Fareed Zacharia - Global Briefing
November 9, 2023
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Messages From Gaza
From the horrific massacres on Oct. 7 in Israel to the death and destruction raining down on Gaza, the world looks toward the Middle East with sadness.
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Questions of intention and responsibility pervade the commentary. As the death toll rises in Gaza, some accuse Israel of intentionally killing Palestinian civilians (which Israel, again, strenuously denies). At The New York Times, columnist Bret Stephens argues the opposite: “Reasonable people can criticize Israel for not allowing enough time for civilians to get out of harm’s way … But what reasonable people cannot debate is the cynicism with which Hamas is conducting its side of the war. … Hamas has learned that it profits at least as much from Palestinian deaths as it does from Israeli ones—the more of each, the better. Murdering Jews is an end in its own right for Hamas, because it believes it fulfills a theological aim.”
“All parties are blaming each other for the dire situation in Gaza,” The Economists writes, citing not only civilian deaths but dire shortages of water and food. “At a press conference on November 8th, Hamas officials blamed the UN for failing to provide enough aid to Gaza. They made no mention of their own role in starting the war, nor their responsibility for governing the enclave. Their indifference to the misery in Gaza has sparked a few displays of defiance. When Iyad al-Buzm, a spokesman for the interior ministry, held a press conference outside al-Shifa hospital earlier this month, a man walked in front of the cameras and shouted criticism of Hamas. Such displays are rare: critics have been tortured and killed before. … Journalists in Gaza also say they have received threats from Hamas not to report anything that might be unflattering to the group. … Most people, though, have no time for politics. They are simply trying to survive—and waiting for a ceasefire that seems a long way away.”
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