“We are all Hamas!” a Palestinian colleague told me the day before yesterday. We “stole” their land and they will always blame Israel for that. But as long as things are quiet and they can make money from the “thieves,” everything will be swept under the rug. But in times like these, we’re at a loss – the Palestinians are Hamas and we have no idea who we can trust anymore. Are there any partners for peace left?
The day before yesterday, Marwan came to us from the Old City of Jerusalem to pick up something from our editorial office. I have known Marwan for over 20 years. He is Palestinian and Muslim. We have been buying products like leather sandals from him for years. He is one of several merchants we work with in the eastern part of Jerusalem. Personally, I have less contact with him, but when he came by to deliver the new orders, we would often sit down for coffee. I remember our previous conversations. We were always careful not to stray into political corners. But this time there was a blow up. My colleague Olga was there and also my eldest son, who was in the editorial office for a few hours and then had to go back on reserve duty.
I asked Marwan as soon as he entered the office how he and his family were doing in the Old City. “Everything is fine, hopefully the war will be over soon and there will be peace again.”
No, I told Marwan, it won’t be so quick this time. Until all Hamas terrorists and their supporters are destroyed, the war will continue.
“Why? Wars are bad and a lot of innocent people die,” he said.
“Marwan, this time we are ending Hamas. Have you seen the Hamas terrorists raping and slaughtering our women and daughters?”
“No,” he told to me. “I haven’t seen any photos or films. I don’t believe you, either! What you are doing in Gaza is even worse. You’re killing lots of children.”
“But Marwan, do you see no difference between the deliberate slaughter, torture and rape of innocent people, and the Palestinian civilians who are dying in the Gaza Strip because Hamas uses them as human shields?”
“No, these are all lies. I do not believe that. You are killing our children in Gaza! What you are doing is terror.”
When my son in the other room heard this, he immediately spoke up.
“We don’t kill children. Hamas is holding people back and hiding behind families,” my son said angrily, and as an officer, he knows a little more about what is happening on the ground in the Gaza Strip. He’s been down there for two months. “You are all Hamas and we were the fools. But now it’s time to clean house. It can’t go on like this. We will destroy Hamas and no one will stand in our way,” my son said loud and clear.
It got louder between us. There was simply no point in explaining to Marwan the video clips we had seen on October 7th. For Marwan, as probably for the majority of Palestinians, the Palestinian Nazi massacre is an Israeli fantasy. Everything I show him is fake from his point of view. I told him to speak to Mansour Abbas, leader of the Arab political party Ra’am, who had seen the horror reel of Hamas clips put together by the IDF. Abbas himself said that the images were horrific, and that what he saw was not human and had nothing to do with Islam. But no, he doesn’t want that. Marwan believes Hamas and not the evidence.
“Yalla, there has to be peace again,” Marwan stressed in an effort to smooth things over. No, we said, Hamas must be destroyed. Peace has to be put on the shelf for now. And the Old City of Jerusalem will remain empty for now, because tourists avoid the Holy Land in times of war.
“Zero business for you Marwan,” I told him. “Believe me, Marwan, we are doing you a favor by driving out Hamas. You want peace, right? But Hamas doesn’t want peace, Hamas wants to destroy Israel.”
And what did dear Marwan suddenly say to us?
“We are all Hamas. The majority of Palestinians are Hamas, 70 percent.”
“What? Hamas? You always told us you are Fatah. Now are you Hamas? Okay Marwan, then you can also go to Gaza and live with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.”
But no, he was born in Jerusalem and this land belongs to him, he said. “In 1948, you stole our country,” insisted Marwan angrily.
Stolen or not, this afternoon we once again understood that we do not have a partner with whom we can truly make peace. We worked with Marwan for 20 years, and now he is voting for Hamas. My son started to get angry and said to me, “Save your time, there’s no point anyway. They just want our money, that’s all.” The Palestinians are simply doing too well in the Middle East, especially those who live in Israel. They enjoy freedom and democracy and constantly complain.
