Hamas has long been considered a possible interlocutor for the Europeans. Now it turns out to be a terrorist militia that kills a thousand people in one fell swoop and sows fear and terror. Does that surprise you?
ALAIN FINKIELKRAUT: What is most surprising is the extreme violence of their final attack. Otherwise, I have never had any illusions about Hamas. It is not hypocritical if it explicitly states in its charter that Palestine extends from Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. That’s why she wants to wipe out Israel. Therefore, it does not even demand that Israel leave the occupied territories; it wants to destroy all of Israel. It took a lot of naivete for the Europeans to see Hamas as an interlocutor. Individual Islamologists previously praised Hamas as an alternative to IS (Islamic State). She’s exactly the same.
What is Hamas trying to convey when it beheads children and commits more such atrocities?
Precisely that it wants to destroy Israelis as a whole. Hamas has made it its mission to use this barbarity to exterminate as many Israelis as possible. What shocks me is how many followers she has elsewhere, judging by the videos on social media or the solidarity demonstrations in Lebanon, Yemen, Turkey or the West Bank. This can drive you to despair. How is coexistence with a Palestinian state possible when Israelis can also be attacked with rockets and pogroms from the West Bank, which is so close? What if the Hamas terrorist gang even wins elections because the Palestinian Authority has been completely discredited?
Is Hamas so popular because of the social misery of Gaza’s youth or because of its religious component?
First of all because of Islam. It is a force that has become a global political factor since the Iranian revolution and the Western defeat in Afghanistan. Jihad gives young Palestinians a sense of pride. I do not want to deny the social misery in Gaza. But Hamas is not responsible for this. It is one of the richest terrorist organizations in history, largely thanks to money from Qatar. But it does not use the money for the population, but for arms purchases. Why does Gaza currently have no water? Because Hamas has not yet built a sewage treatment plant. This is intended to stir up hatred against Israel
Israel’s settlement policy in the West Bank also contributes to this.
The settlement policy is a tragedy. It demoralizes Israel and harms Palestinians. It weakens the Israeli army, which had to dismantle the southern front around Gaza to protect settlements in the West Bank. The Hamas attack made this possible. On the other hand, Israel cannot leave the West Bank now for security reasons. It is as close as the burned kibbutzim near Gaza. Israel is therefore doomed to maintain this terrible status quo
Until Hamas is eliminated?
In this case, one might perhaps hope for an awakening of the Israeli and Palestinian civilian populations, which would force the governments into dialogue in the long term. The Palestinians recently had the opportunity to do this, when many Israelis demonstrated against settler-friendly legal reform. The Palestinians, and indeed the entire Arab world, did not see these street protests as an opportunity, but only as an opportunity to divide and weaken Israel. As former Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban once said, Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss their opportunities
Unless Hamas is defeated one day?
The only solution, in my opinion, would be a territorial compromise. The Israelis should withdraw from most of the West Bank. A Palestinian state would take its place, but it would be stuck between Israel and Jordan; A Jordanian-Palestinian federal state would probably make more sense. Please note: this remains a very distant goal that would not solve the Gaza problem. Right now in Israel it is completely impossible to even talk about it
Why?
Due to the severe trauma that Israelis experienced as a result of the Hamas attack. Even during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when the intelligence services had already failed once, the shock was not as profound as it is today. The enemy came from outside and stayed outside – but now he has entered, if you like, the garden, even the kitchen. He organized pogroms and hunted down civilians. The Jewish fate has once again fallen on Israel – on a state that was created to end the persecution and immense suffering of the Jews after World War II! Before you go any further, you need to be clear about this first…
Are the Jews in Europe also afraid?
The ground offensive in Gaza will cost many lives, and there will be no shortage of counter-demonstrations in France and Germany. Since October 7, more than a hundred anti-Semitic incidents have occurred in France. There is an implicit complicity of ‘Islamoguchists’ (Islamic left) at the universities. I am very concerned about us Jews in France. Terrorist attacks and smaller pogroms are possible
In France, there is at least broad solidarity with Israel among political parties, apart from the far-left party ‘Indomitable’.
This party describes the massacres of a week ago as an “armed offensive by the Palestinian forces led by Hamas against the background of an intensified occupation policy.” It was Ariel Sharon who withdrew the settlements and the army from Gaza. Left-wing leader Mélenchon is acting out of electoral opportunism in the suburban department of Seine-Saint-Denis, where the population of the Maghreb and sub-Saharan regions largely votes for him.
An organizing committee of Harvard University also holds Israel “solely responsible” for the situation in the Middle East.
Left-wing Islamism is a variant of wokism that originated in the US and spread in European universities. There is silence about the Hamas attack; but when the Israeli ground offensive begins, there will be protests against it. I worry. We Jews, Democrats, Patriots and Europeans will have a hard time…
This interview is not about Ukraine. Just a quick question: what do you, as the son of Polish parents, think of Russia?
I am not a friend of Putin, I am on the side of Ukraine, which is defending itself against Putin’s Russian colonialism. What I still like about Russia are Tolstoy, Chekhov and especially Vasily Grossmann, who in his work ‘Everything Flows’ gives us the key to understanding what is happening in Russia today. At the same time, I am also concerned about the development of the situation in Poland. When I see the hate demonstrations against director Agnieszka Holland, purely under the pretext of a migrant film, I get scared. I still know what the far right is in Poland, how widespread it can be. (aargauerzeitung.ch).
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
