The current war between Hamas and Israel is said to have begun with the first rocket fired from Gaza on July 7, 2014. Most of the world, while condemning disproportionate use of force by Israel, is still wondering why would Hamas provoke such a powerful foe? Speculations range from the notion that Hamas wants to somehow drag Israel in the larger conflict involving current situation in Syria and Iraq, to the idea that Hamas just needs to flex its military muscle from time to time in order to keep up with the IDF. In any case, it is hard to imagine that a militia which clearly cannot withstand the powerful Israeli military in the long run would initiate an armed conflict. So, the real question is; Did Hamas really start the war?
The real problem lies with the shortsightedness of the media and its ability to selectively withhold or under-emphasize certain news while highlighting others. Everyone knows about the Operation Protective Edge. Everyone knows that the operation began on July 8, 2014 after Hamas fired rockets at Israel. But many people don’t know about the Operation Brother’s Keep which was launched immediately after the three Israeli teenagers were abducted. Officially, the objective of the operation was to search and rescue the kidnapped in the West Bank. But during the operation, according to a human rights NGO based in Geneva, the Israeli forces confiscated approximately $370,000 in cash and $2.5 million worth of property including cars, mobile phones, computers and even jewelry [1]. According to Amnesty International, the modus operandi of IDF and Shin Bet amounted to collective punishment [2]. According to Human Rights Watch, nearly 350 Palestinians were detained in the West Bank during the operation and none of them was charged. Most importantly, at least 5 Palestinians were killed during the operation [3]. Almost all of the Hamas officials in the West Bank were arrested. This certainly didn't look like a search and rescue operation. It was a massive crackdown on Hamas. Even some Israeli officials stated that the objectives of the operation go beyond simply rescuing the kidnapped Israeli teens. Note that all of this happened before Hamas had fired even a single rocket at Israel. It should now be clear who provoked and who responded.
According to another view, the provocation that laid the foundation of current conflict is actually the abduction and murder of the Israeli teens by Hamas. This would be correct if Hamas had really committed the crime. Hamas clearly denied any responsibility for the incident. Since Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the West, it should be noted that terrorists always accept responsibility after committing an act of terror. Otherwise there is no point in terrorism. The objective of a terrorist organization is to terrorize the opponent and for that they have to claim responsibility. That’s how people would recognize them and fear them. Abducting three teenagers and then killing them in cold blood without demanding any ransom, prisoner swap or claiming responsibility for murdering them is absolutely pointless. Besides, no evidence has been presented by Israel to support its claim that Hamas was responsible for the incident. If the murder of Israeli teenagers can be blamed on Hamas, then the murder of the Palestinian teenager who was burned to death by Israelis in a reprisal attack can be blamed on the state of Israel. There are even speculations that the Israeli government knew that the teenagers had been killed a long time before it concluded the search operation [4]. Supposedly, Netanyahu wanted to buy time in order to eradicate Hamas from the West Bank while manipulating Israelis into supporting the operation.
Keeping in view the history of events, it can be seen that from the point of view of Hamas it is clear that Israel used the abduction of teens to eliminate Hamas from the West Bank which it has effectively done during Operation Brother’s Keep. In retaliation Hamas started firing rockets on Israel and afterwards IDF launched Operation Protective Edge. So, it’s not like Hamas provoked Israel. It is the other way round. The initial objective was to clear the West Bank from Hamas which Israel has already achieved during the search operation.
3. AhramOnline
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