Video Of The Week - Hamas' March of Return in numbers!! - http://tinyurl.com/y4wxely9
From the Times Of Israel by Joshua Bloch
Gazans have spent 12 years under a tyrannical regime that spends
its vast sums on arms rather than food for its people
Those who follow events in the Middle East are
no stranger to the weekly riots on the Gaza-Israeli border, but there are other
protests going on you probably haven’t heard much about. Why? Because Hamas
doesn’t want you to know.
While the so-called “March of Return” riots
have taken place with much public fanfare every Friday for nearly a year since
March 30, 2018, Hamas has used violence and intimidation to stifle any internal
dissent within the coastal enclave.
The ongoing civil
rights protests – held under the banner “We Want to Live!” – are the biggest
demonstrations yet against Hamas’s 12-year rule. The brutal crackdown saw
activists beaten and crowds dispersed with live ammunition. Dozens of
journalists have been arrested and prevented from photographing the events. In
an act of ultimate despair, a 32-year-old demonstrator set himself on fire.
“Our sons and
daughters have lost 12 years of their lives. For what? Each son of a Hamas
official owns an apartment, a car, a jeep, a building…While our sons have
nothing at all,” an enraged Palestinian woman said in a video posted
to social media last week.
In 2007, twelve years ago, Hamas launched a
brutal coup against Fatah, the main Palestinian faction in the West Bank. Since
consolidating power in Gaza, the terror group has imposed its draconian rule on
the population, built a formidable weapons arsenal, dug and equipped several
dozens of attack tunnels, and launched three wars against Israel.
Unfortunately for ordinary Gazans seeking basic
rights, their protests have yet to draw the same media attention as the weekly
Hamas-orchestrated riots.
When Israel pulled
out of Gaza in 2005, it was viewed as an opportunity for the Palestinians to
create a thriving enclave free of occupation. International donors paid
millions to preserve the greenhouses that Israeli residents of Gaza had built
to sustain an agricultural industry. But as Jeffrey Goldberg wrote in the Atlantic, “The
greenhouses were soon looted and destroyed, serving, until today, as a perfect
metaphor for Gaza’s wasted opportunity.”
Unemployment in Gaza is now over 50 percent,
which rises to 60 percent for its youth. And Gaza’s $1,800 per capita annual
income ranks among the lowest in the world.
The reason for that is not the lawful Israeli
blockade to impede the terror organization’s ability to acquire all the arms it
needs to threaten the Jewish state. Rather, it is a direct consequence of Hamas
sacrificing desperately needed civilian resources on the altar of its military
aims.
The costs of
building a military infrastructure to threaten Israel are significant. Each
Hamas tunnel reportedly cost $1 million and takes years to build,
eating up tons of concrete desperately needed for civilian housing. To make
matters worse, as the irate woman in the video said, the leaders of Hamas may
not provide for their constituents, but they have been taking very good care of
their own families.
While the majority
of people in Gaza live close to or below the poverty line, Forbes ranked Hamas in 2018 as the world’s third wealthiest
terror organization with an estimated annual income of $700 million. The group
is so absurdly rich that only two organizations outrank them, Hezbollah and the
Taliban. In the meantime, the average Gazan is left with little of his or her
own.
Twelve years have
been lost to Hamas tyranny in Gaza. They have been lost to the terror group’s
voracious desire to destroy Israel and equally strong desire to enrich
themselves at the cost of the life and health of the local population.
Regrettably, much of the world has nevertheless found it easier to blame Israel
for the chaos. For Gaza to thrive, Hamas must be defeated and removed from
power.
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