There is no ‘silver bullet to defeat extremism,’ says Whispered in Gaza creator Joseph Braude on Hamas oppression of enclave’s civilians

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Updated 05 February 2023

There is no ‘silver bullet to defeat extremism,’ says Whispered in Gaza creator Joseph Braude on Hamas oppression of enclave’s civilians

There is no ‘silver bullet to defeat extremism,’ says Whispered in Gaza creator Joseph Braude on Hamas oppression of enclave’s civilians
  • Iran’s obsession with dominance both at home and in the region endangers many globally, says Braude
  • Braude spoke with “Frankly Speaking” following the release of a series of stories from the Gaza Strip

LONDON: As Hamas maintains a tight communication blockade across the Gaza Strip, people under the authoritarian rule of the Iran-sponsored militia feel desperate for a platform to share their ordeal. 

“There have been a lot of attempts by Gazans on their own, acting with great courage, to contact the outside world through social media and so on, that have come to nothing because Hamas suppresses them. So, we wanted to find a creative way to build a platform for them. And we found a way to do it using technology and animation and so on,” Joseph Braude, president of the US-based Center for Peace Communications, said on Arab News’ “Frankly Speaking.” 

In January, CPC released a number of accounts describing life in Gaza under Hamas rule. The 25-story series, entitled “Whispered in Gaza,” was published on multiple media outlets in at least five languages — Arabic, English, French, Farsi and Spanish.




Members of the Hamas security forces show their skills in a drill held during a graduation ceremony in Gaza City on October 31, 2022. (AFP)

Appearing on the flagship current affairs talk show, Braude said: “The nature of the incidents that are being described is very widespread in Gaza. The stories of flight by sea, the stories of racketeering and the shaking down of small-time merchants by Hamas, and so on.

“So, these are widespread phenomena and what you are seeing, including the opinions that are being described, are wholly in line with the findings of all of those polls and journalists and human rights investigators that do their work.”

The diverse accounts detail the various oppression and repression techniques employed by Hamas to stifle anyone who challenges the status quo, raising concerns about going on record or speaking with foreign media and organizations. 

“Some of the speakers, by their own accounts, as you see in the video, previously were jailed by Hamas for doing exactly what they were doing when they spoke to us: trying to tell their stories to the outside world,” Braude told “Frankly Speaking” host Katie Jensen. 




Joseph Braude, president of the US-based Center for Peace Communications (CPC), appears on Arab News’ “Frankly Speaking” talk show. (Screenshot)

He added: “We committed to them that we would not show their faces and that we would technologically alter their voices so that there would be a measure of anonymity provided to them. 

“So, on the one hand, the stories are being told without their faces shown, which they might have done in the past. On the other hand, they are reaching a much larger audience because the tragedy of this communications blockade by Hamas is that they’ve been successful in taking down content that Gazans attempt to put up.

“But here, we have built a substantial distribution channel on four continents, and the material is everywhere. It proliferates and it is impossible to take it down, even though Hamas has tried.”  

CPC shared a tweet on Jan. 24 stating that days after the series’ launch, “it was swarmed by pro-Hamas accounts” attacking the project. In the Twitter thread, CPC wrote that a user accused one of the Gazan speakers “of being an intelligence officer.”




Supporters of the Palestinian Hamas movement demonstrate in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on October 21, 2022, against Israel. (AFP)

Braude said that this Twitter attack “shows that Hamas doesn’t want these voices to be heard,” accusing the movement of “attempting to globalize” their “repression of free expression” and “suppress global free expression.” 

He highlighted that the real danger, which affects many beyond Gaza’s borders, is posed by Iran and its proxies, including Hamas. 

Hamas has been supported by the Iranian regime since the 1990s, when 418 leading Hamas figures were deported to Lebanon by Israel and started cooperating with the Iran-backed Hezbollah, according to the Washington Institute. 

“Everybody is in danger from these groups,” Braude said. “They are persecuted and the first victims are the people who live under their rule.