“You know what?” I said to Marwan, “the Syrian leader slaughtered more than 500,000 of his own people in the Syrian civil war. This is the Arab world in which we all live. In all the wars that Israel has fought in the last 75 years, less than 100,000 people have died, on the Arab and Israeli sides combined. And do you know why? Because we are too nice to our Arab enemies.”
And then he started again and complained that we were killing Palestinians in Gaza. Always the same mantra.
“As far as I’m concerned, you can think and believe whatever you want. If you care about Hamas, I suggest you say goodbye to Hamas in Gaza now.”
Then we said goodbye and shook hands. Marwan surprised us all. My son less so. These fifteen minutes at the entrance to our editorial office made me think again about who we can really trust. Hamas is in the hearts of the Palestinian majority and that is a fact that we must digest. In calm times, Palestinians tell us what we want to hear, and in bad times they tell us the truth to our faces. We must not forget this, and Israel must take this into account in order to rethink our policies.
Finally, I have to admit that not everyone is like Marwan, not everyone has Hamas in their hearts. Arabs, Bedouins and Druze serve shoulder-to-shoulder with us in the Israel Defense Forces and are very good and dedicated soldiers and fighters. That keeps hope alive.
I think Marwan is right. The Palestinians are Hamas, PLO, Islamic Jihad, or whatever the jihadists decide to call themselves to destroy the infidel. They are resurgent Canaanites, Amalekites who will never accept divine judgement. They reject being images of God and prefer to create their own mythical imagery to model themselves on, as pagans have done since Babel. Mythical imagery continues to mesmerise mankind and console his fallen heart through science fiction, TV, films and console games etc. Mankind prefer to be scattered in the imagination of their hearts rather than bow the knee to their Maker.
Arabs are largely ethnic Jordanian, Egyptian and Syrian. Palestinianism, in all its forms, particularly targets Israel. It’s primarily a political identity that is committed to the destruction of Israel, that has worldwide support. Mollycoddle it at your peril.
Aviel, your comments remind me of Psalm 120:
“What can be given to you, and what more can be done to you, O deceitful tongue?— sharp arrows of the mighty, with burning coals of a broom tree! Woe to me, for I sojourn in Meshech, for I dwell among the tents of Kedar! My soul has too long dwelt with those who hate shalom. I am for shalom and thus I speak, but they are for war!”
We cry out to God in this trouble as humanly it seems impossible to change minds and hearts.
With man the situation of the Palestinians is hopeless, But HaShem, can break through the hardest of hearts and bring the truth of HaShem and his Meshiach to them. So continue to pray for the Palestinians to be able to break their chains of Islam !
And now we see once again why G-d told the Israelites to kill them all, every last one of them. The sins of the canaanites was full and they were not all destroyed. So, now, just like Avraham and his folly with Hagar there will be a ugly thorn to deal with until messiah come.
In Ezekiel 38 and 39, the Lord allows one sixth of those who come to destroy Israel to survive for one purpose, to go home and report what they saw. What they see will be the end of Islam as the people will see the truth is not in Islam. They will see the truth in the God of Israel and worship Him.
What Hamas did, was to start the end of Islam. Iran and Russia will bring about the finish. What has been written by the hand of the prophets, is, coming to pass and as Jesus said, “this generation will not pass till all these things come to pass.” What generation? you may ask, the generation born when Israel became a nation in one day on May 14, 1948.
Marwan spoke his heart and truthfully saying “We are all Hamas.” The destruction of Israel as a nation and a final Holocaust for the Jews is the only goal; utter and complete annihilation. Nothing less.
However, Marwan and his peers are overlooking…. HaShem, the LORD G_D Almighty and HIS unconditional covenant with Israel. Touch the Apple of HIS Eye and: Beware, as HE will curse the one who curses Israel.