A Cuban’s View of the Assault on Gaza
One of those who helped most to create that monster called Hamas was Netanyahu himself, who contributed financing in order to create a rival to the Palestine Liberation Organization.
By Ariel Hidalgo (Cubaencuentro)
HAVANA TIMES – After the crimes that Hamas militants perpetrated against the civilian population along Israel’s border with Gaza on October 7, reportedly causing the death of between 1,200 and 1,400 Israelis, I heard an exiled Cuban woman who’s occasionally invited to appear on political TV shows wish that the entire Gaza strip would sink into the sea. I heard the same thing expressed off camera by other people who say they’re Christians. And I recall once hearing something similar from another Cuban, but this time speaking about his own country: “May the whole island sink into the sea.” His words indicated that his hatred of the oppressors in his own country outweighed his love for the people, although I doubt he desired the same thing when he lived in Cuba.
It’s the same as having some Angolan or Latino wish for all the Cubans to die, because of the wrongs that the Castro leadership has inflicted on their peoples. In a similar vein, not too long ago an exiled Venezuelan woman from a prosperous family told me: “We lived very well in Venezuela, until you people arrived.” I answered her: “Ma’am, we didn’t vote for Chavez. It was you. In addition, those Cubans that have caused you so much suffering have made us suffer much more.”
When the Hamas attack occurred, numerous large demonstrations arose in cities all over the world, condemning those horrors. Afterwards, however, we’ve seen many more large demonstrations to condemn Israel’s bombing of the civil population on the Gaza strip.
The deaths of women, children and the elderly have been justified as “collateral damage.” That phrase alone speaks of the level of dehumanization they’ve reached. Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General, recently stated that the “violations of the laws of war” that Hamas committed, “don’t absolve Israel of their own violations.”
In such competition, of course, Netanyahu has a great advantage over Hamas because the number of deaths, mostly of civilians, from bombs, missiles, bullets, and even white phosphorus – a weapon prohibited by the Geneva Convention – is now very close to 20,000. Among the dead are thousands of children and elders, journalists, thirty UN employees – that we know of up to now – not to mention several of the Israelis that Hamas was holding hostage. Sad fate for those who, after being kidnapped by those fanatics, should die later under the bombs of their own compatriots, who supposedly should have rescued them!
The greatest irony of all is that one of those who most aided in creating that monster called Hamas was Netanyahu himself, by helping to finance them with the aim of creating a rival to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and block the emergence of a separate Palestinian State in accordance with the two-state solution agreed upon in the UN Security Council’s Resolution #242.
In 2019, Netanyahu declared: “Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas.”
Some radio and television commentors in Miami defend [Israel’s] actions, by alleging that Hamas is altering the number of innocent deaths to exaggerate the effects of the Israeli attacks. In doing so, they’ve fallen into the insensitivity of seeing this as just a difference in statistics, as if saying, for example, that they didn’t kill ten thousand children would absolve the perpetrators from blame. How many did they kill then? Five thousand? Three thousand? Does that in any way diminish the horror? If in order to eliminate a terrorist, you have to kill a child, because that terrorist is hiding behind them (or under them), the person killing that child is as much a terrorist as the one who has used that child as a shield. Meanwhile, two million Palestinians who abandoned Gaza City and the entire north of the Gaza strip, at Israel’s insistence because it was going to be bombed, are now crowded into the south in terrible conditions, and still facing the same threat.
Paradoxically, this attitude of the Cuban commentators contrasts with the position of the Israeli people themselves. Four out of five Israelis disapprove of Netanyahu and would like him replaced. Many of Israel’s best-known personalities are demanding it. Historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari told the Ynet News: “Netanyahu should immediately assume responsibility for his terrible failure and make room for more talented and valuable people.” Moise Yalon, former head of the High Command, called on the opposition “not to form an emergency government with Netanyahu, without demanding his resignation.” He asked: “How can you lead a people into a war like this?” Rabbi Uri Avalon, when asked if there was any possibility that Netanyahu could remain in power, answered: “There’s no chance. He’s the one most responsible for this tragedy.” (Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia).
Let no one be fooled. The war isn’t between Israelis and Palestinians, but between terrorist leaders. If you were to ask me the very common, simplistic, and erroneous question of which side I support – the Israelis or the Palestinians – my answer would be very simple. “[I support] both peoples, and [I’m against] both of the terrorist leaders.” All peoples deserve our solidarity, because none are guilty of the horrors perpetrated by those who claim to represent them. There’ll never be peace in that region, as long as people like Netanyahu and Hamas exist at the head of Israel and the Gaza Strip.
If you’re fighting a monster, you should be careful that, in doing so, the monstrousness doesn’t invade you, because then there’ll be two monsters.