Just wanted to point out that your statement doesn't mean quite what you seem to have intended.

Yet to see the pro Palestine flag waving you'd think people from Judea never lived in the area.

Jews have always lived in the areas now called Israel and Palestine. Well, in between all the historical events (pogroms, genocide, exile) where others tried to force them out, that is.

Israel is surrounded by enemies: true. This is why it has the world's most sophisticated defence systems: reasonable. Israel maintains a constant state of readiness: sensible.

On October 7th, the Israeli defence system failed. The failure was reportedly due to sexism (the early warnings came from female observers). Whatever the cause, Israel's readiness failed at that moment and they need to fix the weakness. Approx 1,300 Israelis died as a result.

The Middle East still believes deeply in "an eye for an eye" so, disregarding my own feelings about that, it would've been reasonable by prevailing standards to retaliate at the cost of 1,300 Gazan lives.

Current estimates are 38,000 Palestinians dead, and more every day: excessive, to say the least.

I am not justifying Hamas or its supporters. Palestine and Israel are both being ridiculous. Muslim martyrs are being created. A freshly traumatised generation of survivors will perpetuate the hatred. Annihilating Palestine may satisfy Israel's desire to colonise that territory but, by then, the rest of the Muslim world would be sufficiently motivated to re-escalate this literally Biblical war. And Hamas would continue to exist.

I don't know what the hell Israel's thinking. Its amazing defence system couldn't withstand a full-on attack by massed Muslim resources. The rest of the world is desperately trying to prevent that; the repercussions would affect us all for a long time.

The best defence against Hamas was to keep them out of Israel ... which they were doing. I just hope that all the diplomatic efforts will succeed 😢

Well, yes and no

Originally, without a 'Jewish state', there just hatred of the Jews, due to historical belief of some

Then when a Jewish state was formed, and other ME countries saw their people if you like displaced, turfed out, made homeless, it developed into a hatred of the actual state of Israel.

So one might say, the second position has more logic behind it. People lost their lands, businesses, family connections etc etc. Its legitimate to be angry about that, and then the later actions which were or were seen as landgrabs

Israel would of course say, it was defending itself,, it needed a state of safety given centuries of anti semitism and of course the war (although the state of Israel was a concept from around 1890 I believe)

A massive can of worms that is likely to never end

Well, quite.

im not sure most people in the UK realise how deeply the ME hates Jews and Israel. They want the end of Israel because they hate the Jews.

Of course. Israel knows it is surrounded by 100% hostile territory.