[Blog] 7 October 2023t-the counter-narrative

It is already a year since Hamas breached one of the most fortified security barriers in the world and entered the south of Israel where they committed several exactions. The usual narrative is that a bunch of terrorists penetrated Israeli territory and committed a brutal massacre. They killed some 1,139 Israelis, mostly civilians, beheaded babies, mass raped Israeli women and took several hostages. 

It is important to deconstruct this Western-centric and pro-Israeli discourse. Firstly, while the Western world considers Hamas as a terrorist group, they view themselves as forces of resistance against a brutal occupying power which has confined 2m Palestinians in the world's largest open which is Gaza. 

Secondly, it is important to sheaf out the truth from the manipulative propaganda of the Israeli regime, usually parrotted by the media in the West. It is always drummed in the minds of people that Hamas massacred some 1400 civilians (figure now revised to 1,139). Rarely attention is drawn to the fact that out of this number, some 450 were military personnel forming part of the forces of occupation that used to oppress the Gazans and therefore constituted legitimate targets. Hence the death toll with regards to civilians and military personnel is almost 1:1.

Furthermore, several reports have emerged that a high number of civilian casualties resulted from the actions of the Israeli army which acted in line with the Hannibal directive that permits the killing of Israeli captives along with their captors to prevent hostages from being used as bargaining chips. This has been well researched by David Sheen, an independent Canadian-Israeli journalist. He recounted an incident that happened on 7 October at Kibbutz Be'eri and which is emblematic of the actions of the Israeli forces on that day. He relates that a young woman, Yasmin Porat and her partner Tal Katz, fled from the Nova Music Festival (of which Hamas had no prior knowledge, according to Israeli police) and hid in the house of Pessi Cohen together with some 15 other civilians. They were later located by some 40 Hamas fighters who broke into the house and took them as hostages. The army arrived, surrounded the house and waited for orders. In the meantime, negotiations were ongoing with the help of an Israeli Palestinian who was among the captives. The Hamas operatives wanted to secure a safe passage to Gaza together with the hostages while the army insisted on an unconditional surrender. The discussions were leading to nowhere and the decision was taken at 7.57 pm to break in. According to military journalist Kudosh Doron, Brigadier General Hiram instructed his soldiers to begin the takeover as " the terrorists will take advantage of the coming of nightfall to flee to Gaza with the hostages ". Thus indiscriminate shooting began and to finish the job, he ordered a tank to shell the house. The Army Rescue Chief, Golan Vach, reported that 15 Israeli civilians died, completely burnt and that included 8 babies. He explained that the "Palestinians were the ones who incinerated Pessi Cohen' s house, scorching everyone inside, including themselves". 

But the version of one of the only 2 survivors, Yasmin Porat, differs substantially  from that of the army. In an interview to Israeli Channel 12 on 9 October, she related that during the ordeal, the Hamas operatives treated the captives humanely and assured them that they had no intention of killing them. Their only objective was to bring them to Gaza with the aim of securing the release of  Palestinian prisoners who were rotting in Israeli jails. She added that she owed her survival to a particular circumstance.  The Commander of the Hamas group, Hassam Hamduna, reckoning that they were surrounded and there was no possibility of safe exit, negotiated his surrender by phone.  He took Yasmin Porat as a shield while exiting the house and surrendering himself to the Israeli army. The other fighters resolutely refused to surrender. Porat, having moved to the Israeli side, witnessed how the soldiers began to shoot indiscriminately towards the house despite her hysterical plea for caution as she told them that there were many Israeli captives inside. She also saw a tank shelling the house. That was the cause of the charred bodies of the captives. According to her,  there was only one baby, Mila Cohen, who was killed in crossfire together with her mother, Sandra Cohen. Yet when Brigadier General Hiram addressed the reporters he gave a different version. He adopted the version of Colonel Vach by stating that Hamas had executed the hostages, including eight babies and set fire to themselves.

The story of babies soon began to amplify. Netanyahu' s office began to spread the rumour that Hamas had executed babies and toddlers. Now it was not a question of 8 but 40 whose heads had been decapitated. One high-ranking official told the Israeli i24 channel that Hamas ' terrorists' had cut off the heads of children. These stories, cooked up by the Israeli propaganda machine, were gobbled by Western media unquestionably and disseminated throughout the world.  Even Biden lent credence to this narrative. Yet up to now no picture, video or any evidence of so-called decapitated babies has ever been produced. Another independent Jewish journalist, Max Blumenthal, has, on 27 October 2023, reported on Israeli Apache helicopters shooting indiscriminately at Hamas operatives and hostages being transported to Gaza.

