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mariacallous · 1 month ago

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As the northern Indian region of Jammu and Kashmir heads to the polls for its first regional-level elections in nearly a decade, voters and candidates alike are still feeling the political hangover from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2019 decision to revoke the region’s special autonomous status.

In August 2019, the Indian government scrapped Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, reducing the former state of Jammu and Kashmir to two union territories—Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh—and bringing them under the direct control of New Delhi. The decision, a watershed in the region’s troubled history, sparked outrage. It also marked a shift in how India intended to govern Kashmir, which remains disputed territory with Pakistan.

Even as Jammu and Kashmir gears up to announce the winner of its legislative elections on Oct. 8, the local government will wield limited powers, constrained by a series of laws passed since 2019 that have reinforced the central government’s control over the region. Though the newly formed Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly will have power to make some laws, the region will be headed still by a New Delhi-appointed governor, who wields substantial authority over public order, police, bureaucracy, anti-corruption measures, and financial matters.

The region, particularly the Kashmir Valley, has witnessed decades of violence since the 1988 insurgency that drew India and Pakistan into three wars. Since it came to power in 2014, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asserted that its policies have brought development and democracy to Kashmir. However, people in the region have generally expressed anger over Modi’s revocation of Article 370, which consolidated power in the hands of nonlocals.

Meanwhile, other regional parties in Kashmir—including separatist groups such as Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir (JeI), Tehreek-e-Hurriyat, and the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front—have been banned or marginalized and many of their leaders imprisoned. The remaining dissidents in Kashmir have either changed their stance or stayed quiet out of fear of repression. Kashmiris are thus using this election season as an outlet for expressing frustration and anger by supporting local political parties or non-BJP candidates.

To New Delhi, the elections represent a chance to signal that Kashmir has moved on from its long-standing demands for azadi, or freedom, and has instead flourished in the post-2019 environment. However, many separatist groups or individuals who previously boycotted elections, including some backed by the banned JeI, are now participating. Meanwhile, mainstream Kashmiri politicians are positioning themselves as the last line of defense against what they perceive as the BJP’s attempts to reshape the region’s political dynamics, urging voters to reject Modi’s narrative and promising to restore Kashmir’s autonomy.

Kashmir kick-started its phased elections on Sept. 18, with the second round of voting taking place on Sept. 25. The third and final round of voting will take place on Oct. 1, before results are announced a week later.

There are a total of 90 seats up for grabs, but with more than 300 independent candidates out of 873 in the race, it has become one of the most unpredictable elections in Kashmir’s history. The BJP has set a goal of winning at least 30-35 of 43 seats in Jammu, while it is contesting 19 of the 47 seats in the Kashmir Valley, a Muslim-majority region where it has traditionally struggled to gain traction.

Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, has emerged as another key figure. Rashid represents the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) and is a two-time lawmaker from northern Kashmir who contested and won a seat in India’s parliament in June, defeating prominent figures such as former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah of the National Conference party and Sajad Lone, the leader of the People’s Conference party.

Rashid’s victory by a margin of more than 200,000 votes marked a shift in the region’s politics—signaling anger toward the politicians who had failed to safeguard Kashmir’s autonomy or bring about meaningful changes in their decades of rule. In the last year, Rashid’s AIP has gained traction and positioned itself as a formidable player in the regional elections. While campaigning on behalf of AIP candidates, Rashid has vehemently targeted Abdullah’s and Lone’s parties, accusing them of ganging up against him.

Rashid, who was arrested in 2019 on terrorism funding charges under India’s draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, was recently released on interim bail. At a campaign rally in Baramulla, a town in northern Kashmir, on Sept. 13, he spoke to an energized crowd.

“[Modi’s] naya [new] Kashmir was [meant] to kill, arrest, harass, and humiliate people,” he told the gathering. “Kashmiris don’t like to throw stones, but that doesn’t mean we will surrender before your power,” he added, while his supporters cheered him on.

Rashid has promised the reinstatement of Kashmir’s autonomy, the release of all political prisoners, and the repeal of controversial laws such as the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act. The campaign offers a platform that appeals to people, especially the youth, who feel that their voices have been stifled since 2019. But many of Rashid’s opponents—including Abdullah and Lone, as well as Mehbooba Mufti, another former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir—have accused him of being an agent of the BJP.

