GAZA - Rare Public Protest Against Hamas
Marches took place in Gaza City, the southern town of Khan Younis, and other locations, chanting “what a shame” and in one place burning the flags of the Hamas terror group, before police moved in and broke up the protests.
Police destroyed cellphones of people who were filming in Khan Younis, and witnesses said there were several arrests. Dozens of young supporters and opponents of Hamas briefly faced off, throwing stones at one another.
The Islamic terror group seized control of Gaza in 2007 from the forces of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, prompting Israel and Egypt to impose a crippling blockade on the territory. Israel says the closure is needed to prevent Hamas, which does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, from building up its military capabilities.
The closure has devastated Gaza’s economy, sent unemployment skyrocketing and led to frequent power outages. During an ongoing heat wave, people have been limited to four to six hours of power a day due to heavy demand.
Protesters also criticized Hamas for deducting a roughly $15 fee from monthly $100 stipends given to Gaza’s poorest families by the wealthy Gulf state of Qatar.
-www.timesofisrael.com, 31 July 2023
Arno's Commentary
To read of protests against Hamas is most unusual. They rule with an iron fist, being a recognized terrorist organization.
Of interest is the name Hamas. “Hamas the Hebrew word has been around since antediluvian times. In fact, it was one of the reasons God flooded the earth, according to Genesis: ‘And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence [hamas]’.” Another definition by JewishChronicle.org states, “Hamas is an Arabic acronym for “Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyya,” which means ‘The Islamic Resistance Movement.’ But ‘hamas’ is also an Arabic word that means ‘zeal.’ Although Arabic and Hebrew are sister languages, the Hebrew meaning of ‘chamas’ is ‘violence,’ according to the Hebrew-English volume of Reuben Alcalay’s Hebrew-English, English-Hebrew dictionary. ‘Cruelty’ and ‘injustice’ are additional definitions, but not ‘zeal.’ Truth is thus stranger than fiction. For Israel and for Jews everywhere, chamas indeed means violence, in its terrorist form.”
One need not to be a brilliant intellectual to see that the nations surrounding Israel, with their declared goal to eliminate the Jewish State, are experiencing continuous internal turmoil. Although Egypt and Jordan have signed a peace treaty with Israel, the hatred for the Jewish nation cannot be masked.
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
