Letters | If you condemn Hamas, you should also condemn the Israeli government

Readers discuss the oppression Palestinians have faced over decades, and the danger of resorting to violent means

Reading Time:3 minutes

Palestinians leave their homes following Israeli bombardment of Gaza City on October 30. Photo: AP

Published: 2:30pm, 1 Nov 2023

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I do not support Hamas, which some countries have labelled a terrorist group. But Palestinians have been oppressed and killed over the past 75 years and few have spoken up for them. Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have said what Israel has done to Palestinians during this time is apartheid.

Even former US president Barack Obama says in his book A Promised Land that most countries considered Israel’s continued occupation of the Palestinian territories to be a violation of international law and that Palestinians “lacked self-determination and many of the basic rights that even citizens of non-democratic countries enjoyed”.

He also points out that US politicians receive significant donations from the Jewish bipartisan lobbying organisation American Israel Public Affairs Committee. This explains why the US continues to support Israel.

I am not disputing that the Hamas attack was cruel. However, the world only tends to pay attention when Israelis are killed but not to the fact that Palestinians have been killed over the past decades, not to mention their continued oppression. Human rights groups have long described Gaza as an open-air prison. Its people have no powerful defender. In an excellent graphic, The New York Times showed the sharp contrast between the Israeli and Palestinian death tolls in past conflicts.

Supporting a free Palestine does not mean supporting Hamas. The same goes for supporting the Jewish community while condemning the Israeli government.

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