The BJP has also been accused of supporting other political parties and independent candidates, further complicating the region’s political landscape. Another such example is JeI—which remains banned under the country’s anti-terrorism law. Though most of its leaders remain imprisoned and its assets seized, it is trying to make a comeback in this year’s elections and has demanded the suspension of its ban.

Abdullah, who was Jammu and Kashmir’s chief minister from 2009 to 2015, has voiced concerns over the proliferation of independent candidates and accused the BJP of using them to dilute the opposition’s vote. “Independent candidates are being deliberately fielded to create confusion and divide votes in critical constituencies,” he said at a recent rally. “The BJP is leaving its options open. … Voters need to be cautious. Fragmented votes will only serve to help those who do not have Jammu and Kashmir’s best interests at heart.”

To bolster its chances and stave off a BJP victory in Kashmir, the National Conference has formed an alliance with Rahul Gandhi, India’s opposition leader from the Indian National Congress party. Yet the Gandhi-Abdullah alliance’s promises to restore the region’s autonomy are viewed skeptically, even by their own supporters. New Delhi has made it abundantly clear that Article 370 will never be reinstated.

Mufti, the leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and who was chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2016 to 2018, has also thrown her hat in the ring. After the 2014 elections, the PDP formed an alliance with the BJP—which has cost it support—but since 2019, the PDP has been the strongest opponent of the BJP and its policies in Kashmir. On Sept. 25, Mufti told a gathering: “Jammu and Kashmir will never have a BJP government. There will be a secular government. … PDP will be an important factor.”

Mufti’s party has also pledged to bring back statehood, revoke detention laws, and release prisoners, among other promises. Meanwhile, the BJP has continued to target both Abdullah and Mufti as “dynasts” who have kept Kashmir mired in conflict.

Though the debate over Kashmir’s autonomy has taken center stage among candidates, voters across polling stations in Kashmir are also concerned about their daily cost of living and issues such as high unemployment, increased electricity costs, limited infrastructure, and continuous detentions and police verifications.

The current political climate in Kashmir harks back to the 1970s, when Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, then the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, pledged to safeguard the region’s autonomy while New Delhi’s Janata Party—a precursor to today’s BJP—led by Morarji Desai, tried to block his return to power.

Similar to the 1977 regional elections, today’s promises of autonomy now ring hollow to many residents, as successive governments have failed to preserve Kashmir’s special status. Kashmiris feel that elections have historically served as a tool to dilute their aspirations rather than fulfilling them. Manzoor Ahmad, a 49-year-old from Srinagar, voted for the first time this year. “I voted for a greater good,” he said. “We are facing lots of problems as we have been crushed. We want a local party to win to stop this.”

No matter who wins the elections, however, the new government is likely to be weak with limited powers, overshadowed by the New Delhi-appointed governor. The elections have thus become a ballot on the region’s lack of autonomy—and by extension, a test of how voters view Modi’s government.

“These election rallies have the same nomenclature as that of protest rallies in the past,” said Waheed Parra, a PDP candidate from southern Kashmir. “I see people, mostly youth, in campaigns, and it is visible they are angry. They want space to be expressed and be heard. Nobody has listened to them in the past five years.” Parra warned that if the mandate of these elections is not respected by New Delhi, the situation on the ground could turn dangerous.

The undercurrents may already exist. It appears not everyone in Kashmir is excited about the elections. Compared with the 2014 regional elections, some parts of the valley have either witnessed low voter turnout or only a slight increment. In Srinagar, for example, which is the summer capital, turnout in the second phase of voting was low, at just under 30 percent.

New Delhi has invited a delegation of 15 diplomats from foreign countries, including the United States, to observe the local elections, though many of the BJP’s opponents, including Abdullah, have questioned the visit.

Kashmir’s political future may still be fragile, but its path is being steadily reshaped by forces both old and new. As the elections progress, one thing is evident: New Delhi’s attempts to suppress dissent and tighten its grip on Kashmir over the last five years have inadvertently reignited the region’s political landscape, bringing back to the stage individuals and groups who once led mass protests and called for election boycotts. Simultaneously, the fear of continued repression has prompted many to vote, in a bid to see some change—even as the region’s underlying tensions remain unresolved.

