Why Do Liberals Unwittingly Support Hamas?
The hard left’s support for Hamas is understandable. They have long embraced a double standard by which the oppressed cannot be held responsible for their violent behaviors. They remain silent on the black-on-black murders that result in 10,000 homicides annually or on the periodic massacres of Israelis perpetrated by Palestinians over the last decade, whether suicide bombings of civilians or Hamas’s October 7th onslaught.
There is also a political rationale: Hamas is the only Palestinian organization that could possibility bring about the one-state solution that they desire. If it is neutered by this war, Israel’s survival is guaranteed.
More moderate liberals do not seek the abolishment of Israel; just fairness to Palestinians and a two-state solution. However, like many liberal organs, Commonweal called for a permanent ceasefire in December, implicitly accepting that Hamas would continue to rule Gaza, making a two-state solution impossible. Their rationale was that an Israeli military victory was impossible so why continue with needless death and destruction.
These organizations do not use the same analysis when it comes to the Ukrainian war. In a subsequent editorial, Commonweal pointed out that military experts believe “Zelensky’s goal of reestablishing the country’s 2014 borders have become unattainable.” However, like other liberal organs, there is no call for a ceasefire and instead a claim: “Ukraine deserves our continued support.”
Even more telling, while all liberal groups condemned Hamas’s actions on October 7th, they remain silent on its abuses in running Gaza for the previous 18 years: Sharia policies with respect to women, no independent judiciary, brutalization of dissidents, using the education system to promote martyrdom in the service of Israel’s destruction, and massive use of manpower and resources to build a tunnel system which it refused to use to safeguard Gazans. Just recently, the NYTimes reported on the Hamas system of surveillance on over 10,000 Gazans which recalled the actions of the Stasi, the brutal East German security forces.
Sam Harris’ latest criticism of Islam discussed why liberals have accommodated to Islamic violence and misogynist excesses. The fatwa on Solomon Rushdie, the killing of journalists that demeaned the prophet Mohamed, the actions of ISIS or the Islamic Brotherhood’s assault on the Egyptian Coptic community no longer are met with outrage. Nor are the attacks on women, in Afghanistan, in Iran, in Sudan and elsewhere. To attack the extreme patriarchy that has led to genital mutilation, honor killings, and severe restrictions on the movement of women is met with claims of Islamophobia so liberals remain silent.
Liberals have also been led to believe that whatever military excesses Hamas has committed, it pales when compared to Israel’s brutal response and the ongoing Palestinian oppression. Commonweal had a recent article claiming Israel is maltreating Christian women. The recent halving of the number of women and children killed or the analysis of respectable military analysts that Israel has had far more difficulty in avoiding civilian deaths than any other urban warfare should undermine any notion that Israel is engaged in genocidal efforts.
Evidence concerning Arabs in Israel should also undermine any claims they are living in an apartheid society. In particular, Arab citizens, except for supporters of the nationalist Balad party have drawn closer to the state since October 7th and decisively believe that Hamas not the IDF is solely responsible for civilian casualties in Gaza. As to Palestinians living in East Jerusalem, reforms over the last decade have led more of them to choose Israeli citizenship over becoming citizens in a Palestinian state.
Recent evidence refutes Commonweal’s claims concerning Israeli Christians: over 80 percent are satisfied with their lives. This positive view reflects the general experience of Christian Arab women: 53% go on to college, compared to 35% of Muslim women and 47% of Jewish women. They have attained important positions including the new head of University of Haifa, Mouna Maroun who said, “It is a message for the Christian minority that we are rooted here, that we can succeed here.” Moreover, Christians are the most sympathetic to Israel war effort: more than three times as many held Hamas solely responsible for the civilian casualties in Gaza than the IDF.
None of this justifies many of the recent actions by the fascists that Netanyahu not only allowed into his ruling coalition but gave them administrative power over Arab and Palestinian populations both within Israel and in the West Bank. Their harsh retaliation to real and imagined Palestinian actions against West Bank Jewish settlers are inexcusable; and their police actions within Israel are also deeply problematic. Indeed, I fear that this behavior will undermine the goodwill Arab citizens have expressed during these troubling times. However, none of this justifies the willingness of liberals to give Hamas a pass on its behavior in the name of furthering the wellbeing of Gazans.
