Since the 1973 war led by Egypt and Syria, Israel has never experienced such an attack. On Saturday October 7, hundreds of militiamen from the terrorist organization Hamas entered its territory, covered by artillery fire. This deadly operation provoked a surprising reaction from La France insoumise. While more than a thousand Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed and hundreds of others taken hostage, Jean-Luc Mélenchon affirmed that “all the violence unleashed against Israel and in Gaza only proves that one thing: violence only produces and reproduces itself.” Likewise, the LFI press release estimates that “the armed offensive by Palestinian forces led by Hamas comes in a context of intensification of the Israeli occupation policy in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
This position of LFI is in contradiction with that of many activists in the Middle East, especially in Arab countries, who strongly condemn Hamas, an Islamist movement created by the radical imam Ahmed Yassine, supported and financed by Iran. This opposition is relatively new, it had not been heard during previous wars, when Hamas still benefited from the image of a resistance movement, presenting itself as the liberator of a Palestine subject to “the Zionist occupation.
Hamas has once again become the darling of the Syrian dictatorship, which takes advantage of Israel’s existence to deny its own responsibility for the economic and political crises hitting the country. Bashar al-Assad’s regime sells itself as supporting “heroes of the resistance”, a way of legitimizing the state of emergency and justifying the ban on all freedom of expression, by accusing its opponents of being agents of Israel. Walking through the streets of Damascus, it is easy to spot Palestinian flags and photos of the “hero” Yassine. After each Hamas attack, large rallies were organized in Lebanon, Cairo or Damascus. For a long time, the Arab street placed itself without thinking on the side of this movement and its “resistance”, even if not everyone supported its ideas. Hamas’ ideology is jihad against the Jews as advocated by Hassan el-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1920s. The Koranic verse “prepare [pour lutter] against them all you can in terms of force and equipped cavalry, in order to frighten the enemy of Allah and yours” is an essential part of his speech.
Iranian militia
But since the start of the Arab Spring in 2010, Hamas’ image has deteriorated. The movement certainly broke with Damascus for a time in favor of Qatar, in order to avoid being involved in the war in Syria. Doha then showed itself generous with the leaders of Hamas, sharing the same Brotherhood commitment. The Al-Jazeera channel has become the mouthpiece of the Palestinian organization. But, in 2022, Hamas reestablished relations with Bashar al-Assad, brushing aside the crimes committed by the Alawite dictator against his population.
However, it is its rapprochement with Iran, the number one enemy of the Sunni Arab peoples, which has most eroded Hamas’s popularity. Since then, it has been considered an Iranian militia. In 2020, Ismaïl Haniyeh, leader of Hamas, paid tribute to Qassem Soleimani following his assassination by the Americans, saluting an Iranian “martyr” who “spent his life supporting the Palestinian resistance”. However, Soleimani is suspected of having massacred numerous Syrian and Iraqi civilians.
The normalization of relations between several Arab countries and Israel, especially following the Abraham Accords, has encouraged anti-Hamas discourse. In 2020, Abu Dhabi announced cooperation with Tel Aviv in the medical, technological, environmental, space and military fields. Three years later, cooperation was established between Morocco and Israel in the fields of industry, defense and technology transfer.
An absurd attack
Today, several Arab influencers are condemning the savagery of Hamas’ attack on Israel. For Shahine Al Junaid, an activist from Bahrain, “it is a terrorist act and a distortion of the image of Islam and Muslims.” “Look at how they trade in photographs of a naked dead woman, they are without morality or humanity,” he added, commenting on the video published by Hamas of a German tourist taken hostage. “Yes, I support the people of Gaza and the rights of the Palestinians. But I do not support Hamas and terrorist Jihad,” said Saudi writer Ibrahim Al Solaiman. Some have compared Hamas’ terrorism to that practiced by Daesh, publishing videos of kidnapped Israeli civilians, including children.
The absurdity of this attack is the topic that comes up most often on Arab social media, even from those who are against Israel. Many believe that Hamas’ abuses only bring more blood and chaos. Its offensive pushes Israel to respond by bombing Hamas premises and weapons warehouses, hidden among civilian buildings in Gaza. Ordinary Gazans are already paying heavily for this attack, while Hamas militiamen hide in well-protected tunnels and shelters. This was the scenario of 2014, when Hamas launched a war against Israel with a terrible toll: 2,174 Palestinians killed (including 1,743 civilians), compared to 70 Israeli deaths (including 6 civilians). Thousands of homes and numerous infrastructures were then destroyed.
But today, with the new economic crisis in the Middle East and the alignment of Hamas with Iranian interests, Arab public opinion expresses its lack of confidence in the Islamist movement. For Yemeni lawyer Noura Jarwi, “Hamas, like the other Iranian arms in our countries, are only tools to shed the blood of Arabs and Muslims, all the shows that are taking place today are a plan to kill more innocent Palestinians.” With the hashtag “Hamas serves Iran”, many people shared videos showing bombed buildings in Gaza, and accusing Hamas of being responsible by using civilians as human shields. Under another hashtag, “Terrorist Hamas,” dozens of influencers sharply criticized Hamas leaders’ call for young Palestinians to wage jihad, while they live in safety abroad, especially in Qatar, like Ismaïl Haniyeh.
But while awareness of the misdeeds of Hamas, considered a crime against humanity, is gaining ground in Arab public opinion, figures from the French far left are displaying an ambiguous position on these Islamist crimes. On the one hand, rage at the uselessness and bloody consequences of this Hamas attack, on the other, clientelism aimed at not losing the support of Muslim voters in France.
* Writer and poet born in Damascus, Omar Youssef Souleimane participated in demonstrations against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, but had to flee Syria in 2012. He has just published Being French (Flammarion).