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tieflingkisser · 7 months ago

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Colonists set fire to agricultural room near Salfit

SALFIT, Sunday, April 14, 2024 (WAFA) - Colonists Sunday burned an agricultural room in the town of Kafr al-Dik, west of Salfit, local sources confirmed. The sources told WAFA that the colonists raided an agricultural room owned by local resident Jihad Abdullah Al-Deek, in the Dahr Sobh area, north of the town, and burned it.

Palestinian man assaulted by colonists near Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM, Sunday, April 14, 2024 (WAFA) – A Palestinian man named Alaa Omar Abu Ghalioun, 42, suffered bruises and wounds after colonists assaulted him in the town of Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem. Activist Ahmed Salah told WAFA correspondent that a group of colonists, under the protection of the occupation forces, severely beat Abu Ghalioun while he was in his land in Batin Al-Maasi area, south of the town, leaving him with bruises and bleeding wounds. He was subsequently transferred to Beit Jala Governmental Hospital to receive treatment.

Israeli colonists, backed by Israeli forces, storm two sites in Hebron's Masafer Yatta

HEBRON, Sunday, April 14, 2024 (WAFA) – Israeli colonists, backed by Israeli forces, stormed two sites in the Mafaser Yatta area, south of Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank, according to local sources. Sources said that dozens of colonists broke into the archaeological site in the Tel Ma'in and prevented Palestinian residents’ access to the area. The colonists, under the protection of Israeli forces, also stormed the Jawaya area in Masafer Yatta, where they chased after shepherds and stole a vehicle belonging to one of the residents.

Israeli colonists establish a new outpost north of Jericho City

JERICHO, Sunday, April 14, 2024 (WAFA) – Israeli colonists established today a new colonial outpost near al-Auja Spring, north of the city of Jericho, according to a local activist. Ayman Gharib, an activist with the Popular Resistance Committees in the Jordan Valley, told WAFA that materials, fodder and a tent were transported to the new outpost near the Ras al-Auja population center, where colonists earlier this month set fire to four homes belonging to Palestinians in the area. He pointed out that the colonist in charge of this new outpost had previously carried out many attacks against citizens in the al-Ma'rajat community, in Jericho.

#palestine #free palestine #news

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todayworldnews2k21 · 22 days ago

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Dastardly...Cowardly: Amit Shah, Omar Abdullah Condemn Terror Attack In J&Ks Ganderbal

J&K Terror Attack: At least seven people were killed after terrorists struck a tunnel-construction site on the Srinagar-Leh national highway in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ganderbal district on Sunday, officials said. The victims who lost their lives in the attack include a doctor and six labourers The terrorists who carried out the attack are yet to be identified. The attack took place when the…

#Amit Shah #J&k news #J&K Terror Attack #Jammu and Kashmir #Omar Abdullah

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rightnewshindi · 3 months ago

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Omar Abdullah; उमर अब्दुल्ला नहीं लड़ेंगे विधानसभा चुनाव, फारूक अब्दुल्ला ने की घोषणा; जानें क्यों

Omar Abdullah: नेशनल कांफ्रेंस के प्रमुख फारूक अब्दुल्ला ने शुक्रवार को जम्मू-कश्मीर विधानसभा चुनाव में अपनी उम्मीदवारी की घोषणा की। उन्होंने बताया कि उनके बेटे और पार्टी के उपाध्यक्ष उमर अब्दुल्ला इस साल के चुनावों में भाग नहीं लेंगे। फारूक अब्दुल्ला ने कहा कि उमर अब्दुल्ला राज्य के दर्जे की बहाली के बाद चुनावी मैदान में उतरेंगे। फारूक अब्दुल्ला ने पत्रकारों को बताया, “हम राज्य चाहते हैं। यह…

#assembly elections #Farooq Abdullah #jammu kashmir news #not contest #Omar Abdullah

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beardedmrbean · 2 months ago

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As an armed rebellion against Indian rule raged in Kashmir through the 1990s and 2000s, Jamaat-e-Islami, an influential socio-religious group, called for a boycott whenever an election was held, claiming the exercise was aimed at legitimising what it would describe as New Delhi’s occupation of the Himalayan region, which is also claimed in part or full by Pakistan and China.