A Palestinian youth collects plastic and iron from a landfill in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, on January 17, 2022. (AFP)

“I don’t even really know how to describe a situation that is so broad,” he continued, underlining that many people are “endangered” by “Iran’s attempts to maintain its dominance both of its own country and of large portions of the region.”

Braude added: “That is why you are seeing it in Iran, (and) you are seeing it in Gaza now: People want something different. They want a better future. They want security as well and stability.” 

With over 80 percent of people in the coastal strip living below the poverty line and 64 percent currently food insecure, as per figures from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, an increasing number of Gazans drown at sea fleeing the conflict-ridden territory in the quest for better lives.

Meanwhile, high-profile Hamas leaders lead luxurious lives abroad and retreat to ritzy hotels in Beirut and Istanbul, where they also own profitable real estate businesses, AFP reported last month. 




Arab News’ “Frankly Speaking” talk show host Katie Jenson. (Screenshot)

Concurring that the lavish lifestyle Hamas leaders enjoy has stirred resentment among Gazans, Braude pointed out that Hamas’ growing image problem due to economic disparities has emerged in several of the recorded testimonies. 

“While the majority of Gazans are denied access to the aid and support that comes in from multiple sources in the world, the Hamas leadership and their families and the small circle of elites that surround them are living in the lap of luxury,” he said. 

“So, yeah, it’s not bad to live in Gaza if you are a stalwart of Hamas, particularly at the leadership level.” 

Emphasizing the importance of the world joining forces to put an end to these injustices, Braude said he hoped the 25 testimonies would start “a new conversation” by introducing policymakers and world leaders to “a new way of thinking about the realities, more and greater understanding of what people want in Gaza, how people feel about those who control their Strip.” 

He argued that such creative endeavors have the potential to empower many Gazans, eventually and hopefully enabling “the educational conditions to improve (and) information to travel more freely.”

Braude urged the world “not to wait until the ongoing military stalemate is resolved” and to instead “find answers now, to find steps that can be taken now” and harness “the tools that the 21st century has brought to the world,” as he sees “no end in sight” to the current dire situation in Gaza. 

“And so, we hope we’re starting a new conversation,” he said. 

However, Israeli forces have been for decades committing systematic human rights violations against Palestinians, including minors, according to Amnesty International, which pointed out on June 17, 2022, that “some 170 Palestinians currently imprisoned were arrested when they were children.”

Amnesty International also condemned Israel for the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11, 2022. 

Asked if he condemned Israel’s human rights violations, Braude responded: “There are quite a few people in this series who say, forthrightly, that they were in favor of the first and the second intifadas, but fault Hamas for going on to start wars with Israel that it could not win and then hide in bunkers and leave civilians to suffer the casualties.” 

Citing one of the testimonies by a man who refused to let Hamas dictate how he resists the Israeli occupation, Braude said: “Hamas — by launching wars, provoking reactions that cause civilian casualties but…do not advance the Palestinian cause — is forcing people to go by its playbook.” 

He also said he believed it was possible to ignite real action by starting a conversation, stressing that “nonviolent expression is ultimately the most powerful tool that humanity has in order to advance justice, peace and the well-being of all peoples.” 

Nevertheless, Braude pointed out that there were “no immediate solutions for the tragedy that is being portrayed here, and we are under no illusions about that.

“We are not suggesting that there is any sort of a silver bullet to defeat extremism, to end stale forms of thinking and so on,” he continued. “I think that at most we achieve a ripple effect that, as I’ve said, affects the vocabulary of the discussion, that stimulates new forms of creative thinking by multiple parties and elements within, without and so on.” 

Braude told “Frankly Speaking” that “Whispered in Gaza” was “only the beginning of an ongoing project.” 

He said: “Whenever we launch an initiative … we take time and we look at what it achieved. We try to draw lessons and to innovate, always to build on successes and learn from whatever lessons emerged. So that is what we are looking at right now. And, of course, we are going to do more.”

