Gaza’s Protest: Rights over Narratives

The protest against Hamas in Gaza is a moving display of courage and a powerful humanist voice: they simultaneously call for an end to the war and for the removal of Hamas—a tyrannical terrorist organization—from power in Gaza. Beyond that, these protests serve as a kind of litmus test to expose distorted moral frameworks: they shatter both the simplistic anti-Israel narrative and the simplistic anti-Palestinian narrative. They force us to examine who is truly pro-Palestinian (supporting the Palestinians as a collective of human beings deserving of human rights, including collective rights), and who is merely anti-Israel; and likewise, who is truly pro-Israeli (supporting rights and security for Israelis), and who is merely anti-Palestinian. That is why these protests carry deep symbolic significance for any hopeful future in our region.

We would expect human rights organizations and progressive actors to praise these protests—Palestinians in Gaza demanding an end to the horrors inflicted on them by Israel but also an end to the tyrannical rule of Hamas, to extremism, and to Hamas’s horrific attacks on Israeli civilians that plunge the region into a cycle of bloodshed. And yet, from many progressive circles in the West, we hear near-total silence about the protests and the crackdown they are facing. At times we even hear suspicion about their authenticity or moral validity: as if these protesters are aiding the Israeli narrative, manipulated by foreign actors, or outright traitors. Why is that the case?

The simplistic pro-Palestinian narrative that has taken root in many progressive circles in the West seeks to portray the Palestinian collective as uniformly oppressed and the Israeli collective as uniformly oppressive. But the protesters in Gaza have more in common with Israeli protesters calling for an end to the war, the return of the hostages, and even—beyond that—peace. Meanwhile, Hamas, the supposed symbol of resistance to Israeli oppression in this simplistic narrative, is here exposed as a repressive force that many Gazans are bravely standing up against. That is why these protests pose such a threat to that narrative, even though they are far from pro-Israel; in fact, they greatly advance the cause of Palestinian rights.

The protests against Hamas also shatter the destructive narrative prevalent in Israel and in many pro-Israel circles in the West, which holds that all Gazans are Hamas—or at least, that the vast majority are. Here we see masses of Gazans rising up against Hamas, and it is likely just the tip of the iceberg of those willing to risk their lives under Hamas’s brutal repression, with many more silently supporting them. These protests also offer a pathway to dismantling Hamas’s rule not through perpetual Israeli occupation or continued destruction of Gaza and its people, but by strengthening the many determined and courageous anti-Hamas forces within Gaza itself. We share a community of interests with them. That is why these protests are also having ripple effects on public consciousness within Israel: as they grow, they counteract trends of dehumanizing Gazans and bolster those advocating for a fair and humane solution in the region.

These protests pose the greatest challenge to those who claim that only military force and suppression of Palestinians can ensure Israel’s security. Some may rush to argue that it is only the widespread destruction and killing wrought by Israel in Gaza that sparked these protests, but even they must reckon with the fact that this is not the only scenario in which opposition to Hamas can arise. In any case, this is a narrow window of opportunity: if we offer these people nothing but more destruction, their anger toward Israel will gradually outweigh their anger toward Hamas. After all, the current anger in Lebanon toward Hezbollah—which is translating into moves to disarm it—has been made possible in part by the fact that Israel is offering Lebanon a formula of sovereignty and freedom in exchange for dismantling the threat posed by an armed Iranian proxy on its borders. A similar dynamic could emerge in the case of Gaza. Recognizing these protests as a crucial opportunity could become the strongest catalyst for pushing Israel to pursue a just solution rather than continuing down the path of destruction and violence.

For all these reasons, the protests against Hamas in Gaza are an event of strategic significance: they expose who truly supports rights for both peoples living here—as part of the universal human rights ideal—and who is mainly interested in demonizing the other side. They also present an opportunity for the progressive and human rights fields to engage in self-reflection and reconsider which narratives they promote and the values underlying them. It is essential for the public in these circles to demand accountability from human rights organizations and progressive institutions regarding their stance on these protests and their near-total silence in the face of their repression.