But as Kashmir votes in the first regional election in a decade starting on Tuesday, the Jamaat has itself entered the political fray, backing at least 10 candidates in the election. It is a remarkable turnaround for a group that remains banned under India’s anti-terror laws and was once regarded as the mothership of the militant Hizbul Mujahideen.

After Narendra Modi’s government altered India’s constitution in 2019 to do away with the symbolic autonomy of the administrative region of Jammu and Kashmir, it cracked down hard on the separatist movement in the region, jailing thousands of people. The Jamaat, having long been at the vanguard of the movement, was a prime target. Schools associated with the group were ordered shut and the properties of many members were seized in an attempt to curtail its reach and operational capabilities.

As recently as February, the Indian government said that the Jamaat was “continuing to be involved in fomenting terrorism and anti-India propaganda for fuelling secessionism in Jammu and Kashmir, which is prejudicial to the sovereignty, security and integrity of India”.

This is what makes the Jamaat’s participation in the election perplexing, and even experts in the region are divided over what it means. Noor Baba, a renowned Kashmiri political scientist, says it could be a tactical move on the part of a minority within the movement – contesting the election as independents in the hope of “protection or rehabilitating themselves after the suffering they have endured”.

The decision to join the fray, he suggests, may not have involved the group’s jailed leadership. As a result of internal divisions in the past, Prof Baba says, the Jamaat has suffered at the hands of both the Indian authorities as well as the militants. Similar divisions may have cracked open again.

“There are many questions,” he tells The Independent. “Is the top leadership, which is in jail, on board with this or is it not?”

Another theory is that the decision stems from the Jamaat’s desire to have the anti-terror ban lifted. There have been reports about conversations between the Jamaat and intermediaries of the Indian government such as Altaf Bukhari, head of a local political party.

Ahead of this election, Omar Abdullah, the former chief minister of the former state, had urged the Narendra Modi government to lift the ban on the Jamaat to enable its participation in the assembly election. Mehbooba Mufti, another former chief minister and president of the People’s Democratic Party, said she would be “happy” to see the Jamaat return to the electoral arena.

Indian political analyst Apoorvanand Jha, however, sees a more sinister play at work. He says fielding independent candidates is part of a broader strategy of Modi’s BJP to weaken mainstream political parties such as the National Conference and the Congress and reap the dividend.

“The BJP’s aim is to install a government headed by a Hindu chief minister. That can be achieved by securing as many seats as possible in the Jammu region and fielding as many independents as possible in the valley [of Kashmir], making them win and then taking their support to form the government,” he tells The Independent.

The BJP is seeking to control Kashmir politically by creating chaos, he says. “To achieve that,” he adds, “the BJP can do anything. It can go to any extent, play any game, collaborate with the radicals, collaborate with separatists.”

The Independent has contacted the BJP for comment.

India has long held up Kashmir, its only majority Muslim territory, as a symbol of its secularism. But when the BJP government revoked its autonomy, Kashmiris accused the Hindu nationalist party of trying to change its religious demographic by settling Indians from elsewhere in the region.

Mr Jha says the BJP wants to win the election in order to show its core Hindu base that “see, this is a Muslim-populated area which we have now annexed”.

The candidates backed by the Jamaat maintain that their election participation is about local issues.

“Ideologies work in time and space. We have to be accommodative and flexible,” Talat Majeed, who is contesting the Pulwama constituency, told reporters recently.

Another candidate, Sayar Ahmad Reshi, says their participation in the election is necessary to fill a political vacuum created by regional parties such as the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party.

The Jamaat’s participation seems to have enthused some pro-India factions in Kashmir. “This election is unique in recent times because the banned Jamaat-e-Islami is openly backing and campaigning for independent candidates owing allegiance to it,” Mr Abdullah said in an interview with the Hindustan Times. “This is a huge change from previous elections. Otherwise, ever since I have seen politics here from 1996 onwards, the Jamaat has been at the forefront of trying to stop people from voting.”

Ali Mohammad Watali, a former police chief of Kashmir, isn’t as enthused. The Jamaat was “pro-Pakistan and pro-terrorism”, he was quoted as saying by Frontline magazine. “Now they have changed their stance suddenly. It looks like this is being done by the agencies so that the BJP can form a government here with the help of new political fronts, including the Jamaat-e-Islami.”

