Since the bloody attack of October 7, certain Westerners committed to the Palestinian cause have strived to present Hamas as a “resistance movement”. Others simply do not have a word to denounce the oppression that Palestinians suffer from the Islamist group, in power since 2006 in Gaza. Hamza Howidy did not expect these reactions. Since October 7, the 26-year-old young man exiled in Germany has continued to try to make his voice heard. That of a Palestinian who experienced the arrival of Hamas to power, then its total takeover of Gaza at the cost of hundreds of lives, propaganda, prison for “dissidence”, and exile.
L’Express: You experienced the arrival of Hamas to power. What memory do you keep of it?
Hamza Howidy : That of a betrayal. At the time, I was 9 years old, maybe 10. Like everyone else, my parents were desperate about the corruption of the Palestinian Authority, which had been in power until then. So when Hamas presented itself in the legislative elections with its promises of reforms, in 2006, it was elected without difficulty. I know that in the West, the anti-Semitism assumed in its charter raises questions. But you have to understand that people were very frustrated by the permanent war situation. So they thought they had no choice but to support Hamas to “liberate” the country.
But we quickly became disillusioned: because it did not want to share power with Fatah, Hamas killed more than 600 Palestinians in the space of a few months, and ended up taking total control of Gaza. To “celebrate” that, that is to say the hundreds of deaths they had caused, they organized events in all the little-known places in Gaza, the Al-Remal neighborhood, Omar Al-Mokhtar street …I still remember the slogans they cheerfully chanted like “Islam is the solution” and “we are the movement of change and reform.”
Over the years I realized, especially when I was a student, that Hamas was actually a kind of Al-Qaeda, but with good public relations. Contrary to what he promised, the group was even more corrupt than the Palestinian Authority. If you were not a member of Hamas, you had no chance of working in the public sector. And if you criticized him, you had every chance of being arrested and tortured.
Has public support been affected?
Privately, Gazans were very critical of the corruption of the group’s political wing, but its military wing still enjoyed a certain aura: its fighters were seen as bulwarks against the “supreme enemy”, i.e. that is, Israel. It must be said that the propaganda was omnipresent. The media, which they controlled, continually propagated hatred of Jews, Christians and “bad” Muslims – therefore secular or not religious enough. And Hamas came to promote its military training even in schools. But while they sold us their narrative of “protection” against the Israeli monster, our quality of life continued to deteriorate, until the situation became truly unbearable…
When would you date this moment?
At the end of the 2010s, when Hamas intensified its strikes against Israel, which then began to impose very heavy restrictions on the population. Electricity only worked for a few hours a day, work permits to Israel were limited. The Palestinian economy has collapsed. To get out of this, we had no choice but to become a Hamas fighter or join their political wing – because this allowed us to obtain financial advantages – or suffer with ordinary citizens.
“Believe me, I still have a lot of friends there: Palestinians who think Hamas is fighting for their interests are in the minority”
Today, I am always surprised to hear people say that Hamas was only “reacting” to the attacks of Netanyahu’s government. Israel obviously has its faults and I completely agree with criticizing Netanyahu! But if we’re being honest, Hamas started launching rockets as early as 2002. Netanyahu had just come to power. Its number one goal has always been to eradicate Israel and the Jews. It’s written in its charter…
Why did you decide to get involved politically against Hamas?
For a friend. He had begun demonstrating with others for Fatah’s reconciliation with Hamas. But in 2019, he was arrested, tortured to the point of being hospitalized. He didn’t walk for weeks. This discouraged him, so he ended up leaving Gaza for Europe, hoping to change his life. But he died at sea before arriving there, when he tried to reach Turkey from Greece. He was 21, like me. He was a good person. When I learned of his death, I told myself that I had to continue what he had started. With a small group, we decided to come together to form a demonstration against Hamas, which we called “We want to live.” But in turn, we were all arrested and imprisoned for dissent.
What do you remember about your detention?
It was very “regulated”. Every day, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., I was interrogated and tortured, beaten with sticks, before being sent back to a narrow, empty cell until the next day. Not a day went by without the police finding a new accusation. It looked like they were playing roulette! One day, they accused me of working for Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority. Another, I was in the pay of Israel or the United States. I think they themselves were aware that they were talking nonsense… It was just their method of tiring out the inmates.
