Hamas’ lethal weapon: The combination of racism and antisemitism

Someone who knows nothing about the Israel-Arab conflict would be horrified at the news that Palestinian authorities in Gaza were sending tens of thousands of civilians, men, women, and children, to engage in provocative activities and risk their lives at the border with Israel. But for people who know the conflict, this not surprising.

It is simply one more episode where cynical Arab terrorists exploit a powerful combination of anti-Arab racism and anti-Jewish bigotry. Anti-Arab racism leads world media and world leaders to see Arab actions as ordinary, no matter how criminal and appalling. Anti-Jewish bigotry leads the same people to magnify and distort any action by Israel, no matter how justified and cautious.

As Israeli political commentator Caroline Glick predicted, the Palestinian march from Gaza towards Israel was an attempt by Hamas to use the western media, and the media went along. She wrote, “It [Hamas] is setting its people up to die because it expects their deaths to be captured live by the cameras of the Western media, which will be on hand to watch the spectacle”, and of course that is exactly what happened.

But this despicable strategy would not have succeeded if the western media and Western politicians were not driven by racism of low expectations and antisemitism.

A United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting was urgently called to condemn Israel’s response to the mobs marching towards its borders. The only factor that prevented a one-sided Hamas-dictated resolution against Israel was a US veto. No meeting was called to discuss Hamas’ criminal exploitation of its own civilians.

Hamas claims that the purpose of the march is to take back Palestinian land and homes supposedly stolen from the Palestinians. Assuming for a moment that the claim is true, imagine the reverse situation.

We know, as reported in The Guardian for example, that while the Israel-Arab conflict generated 711,000 Palestinian refugees, it also generated 856,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands.

Imagine if tens of thousands of Jews marched towards the borders with Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, or Egypt to demand their lands and homes back. What would happen?

Does anyone believe that Arab armies would use only a limited amount of live ammunition against civilians? Does anyone believe that over 99.9% of the marchers would still be alive after the march? And does anyone believe that an urgent UNSC meeting would be called to denounce the Arab states?

A yes answer to any of these questions is extremely unlikely despite the fact that the answer is a resounding yes in the reverse situation where Palestinians are the aggressors and Israel is defending its border.

Luckily for Hamas and their international allies and appeasers, these questions will never be tested because what we know for certain is that this imaginary situation would never occur. Israel, unlike Hamas, Hezbullah, Fatah, and other anti-Israel terrorist groups, would never put the lives of its people in danger or even allow for it to happen, whether it risked condemnation as a result of it or not.

Thanks to the powerful mix of racism and antisemitism, Hamas’ strategy of killing Palestinians for PR points succeeded yet again, just as it succeeded in the three Hamas wars against Israel, and just as it succeeded for Hezbullah in its war against Israel, for Fatah’s two Intifadas, and for many other terrorist attacks on Israel.

But it will not stop here. Palestinians will continue to die.

Until the world media and the world’s politicians stop being the willing allies of Palestinian terrorists and stop playing their game, Palestinians will continue to die and Israel will continue to be blamed for defending itself, to the satisfaction of racists and antisemites everywhere.