“Agencies” is a catch-all term used in Kashmir for the intelligence, security and surveillance apparatus of the Indian state.

The Jamaat candidates have indicated their willingness to form alliances, before or after the election, with any party that works to “restore dignity to the people of Jammu and Kashmir”.

Prof Saddiq Wahid, a senior visiting fellow at the Centre for Policy Research think tank in New Delhi, tells The Independent the BJP’s actions in Jammu and Kashmir since the revocation of its autonomy have been aimed at creating confusion and chaos. “How is Jamaat suddenly into the picture?” he asks.

He fears that the political landscape of Kashmir is being manipulated to dilute local representation and prevent self-governance.

“They do not want the people of Jammu and Kashmir to have a government that will allow them to govern themselves,” he says, referring to the Indian government.

The fundamental question, though, is whether people will trust the candidates backed by the Jamaat, Prof Baba points out. “How many people will vote for them, support them?”

#nunyas news #interesting

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catdotjpeg · 1 year ago

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Dr Omar Hassouna, who moved to Walsall, [England,] said he found out in a phone call from his brother on Tuesday [17 October]. His niece, her husband and their two-month-old baby "instantly died" after a wall fell on them when they were sleeping, he said. Dr Hassouna said his brother "just could not speak" and it was "very, very upsetting". "She was very close to me personally," he added. "I just cried today, so incredibly unbelievable." Dr Hassouna has lived in Walsall for more than 40 years but recently visited Gaza to see his family. He said the current situation was "very frightening" and his family were "not sure whether [they're] going to live tomorrow or not." "These people, they don't know where to go," he added.

-- From "Walsall doctor says relatives killed in bombardment in Gaza" by Shehnaz Khan, Chris Blakemore, and Rakeem Omar for BBC News, 18 Oct 2023.

On 26 October, the Palestinian Ministry of Health released the list of names of Palestinians killed since 7 October. Among them, from the Hassouna family, are:

Najia Abdel Ismail (86);

Nima Ahmed Ahmed (71);

Subha Ibrahim Mustafa (67);

Sharif Atta Ibrahim (61) and his brothers Imad Atta Ibrahim (59) and Bassam Atta Ibrahim (51);

Hani Issa Saeed (59);

Ali Hassan Abdel Rahman (59) and his children Raed Ali Hassan (36), Isra Ali Hassan (34), Alaa Ali Hassan (32), Mumin Ali Hassan (28), and Ibrahim Ali Hassan (25);

Ali's son Hassan Ali Hassan (37) and his children Ahmad Hassan Ali (11), Bara'a Hassan Ali (9), and Joud Hassan Ali (7);

and Ali's son Muhammad Ali Hassan (33) and his sons Ali Muhammad Ali (7) and Yazan Muhammad Ali (5);

Nelly Hamdy Mohamed (52);

Saleh Ali Saleh (50) and his children Muhammad Saleh Ali (27), Nesma Saleh Ali (25), Basma Saleh Ali (21), and Sarah Saleh Ali (15);

and Saleh's son Khalid Saleh Ali (29) and his daughter Nevin Khalid Saleh (1);

Samar Khalil Hussein (48);

Navin Jamil Mahmoud (48);

Samiha Naim Fahmy (44);

Hossam Amin Muneeb (44), his wife, Hala Yasir Faris (36), and their children Ahmad Hossam Amin (12), Aya Hossam Amin (8), and Adam Hossam Amin (3);

Samah Naim Hosni (39);

Rawa Riyad Mustafa (38);

Muhammad Jamal Mustafa (35);

Ayah Basim Faraj (34);

Ilham Khalil Ramadan (34) and their sister Amirah Khalil Ramadan (32);

Hanin Muhammad Ibrahim (33);

Nahil Nasser Muhammad (32);

Rim Nahed Jamal (30);

Abdul Rahman Muhammad Fadl Hamed (27) and his siblings Muhammad Muhammad Fadl Hamed (22), Abdullah Muhammad Fadl Hamed (13), and Hoda Muhammad Fadl Hamed (8);

Shadi Suhail Saeed (27);