And then there were the questions to make sure you were on the Hamas line. They could ask you if you really hated Jews or what you thought of secular Muslims. I had to lie to get out of it. My inmate friends knew it too. If we didn’t answer correctly, we might never get out. Finally, you still had to have money! I was lucky to have a family that could pay the $3,000 Hamas demanded to get out of prison. But not everyone could afford it… That’s also what living under Hamas is.
Today you live in Europe. When did you leave Gaza?
After my second incarceration, following another demonstration in 2023. When I left prison, I realized that not a single media outlet, even abroad, had spoken about our protests or even our arrests . They continued to give the weather forecast, as if nothing had happened. I simply lost hope, like my friend. So I left for Europe as soon as I could obtain a visa to leave Gaza. It was August 21, 2023. I was far from imagining what would happen three months later.
What did you think of Western reactions after the October 7 attack?
To be honest, I did not expect to see Westerners – not all of them, of course – defending Hamas’ action, or calling it a “resistance movement” after such a shocking and vicious attack. No doubt they thought – and they still think – that the Gazans feel represented by Hamas and that denouncing the attack of October 7 would be failing the Palestinians. I myself thought that the Israeli response to Gaza would strengthen Gazans’ support for Hamas. But believe me, I still have a lot of friends there: Palestinians who think Hamas is fighting for their interests are in the minority. Most hate him viscerally. Even if the war waged by the Israeli army makes it difficult for many to express it in these terms, there is no doubt that if Gazans were offered a political alternative with the assurance that it would put an end to their suffering, they would accept it with their eyes closed.
Do you think a Gazan uprising is possible in the medium term?
It is complicated. Gazans will not be able to overthrow Hamas alone and I think they know that – even the Israeli army, which has been fighting Hamas for seven months now at the cost of tens of thousands of innocent lives, is still not there. not come to the end. And then, they are still attacked by the Israeli army. Right now, they’re mostly thinking about surviving, which is understandable. So why take such a risk? Additionally, I don’t think there is enough political awareness in Gaza for a breakaway party to emerge.
What is certain is that without external support, Gazans have no chance. This is why I am all the more circumspect when I look at what emerges from certain supposedly pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the West: I have not seen a single slogan demanding that Hamas leave power or even calling for the coexistence of Israel and Palestine. I also note that all the Palestinian voices which carry these demands, like mine, have no or almost no visibility in the media. However, as long as Palestinian and pro-Palestinian voices do not unite to advocate true peace – which amounts to disavowing Hamas since it seeks chaos – the Palestinians will never be free.
Some may find it paradoxical that as a Palestinian, you put so much effort into condemning the October 7 attack, when the number of deaths on the Palestinian side continues to increase in Gaza…
October 7 caused many Israeli casualties, but in a sense, the Palestinians were victims too. Because they are the ones paying the price for Hamas’ actions today. When we are committed to the Palestinian cause, we cannot denounce a single part of the problem, silence the responsibilities of the group which oppresses us and bears responsibility for the situation we suffer today. Where were these people speaking out against Israeli oppression when Hamas arrested, tortured, and imprisoned us in 2019 and 2023? If we had been supported at the time, October 7 might never have happened.
Today you are 26 years old. How do you view the demonstrations taking place on the western campuses ?
As a Palestinian, I never imagined I would one day criticize the support we are finally receiving. But I am not afraid to say that the way some say they are defending our cause by exclusively attacking Israel or calling for insurrection is hurting us. Not only does this leave the field open for Hamas to continue to oppress us in Gaza – by taking us for human shields – but it also reinforces the amalgamation between Gazans and Hamas.
I absolutely do not exonerate Israel from its faults. I will never love another country as much as the one I was born in, and I hope to return to Gaza one day. But anti-Semitism, the exclusion of some on the grounds that they are “Zionist”, even the glorification of Hamas, will never be on our side. Nationality or beliefs should not be a factor when it comes to showing humanity. I know that some are chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in the demonstrations. I prefer the other version: “From the river to the sea, peace will be”.
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