 


Jordanian MPs vote to expel Israeli envoy in Amman over Palestine denial speech

Jordanian MPs vote to expel Israeli envoy in Amman over Palestine denial speech
Updated 52 sec ago

Jordanian MPs vote to expel Israeli envoy in Amman over Palestine denial speech

Jordanian MPs vote to expel Israeli envoy in Amman over Palestine denial speech
  • Bezalel Smotrich dismissed existence of Palestinian people, used map of Israel including occupied West Bank, Gaza, Jordan
  • Finance minister’s behavior reflected ‘Israeli arrogance, disrespect of international treaties, conventions’: Jordan MPs

AMMAN: The Jordanian Parliament’s Lower House has voted to expel Israel’s ambassador in Amman in protest over Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s reference to a map of Israel that included the occupied West Bank, Gaza, and Jordan.

During a speech in Paris on Sunday, Smotrich claimed the notion of a Palestinian people was artificial.

He said: “There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. There is no Palestinian history. There is no Palestinian language.”

The minister was speaking at a memorial event for a French Israeli right-wing activist who had denied the existence of a Palestinian nation and advocated annexation of the West Bank.

During the Jordan Parliament session on Wednesday, MPs described Smotrich’s words as reflecting “an Israeli arrogance and disrespect of international treaties and conventions,” the Jordan News Agency reported.

Lower House speaker, Ahmed Safadi, called on Jordan’s government to take proactive measures against Smotrich’s statements and behavior.
 


Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel will not revive settlements evacuated in 2005

Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel will not revive settlements evacuated in 2005
Updated 22 March 2023

Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel will not revive settlements evacuated in 2005

Benjamin Netanyahu: Israel will not revive settlements evacuated in 2005
  • Lawmakers earlier voted to annul part of a law banning Israelis from living in areas of the occupied West Bank the government evacuated in 2005

JERUSALEM: Israel has “no intention” of reviving West Bank settlements evacuated nearly two decades ago, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday, after a parliamentary vote sparked US ire.
Lawmakers voted Tuesday to annul part of a law banning Israelis from living in areas of the occupied West Bank the government evacuated in 2005.
That year Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip and removed Jewish settlers from the coastal territory, as well as from four settlements in the northern West Bank.
Netanyahu’s office said the parliamentary vote scraps “a discriminatory and humiliating law, that prohibited Jews from living in areas in northern Samaria, which is part of our historic homeland,” using the biblical name for the northern West Bank.
“Having said that, the government has no intention of establishing new communities in these areas,” the statement added.
Netanyahu returned to power in December and vowed to expand settlements across the West Bank, which are deemed illegal under international law.
His assertion that the government will not formally allow settlers to return to the four sites evacuated in 2005 comes after Washington said it was “extremely troubled” by the parliamentary vote.
“The legislative changes announced today are particularly provocative,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters Tuesday.
Patel said the move was in “clear contradiction” of promises made by prime minister Ariel Sharon to US president George W. Bush, as well as assurances given just two days ago by the Netanyahu administration.
The decision by lawmakers was heralded by Israel’s settler movement which has made one of the sites — Homesh — a symbol of their cause.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a far-right settler, tweeted that it marked a step toward regularizing the Israeli presence at Homesh.
A small group of activists returned to the site in 2009 and set up a Jewish seminary, which was cleared repeatedly by Israeli troops before the military eventually allowed them to stay.


Tear gas, clashes as Lebanon protesters try to storm government HQ

Tear gas, clashes as Lebanon protesters try to storm government HQ
Updated 22 March 2023

Tear gas, clashes as Lebanon protesters try to storm government HQ

Tear gas, clashes as Lebanon protesters try to storm government HQ
  • The retired soldiers demanding better pay were clashing with riot police and troops