Mustafa Mahmoud Khaled (26);

Safaa Nizar Jamil (26);

Ahmed Majdi Ahmed (26);

Ayah Khamis Atta (25);

Rose Ramiz Amin (21) and her sister Maha Ramiz Amin (18);

Abdul Rahman Muhammad Mutee (17);

Lamah Ahmed Mahmoud (13);

Malak Bilal Muhammad (12) and his siblings Muhammad Bilal Muhammad (11) and Sarah Bilal Muhammad (3);

Samer Ahmed Muhammad (10) and his sisters Jana Ahmed Muhammad (8) and Mona Ahmed Muhammad (6);

Muhammad Rami Muhammad Fadl (10) and his siblings Yazan Rami Muhammad Fadl (8), Samar Rami Muhammad Fadl (6), Youssef Rami Muhammad Fadl (5), Abdullah Muhammad Fadl (4), and Sowar Rami Muhammad Fadl (1);

Nour Wissam Amin (9) and her sister Nada Wissam Amin (7);

Sherif Ashraf Sherif (5);

Sobhi Hamdan Sobhi (1);

Adham (41), a freelance journalist and media professor;

Khalid Younis Saleh (33);

and Abdullah Ahmed Salim (32).

You can read more about the human lives lost in Palestine on the Martyrs of Gaza Twitter account and on my blog.

#palestine #martyrs of palestine

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ruminativerabbi · 1 year ago

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Eyeless in Gaza

I was waiting for the elevator in one of our local hospitals when my phone started to vibrate last Tuesday afternoon with the news—reported as simple fact by the Bing-Microsoft news service that funnels breaking events into my personal news feed—that Israel had intentionally blown up a hospital in Gaza and killed 500 hospital staff and patients, including children. Then the elevator came and I got into it. By the time I got out on the ninth floor, the original story had been “confirmed” by the New York Times. So how could it not be true?

Two hours later, the original message was gone—magically withdrawn into thin air—and unretrievable. The original Times banner “Israeli Strike Kills Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinians Say” was also gone, replaced with the slightly (but only slightly) less inflammatory “At Least 500 Dead in Blast at Gaza Hospital, Palestinians Say.” But the damage was done. Not everybody who has an iPhone that features ongoing news alerts is as involved in news from Israel as I am. (Could anyone be? Maybe. But no one could be more emotionally and personally involved in the events of these last weeks.) And a fair number of them, I’m guessing, just quickly scanned the first headline, then filed it internally as yet one more terrible thing Israel has done to the innocents of Gaza. And so a scurrilous story—one that for me (and for anyone who knows as many IDF veterans as I do, and who has the respect for the IDF that it deserves) could not possibly be true—gains traction. By evening, the murder of these poor innocents was lighting up X, formerly Twitter, as though it were an established fact, as though it were a story featuring confirmed reality that only a willfully blind Zionist would even try to deny.

But, in fact, the story was not true. Or rather it was not true as reported. Yes, a terrible explosion killed hundreds at the al-Ahli hospital (also called the Baptist Hospital) in southern Gaza. And it is also true that all the victims appear to have been innocent civilians. But the IDF insists that it did not target that hospital and that, as far as they can tell, the damage was done by a missile intended by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad to murder Israeli civilians that misfired and landed in Gaza not far from where it was launched. And they also noted that the IDF is bound by rules of combat that specifically forbid its servicepeople from slaying civilians indiscriminately. And then, shortly after that, the P.M., Bibi Netanyahu himself, issued his own statement on Twitter saying plainly and unambiguously that this was not the work of the IDF.

Later, the President of the United States said clearly that American intelligence supported Israel’s claim of non-involvement. Plus, the hospital, it turned out, was not “blown up” at all, but is still standing. Aerial photographs showed rocket shrapnel on the roofs of adjacent buildings. And then, later that night, Israel released an apparently undoctored recording of Hamas operatives more or less confirming the Israeli version of events. (The recording is in Arabic, but click here to hear it with English subtitles.) Even the Gazans themselves eventually pulled back from their initial inflammatory reports, no longer mentioning 500 dead but merely referring to unidentified “hundreds.” But by then the damage was more than done. The Arab street was on fire. There were huge demonstrations in many Muslim capitals, including Istanbul, Amman, Baghdad, and Beirut. President el-Sisi of Egypt, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and King Abdullah II of Jordan cancelled their plans to meet with President Biden, apparently thinking that insulting him for not embracing the initial (and almost fully incorrect) version of the story was a rational plan forward. On home turf, our own Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) asserted unambiguously (but apparently fully falsely) that the Israelis had “bombed the Baptist Hospital and killed 500 Palestinians.” And Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) shamelessly referenced the incident as an Israeli war crime without a shred of evidence to support her vitriol.

