the enemy of my enemy

[solarbird]

This appeared first on my Mastodon account last night; it’s proven popular, so here it is – trivially expanded because I had to trim it more than I liked to fit in 750 characters – for here, too.

Some weeks ago, protesters at UW occupied an engineering building on campus, demanding that UW cut ties with Boeing over Israel’s war in Gaza.

“That’s fine,” I thought, and I started relaying news… until I saw their ebullient praise for Hamas and the October 7th attacks. Then I stopped.

Some people will roll their eyes at that reaction, noting – correctly! – that the Israeli government has done so much worse since. But that doesn’t make Hamas into good guys here. They are not.

For example, here’s translated Palestinian reporting on Hamas death squads killing Gazans trying to get food from non-Hamas aid stations, condemning them as “collaborators.”

It is an inconvenient truth that Hamas is a nightmare organisation – but it’s still a truth.

Don’t let Netanyahu’s crimes erase that.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

Comments

[solarbird]

The other problem with saying "Hamas have repeatedly beaten Fatah" is that there haven't been any non-local elections since 2006, and Hamas keeps refusing to hold them in Gaza, and boycotts them elsewhere. In the last national-level elections in 2006, Hamas won by around 3% (with an outsized representation due to districting), while Fatah won the presidental election just a a year before.

The last round of local elections (West Bank only, Hamas refused to conduct elections in Gaza or participate elsewhere) saw 65% independent slates with 35% going to individual parties.

It's been 19 years since the last real national elections, and there's still no sign of a reasonable election in sight. What would actually happen? Fuck if I know.

All I'm saying is that "Hamas keeps beating Fatah" is not supported by what little election data we have and what few elections have actually occurred, none of which have involved full or fair competition since at least 2006.

[spiralsheep]

You can choose to believe Fatah don't hate Hamas as political rivals if you prefer.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[solarbird]

Do not put words in my mouth if you wish to continue to have access to my comments. At no point did I say they didn't.

I was commenting on your statement about their elections record, and in particular, in their recent and therefore relevant elections record, which is functionally nonexistent. Therefore, in this context, the idea that Hamas have repeatedly beaten Fatah in democratic elections is unsupported by fact.

[solarbird]

Aaaaand banned.

I really don't have patience for this shit anymore. I really don't.