BEIRUT: Lebanese security forces fired tear gas on Wednesday to disperse hundreds of protesters, mainly retired soldiers, who tried to break through the fence leading to the government headquarters in downtown Beirut.
The violence came amid widespread anger over the harsh economic conditions in the country, where mismanagement by the ruling class has been rampant for years, preceding the economic meltdown that started in late 2019.
The retired soldiers demanding better pay were clashing with riot police and troops. Several people suffered breathing problems from the tear gas. The protesters hurled stones at the officers protecting the government headquarters and repeatedly tried to break through the fence.
The Lebanese pound hit a new low on Tuesday, selling for more than 143,000 pounds to the dollar before making some gains. The pound has lost more than 96 percent of its value over the past three years.
“My monthly salary is $40. How can I survive,” screamed a retired army officer.
Lebanon, a small Mediterranean nation of 6 million people, is in the grips of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by a political class that has ruled the country since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.
The political class has also resisted the implementation of reforms demanded by the international community. Since the economic meltdown began, three-quarters of the population, which includes 1 million Syrian refugees, now lives in poverty and inflation is soaring.
Lebanon has also stalled on reforms agreed to with the International Monetary Fund to enable access to $3 billion in a bailout package and unlock funds in development aid to make the economy viable again.


Building collapse in Qatar’s capital kills 1, search ongoing

Building collapse in Qatar’s capital kills 1, search ongoing
Updated 22 March 2023

Building collapse in Qatar’s capital kills 1, search ongoing

Building collapse in Qatar’s capital kills 1, search ongoing

DOHA: A building collapsed Wednesday in Qatar’s capital, killing at least one person as searchers clawed through the rubble to check for survivors, authorities said.
Qatar’s Interior Ministry described the building as a four-story structure in Doha’s Bin Durham neighborhood. It said rescuers found seven survivors, while the one person killed had been inside the building at the time of the collapse.
Authorities offered no immediate explanation for the building’s collapse. Online video showed car alarms sounding after the collapse, with one part of the building falling into another nearby.
Civil defense and police surrounded the site after the 8 a.m. collapse, with multiple ambulances and an excavator at the scene. Residents were asked to evacuate for their safety.
Qatar hosted the FIFA World Cup last year.


Pro-Kurdish party gives tacit support to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rival in Turkey polls

Pro-Kurdish party gives tacit support to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rival in Turkey polls
Updated 22 March 2023

Pro-Kurdish party gives tacit support to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rival in Turkey polls

Pro-Kurdish party gives tacit support to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rival in Turkey polls
  • Peoples’ Democratic Party decision reduces the possibility of a damaging split of the anti-Erdogan vote
  • Boosts the chances of the opposition alliance’s joint candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu

ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s main pro-Kurdish party said Wednesday it would not field a presidential candidate in May elections, giving tacit support to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rival in the crucial vote.
The decision by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) reduces the possibility of a damaging split of the anti-Erdogan vote, boosting the chances of the opposition alliance’s joint candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
Winning more than 10 percent of the vote in the past three national elections, the HDP was widely seen as a kingmaker in the tightly contested race.
“We will not field a candidate in the presidential elections,” Pervin Buldan, the party co-chairwoman, told reporters.
“We will fulfil our historic responsibility to end one-man rule in the coming elections,” she said, condemning Erdogan’s consolidation of power over his two decades as prime minister and president.
The HDP’s decision strips Erdogan of a key voting bloc in what is widely seen as Turkiye’s most important election of its post-Ottoman history.
Erdogan enjoyed some support from Kurdish voters earlier in his rule.
His government once worked with HDP politicians in an effort to put an end to a decades-long fight by Kurdish insurgents for an independent state that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
But he now accuses the HDP — parliament’s third largest party — of being the political wing of the PKK militants.
The leftist party denies the charges and says it is being singled out for its fierce criticism of the government’s social and economic policies.
Erdogan and his far-right allies in parliament are now trying to dissolve the HDP over its alleged terror ties.
Turkiye’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday rejected the HDP’s request to delay the outcome of the case until after the May 14 election.
The HDP was excluded from a six-party opposition alliance that has rallied around Kilicdaroglu’s candidacy.
The anti-Erdogan alliance includes staunchly nationalist parties that refuse to work with the HDP.
Meeting with HDP leaders on Monday, Kilicdaroglu promised to remove restrictions on the Kurdish language and address other Kurdish concerns.