Hamas does not represent me

Writing these words from a bombed out building in Gaza could cost ABDULLAH his life. But he wants Israelis to understand that many Palestinians do not support Hamas.

First, I want to make clear where I stand on the October 7 terror attack. The killing and kidnapping of children and the elderly, and of young people who were celebrating at a party, doesn't represent us at all. Nothing has hurt us, distorted our cause or damaged our just demands more than this terror attack.

Moreover, long before October 7, Hamas stopped representing me and many others like me.

Hamas is an oppressive ideological religious organisation that steals our freedom, enslaves us, abducts us at gunpoint and suppresses any voice that opposes it.

Hamas rejects the idea of the civilian state, which it sees as a desecration of everything holy and a violation of sharia law. It's a religious, totalitarian, tyrannical government that restricts freedom of expression. It's an exact copy of the Iranian regime.

Hamas is not a liberation movement. A liberation movement aspires to freedom and doesn't employ tyranny and oppression…

The problem is that Hamas is the snake that grew up in Israel's embrace. Israel did nothing when Hamas seized control of Gaza, though it could have easily intervened…

In Israel too there are people filled with hatred and racism who are hostile to the most basic human values such as freedom, equality, justice and democracy. And they use religion to ignite wars and profit from them.

The big difference is that in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar is a full-fledged despot. He controls everything and no one can oppose him. On your side, at least, there are still people who can rein in the extremists.

It's true that the Palestinians in general refuse to see the differences and diversity of Israeli society. But Israeli society, in turn, refuses to see Palestinian pluralism. Israel doesn't distinguish between the organisation that's fighting it and the people...

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Writing these words in Gaza could cost me my life (Haaretz)

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