To wave this whole incident away as yet another success, albeit a temporary one, of the Palestinian misinformation campaign against Israel would be very wrong, however. The tragedy here is fully real. These poor people fled south in the first place to avoid being caught in the crossfire if Israel ultimately decides to enter Gaza to find and free the 199 hostages being held by Hamas. I suppose they must have imagined they were safe, or safer, in the southern part of Gaza and safer still in a hospital, a place of refuge and healing. If it turns out that this was “just” an accident, that the jihadists trying to murder innocent Israelis accidentally ended up murdering innocent Palestinians, then that will be terrible enough and grimly ironic. But if it turns out that this was intentional, that Hamas did this to prompt—almost to force—el-Sisi, Abdullah, and Mahmoud Abbas publicly to disrespect President Biden by refusing to meet with him in the course of his trip to the Middle East, then the raw cynicism of the move will be almost too much to bear.

I want to think that this was an accident. What normal person wouldn’t? But what if this was intentional, if this actually was undertaken fully intentionally as a piece of grotesque political theater intended to upend President Biden’s visit to the region? To refer to the concept of blowing up a hospital to further political aims as bestial behavior would be an insult to the animal kingdom. But some part of me wonders if that isn’t precisely what’s happened. And, indeed, President Biden’s trip to underscore our nation’s support for Israel and to meet with the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, and the PA—that may simply have been too clear a harbinger of a future featuring an alliance of leaders implacably opposed to the kind of barbarism for which Hamas stands for the Hamas leadership not to do whatever it was going to take to prevent from happening. And the fact that the Palestinian president was going to be included—for which invitation the price was surely going to be his willingness to join in a blanket condemnation of Hamas’s brutal incursion into Israel and the unimaginable destruction directed almost solely against innocent civilians that incursion brought in its wake—that just may have been too much for Hamas to swallow. I have no evidence of any of the above. But I am too much a student of history to wave the darkness in my heart away as merely depressive or necessarily delusional. Terrible things happen in the world. And they often happen fully intentionally.

And that brings me to my real point. The challenge facing me personally in the wake of his incident is to find it in my heart to set everything I know about the Middle East—about Hamas and about the IDF and about Israel itself—to set it all aside and to mourn the dead of al-Ahli. I am by nature a bit cynical, but I specifically do not want to bring politics or cynicism to my appraisal of this tragedy, of this disaster. The children who died in the hospital was no more deserving of their fate than the Jewish babies and children murdered in cold blood by Hamas two weekends ago. So to wave them away as “mere” collateral damage in a larger story to which they were tiny footnotes—that would require a level of callousness and insensitivity of which I want—even need—to think of myself as being incapable of sustaining.

Since Simchat Torah, thousands have died on both sides of the Israel-Gaza border. To look past the death of innocents should be an impossibility for all who fear God and revere the sanctity of human life. Many more will die as Israel does what it can to eradicate Hamas and, in so doing, to avenge the death of its citizens. Still others will die as Hamas descends to ever darker degrees of demonic depravity in its anti-Israeli rage and does whatever it thinks necessary to hurt Israel and put space between it and its allies. In the end, Hamas will surely be annihilated. Of that, I harbor no doubts at all. But to take pleasure in that thought without mourning the innocents of al-Ahli should be impossible for even the most ardent supporter of Israel. As well it is with respect to me personally: I ardently look forward to the day when terror is defeated once and for all, but I mourn for those innocents who died when that rocket landed on the hospital in which they were seeking healing and refuge, and I feel their loss as a stone in my heart. To feel otherwise would be to deny their humanity—and that is something no decent person should even be able to do, let alone wish to do.

#Gaza #Israel #Baptist Hospital

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