In the same way, another false narrative was spun around so-called mass rapes of Israeli women by Hamas fighters who allegedly used sexual violence as a Weapon of war. This narrative too has been debunked in different quarters. The

Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict though strangely concluding that sexual violence did take place on 7 October,  however, refuted many allegations of rape and sexual violence as widely reported in the media. She pointed out that there was no forensic evidence nor any first-hand information from any alleged survivor/victim of sexual violence. Furthermore, independent journalists have perused myriad reports, articles, documents, interviews with countless Israeli sources, and viewed numerous photos and videos, yet they could find no evidence of mass rape. What is worth pointing out is that none of the released hostages complained of any sexual abuse or rape while being in the custody of Hamas in Gaza as opposed to the excruciating torture and sexual violence perpetrated  by Israel on captured Gazans, especially at the Sde Teiman military base.

All these false narratives have been woven to justify the genocidal war that Israel unleashed on Gaza after 7 October. During a whole year, genocide in its multiple forms has been committed: more than 42, 000 Gazans have been killed, the vast majority being women and children; some have been murdered in their sleep, while only the body parts like decapitated heads and dismembered limbs of so many others have been found. Hundreds of others are buried under the rubble; 66 % of buildings have been destroyed; universities, schools and colleges have been razed to the ground; hospitals and health centres have been bombed; mosques and churches have been completely demolished; historical and cultural sites have been erased; hundreds of doctors, aid workers, journalists, teachers, academicians and intellectuals have been eliminated. All this barbarity is still taking place under the eyes of the whole world.

Yet Hamas is still resisting. Israel has not been able to achieve its two stated goals: eliminating Hamas and bringing the hostages home. When Israel embarked on its murderous military expedition, the whole world thought that it would be a walkover, given its much-vaunted military capabilities, its advanced technology and the massive aid that it is receiving from the USA and Western nations in terms of state of the art weaponry, financial assistance and intelligence sharing.  Regarding the hostages, one would have thought of an exploit similar to Entebe but they are still in captivity and quite a number of them have perished under Israeli bombs. On the other hand, Israel is paying a heavy price for its genocide in Gaza.

According to Anadolu Ajansi, a Turkish news agency, more than 10,000 soldiers have been killed or injured in Gaza all this at the hands of a small non-state actor making use of mostly homemade weapons or captured ones with which reverse engineering is done. The Israeli economy is on the brink of collapse. According to Israeli economist, Shir Sever, it is a  "war - battled economy" costing more than 67 billion dollars.  All the indicators show abysmally poor performance. The rate of growth is only 0.7 %. Budget deficits are sky-high. More than 400,000 Israelis have been displaced and lost their homes and jobs and depend on a government bailout for their daily living; 46 000 enterprises have closed down; the port of Eilat has gone bankrupt; tourism is at zero; investment is almost nil; high-tech companies are relocating. Google recently cancelled a huge deal of 25 billion dollars with an Israeli company; Intel too has called off a similar deal. What is more, given the bleak future, Israelis with dual nationality are leaving in droves, taking their savings along with them. At the International level,  with the ruling of ICJ and ICC, Israel has become a pariah state.

Mainstream Western media do not give such information and continue to entertain the illusion of Israel as a mighty nation. Luckily,  there are social media and some media of the south like Hindustan Times and Times of India which show footages of military exploits of the resistance which regularly blows the flagship Merkava tanks, down the Hermes drones now and then and ambush Israeli soldiers in buildings and tunnels.

All this is linked to the rise of the Global South. Who would have thought that a small non-state actor would resist so long against a much-hyped mighty army? Who would have thought that the missiles of Hezbollah would doom the Iron Dome and hit the heart of Israel, including the residence of Netanyahu? Who would have thought that a poor nation like Yemen would produce missiles that would travel hundreds of miles and hit Tel Aviv? Who would have thought that Russia would buy drones from Iran and Ukraine from Turkey to use in their wars? There is no doubt that the world is changing.

To conclude, it is expected that Hamas would lose sooner or later but it has already won as it has destroyed a myth. The Middle East will never be the same again.

Azize Bankur

Source: Electronic Intifada