Thread by @afalkhatib

🧵1/17 I just listened to a live Twitter discussion in Arabic hosted by multiple Palestinian dissidents & activists, many from #Gaza, titled: "Gazan perspectives trample the opinions of Twitter Mujahideen." They tore into #Hamas & offered opinions on the war in Gaza. Key points:

2/17 Psychopathic factions within Hamas, led by Sinwar & al-Deif, launched the Oct. 7 attack thinking that Iran, Shia militias & Hezbollah would launch a full-on regional war against Israel/its allies. Instead, the group was left to fend for itself; its backers gave faint support

3/17 Hamas's political leadership who are primarily outside of Gaza were not informed about the impending attack, partly due to internal competition for power, leaving the group scrambling to put out coherent & unified messages to justify Oct. 7 & articulate a desired endgame

4/17 Ironically, Hamas politburo now supports arrangements that are identically similar to what Arafat/the PA/PLO had on the table 30 years ago, namely a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with Hamas de facto recognizing that such a state would live next to a Jewish Israel

5/17 This begs a damning question that so many are asking: what's the point of Hamas's violence & wars over the past decades, particularly the past 17 years in Gaza? All the death & destruction have brought the Palestinians absolutely no gains, achievements, or tangible results

6/17 Instead of being a viable component of the Palestinian national project, Hamas made the worst possible strategic decision, which was to align itself with murderous sectarian backers such as Iran, Syria's Assad & Hezbollah, in addition to nefarious Muslim Brotherhood partners

7/17 Most detrimentally to the Palestinian cause, Hamas gave Qatar & in recent years, Turkey, undue access to key files/issues, harming Gaza, undermining Palestinian unity, empowering narrow political ends, & bolstering expansionist Islamist aspirations of the Muslim Brotherhood

8/17 Hamas's armed resistance is aimless, useless, meaningless & politically directionless; the group uses slick propaganda to sell illusions & "resistance porn" to its people & hide its failures and role in the annihilation of Gaza through its miscalculations & poor decisions

9/17 Had Hamas known the extent of the damage that would befall its people, it likely would not have launched the Oct. 7 attack. Yet the group is still responsible for extricating its people from the war by releasing Israeli hostages, its leaders leaving Gaza, or even disarming

10/17 Despite all of its corruption, incompetence & impotence, the Palestinian Authority has largely been a net positive for its people, and without it, the Palestinian national project would disintegrate. The PA was right to prevent the West Bank from being engulfed in violence

11/17 As for "Twitter Mujahideen" & Hamas enthusiasts who are ill-informed, misguided, ignorant, lack detailed info/understanding, & mindlessly cheer on armed resistance, they can't register that the group's actions led to needless loss of life & land; the opposite of liberation

12/17 It is easy for Hamas & "resistance" enthusiasts or "Twitter Mujahideen" in the West Bank, the Arab/Muslim world, & Western countries to overlook the dubiousness, ruthlessness, & violence of Hamas towards its own people in Gaza & how it has served extremist Israeli interests

13/17 "Twitter Mujahideen" haven't experienced life under Hamas & the associated death, horrendous quality of life, & social/religious/political repression. So many leftists/pro-Palestine advocates are choosing to ignore loud/documented Gazan voices that oppose useless resistance

14/17 Hamas has brainwashed a whole generation of Palestinians into believing empty resistance slogans & rhetoric while members/leaders of the group have enriched themselves, weakened their people's cause, served despicable regional players, & brought repeated disasters onto Gaza

15/17 The unfolding disastrous war will forever change Gaza's societal & political landscape, which is scarred by destruction & 70,000 dead/wounded/missing people. Gazans will forever blame Hamas, which must be held accountable & can never be allowed to gamble with its people

16/17 Another Hamas lie to justify why it attacked on Oct. 7 is its claim that the assault was preemptive because Israel was going to strike Gaza, a complete falsehood & fabrication; Before the attack, Gaza was demonstrably a low priority for Israel vis-a-vis the West Bank & Iran

17/17 The aforementioned are the perspectives of real Gazans, communicated in Arabic, many of whom were jailed by Hamas & have lost numerous family members in the current war. Please consider what they're saying. They include @/aimanalaloul; ustafa_ad; SeifElnajjar; gareeb_azzam