Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib Profile picture
Dec 23, 2023 17 tweets 3 min read Read on X
🧵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

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More from @afalkhatib

Sep 11
In an op-ed for @jdforward, I wrote about the challenges of navigating a heated US election as a Palestinian American in the context of the Gaza war, the actions of the DNC, pro-Palestine solidarity & reconciling my love for the US w/its foreign policies.
forward.com/opinion/651996…
1🧵Over the past 11 months, I have come to believe that an exclusionary and radical set of players has hijacked the Palestinian narrative, particularly in the diaspora. They claim to speak on behalf of the “pro-Palestine” movement and have created a narrow lane for what constitutes “authentic” pro-Palestine advocacy and action.
2🧵When our community is reduced to the stereotype of “intifada” revolutionary types who are against the United States, the Democratic Party, or any solution that legitimizes Israel, we are not seen as worthy of respect, inclusion or a seat at the table.
Read 13 tweets
Jul 3
In November of 2023, I wrote a piece for the Forward titled “Hamas is not as popular in Gaza as it seems. But Israel’s tactics will ensure their survival.” Many were quick to dismiss my assessment and views as naïve and ignorant of Israel’s immense potential and capabilities to achieve the elusive “total victory” that Netanyahu kept promising over and over. I said that renowned names in the field of counterinsurgency, like General David Petraeus and other US and international military commanders, warned about the conduct of the war creating more militants than it removed off the battlefield and how the lack of an articulable plan for what replaces Hamas was going to backfire horribly.

The New York Times just published an article that captures what’s become clear over the past few weeks: the Israeli military’s high command wants a ceasefire and an end to the war in Gaza, even if that leaves Hamas in power. The article alleges that senior IDF commanders are worried about the depletion of munitions, morale, spare parts, and the pool of ready reservists in case a war breaks out in the north with Hezbollah. The gap between Netanyahu and the generals has grown significantly due to the lack of a postwar strategy, which would have prevented the power vacuum created after clearing areas of Hamas’s control. As the IDF withdraws from various parts of Gaza, Hamas is able to reassert its presence, forcing ground troops to re-engage in areas that were vacated mere weeks or months earlier. Most significantly, and as was clear from the beginning, there is a realization that the two goals of the war, the destruction of Hamas and the release of remaining hostages, are mutually incompatible.

Still, Netanyahu is unlikely to commit to an end of the war because that would collapse his fragile governing coalition with hard-right elements who want the war to continue. But after nine months of combat, exhaustion, and no discernable endgame in sight, the military top brass are increasingly skeptical of being used as part of a political strategy in what seems to be an unwinnable war. They also believe that an end to the war in Gaza increases the likelihood of avoiding a destructive war with Hezbollah, particularly at a time when IDF resources are stretched thin. The Lebanese group has repeatedly stated it would cease attacks on Israel if the war in Gaza would end.

The choice is now clear: end the war to release the hostages and allow for preparations for a possible war in the north while maybe creating opportunities for political transformation in Gaza; or continue the war, risk the lives of hostages, continue the carnage and killing of Gazans, and risk triggering a broader war that would be disastrous for Israel, and certainly the entire region. Stopping the war is “the least worst option for Israel,” said former security adviser Eyal Hulata to the NYT.
Israeli Generals, Low on Munitions, Want a Truce in Gaza
nytimes.com/2024/07/02/wor…
Hamas is not as popular in Gaza as it seems. But Israel’s tactics will ensure their survival
forward.com/opinion/571232…
Read 4 tweets
Apr 12
My opinion article for @TheNationalNews: Israel’s war has killed 31 members of my family, yet it’s vital to speak out against Hamas: To realize peace, the pro-Palestine movement must not buy into the militants’ self-serving, nihilistic narrative.
thenationalnews.com/opinion/commen…
1🧵The scale of needless death and destruction in Gaza – along with Israeli military and settler violence in the West Bank, which preceded October 7 – has enraged the global conscience and pro-Palestine advocates and activists, and rightly so.
2🧵The problem, however, is that those energies are not being harnessed constructively, in a way that would promote the best interest of Gazans beyond freeing them from Israeli oppression. Instead of rejecting violence and acknowledging Hamas’s destructive impact on the Palestinian people, some have fueled hateful rhetoric against co-existence with Jews and Israelis, and given new life to the narrative that Hamas champions.
Read 14 tweets
Mar 5
My latest piece with the Forward: The left must stop apologizing for Hamas.

I describe the group's conduct in Gaza, its greed, values & how it is a major obstacle to Palestinian freedom, effective resistance & progress. Please read before commenting 📖

forward.com/opinion/588680…
🧵"Morally, politically and strategically, the group’s actions are horrible enough to warrant organic and self-initiated critique and criticism."
🧵"There exists an equally staunch refusal to denounce Hamas as a seriously violent terror group that not only committed a vile atrocity against Israelis, but has exercised authoritarian violence against Gazans for over 17 years."
Read 10 tweets
Feb 26
My latest piece in @Newsweek: The Origin of Hamas's Human Shields Strategy in Gaza, describing the evolution of a practice started by one of the group's leaders, Nizar Rayan, & its destructive consequences for Gaza's civilian population & infrastructure. newsweek.com/origin-hamass-…
🧵Excerpts: Multiple things are true simultaneously: The Israeli military kills civilians in its pursuit of militants and subsequently attempts to absolve itself of moral and operational responsibility by blaming Hamas's use of Gazans as human shields. And Hamas absolutely disregards the safety and well-being of Gazans by deliberately and nefariously placing its infrastructure and armaments among civilians and crowded neighborhoods and cities throughout the Gaza Strip.

The group gives itself the right to be anywhere it deems necessary in Gaza because the interests of the "resistance" far outweigh any harm done to innocent civilians in pursuit of the supposed "greater good" and the "liberation of Palestine."

Hamas's immoral decision to normalize the self-described "human shields" strategy has not only been incredibly destructive for Gaza's civilian population. It has also proved ineffective as the IDF loosened its rules of engagement to allow for more risky and deadly strikes on Hamas targets.

What began as Nizar Rayan's human shields strategy to protect militants' houses from Israeli bombing has sadly and ironically ended up with Hamas turning innocent and uninvolved Gaza civilians into its own "collateral damage."
@Newsweek Here's a 2006 Guardian article describing Hamas's self-described strategy; they literally called it the human shields tactic and over time, began using this principle/doctrine in their defensive posture.
theguardian.com/world/2006/nov…
Read 5 tweets
Jan 28
So if millions of $$ in UNRWA funding were just cut, can we instead please get the @WFP, @Refugees and other @UN agencies to do dispersed food airdrops throughout Gaza to address the hunger/starvation crisis & allow aid to reach desperate Gazans being failed by centralized distribution?Image
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Read 5 tweets

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