EU & the legitimisation of Hamas

Earlier this week an EU court ruled that Hamas should be removed from its list of terror organisations, a decision based on evidence from social media and not analysis. Despite the fact that the EU court who ruled this have stated that this decision could be repealed, the damaging affect that this condonation of Hamas has on the peace process cannot not be stressed enough. Hamas as an organisation, be it its political or military wing, should by any means not be legitimised.

Just this past week we have seen celebrations for Hamas' 27th anniversary which certainly made evident the extremity of the blatant anti-semitism and generally violent nature of the terrorist organisation. The marches which occurred in the West Bank were particularly horrifying, involving a procession of coffins with pictures of the rabbis killed at Har Nof with darts dripping blood photoshopped onto their foreheads, labelling them as targets which had been hit.

The recent documentary 'the Green Prince' provides a fascinating insight into Hamas and the lives of terrorists in the West Bank, revealing the true nature of the organisation. It tells the true story of Mosab Hassan Yousef who grew up as the son of the leader of Hamas' political wing in the West Bank. He was brought up with a clear prejudice against Israel, and a strong emphasis on the importance of 'liberation' for the Palestinians, although  significantly he also claims that his father never taught him to hate. Mosab was arrested by Israeli police at age 17 for purchasing arms, and being in prison allowed him to gain a wider perspective on the Israel-Palestine conflict. He was convinced by the Shin Bet, the Israeli intelligence agency, to work with them, essentially as an informant, in providing information that would help thwart potential terror attacks on Israeli citizens.

The fact that he even agreed to turn against Hamas, considering the danger he was placing not only himself in, but his family, shows the extent to which the organisation began to horrify him.

Mosab describes that the turning point for him was the time spent in a high security Israeli prison with Hamas terrorists, which allowed him to comprehend the truth face of the terrorist group and what exactly went on within its leadership. Previously his father had not allowed him to have significant contact with other Hamas leaders.

He talks in the film about seeing Hamas leaders in prison brutally torture to death terrorists simply because they had been convinced to 'work with Israel' while in prison. This barbaric behaviour made him realise that Hamas was not ideologically working to truthfully help Palestinian people live freely and safely as he had been led to believe by his father, who perhaps even believed this himself. Mosab now lives in America, has converted to Christianity and often speaks out against Hamas and their oppression of the Palestinians both in Gaza and the West Bank. Writing his autobiography and publicising his story placed his family in huge danger as well as ruining his own relations with them, and the fact that he was willing to put so much at stake is indicative of his strong feelings about the organisation.

Malala Yousafzai, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, has recently announced plans to donate $50,000 to UNWRA's educational institutions and facilities in Gaza. She has said she believes the money will get more children a 'quality education'. Presumably she is not aware of the huge control which Hamas and Islamic Jihad have over the schools run by UNRWA and the irreparable damage her support will do to the outlook for peace. By giving money to this organisation she is funding terrorism. UNRWA schools use textbooks, at present mostly issued by Hamas, which advocate de-legitimisation, demonisation and violent attack of Israel. In addition, UNRWA schools are affiliated with Hamas' official wing for educational institutions and large-scale activities are often run in and by schools, celebrating the lives of terrorists, known as 'martyrs'. Generally, UNRWA schools in Gaza create an environment which produces many activists who go on to become part of Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam brigades.

As Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid recently wrote in an open letter to Malala, urging her not to donate, the money dedicated to UNRWA basically always ends up in the hands of Hamas who can allocate it to their military wing, but aside from this, it is proven that UNRWA schools are often used for storing ammunition and for hiding suspected terrorists. 

Why is Hamas considered so much less of an abhorrent organisation than the Taliban, whom Malala has dedicated significant time to fighting against?

Hamas, by causing seemingly 'low' civilian deaths of Israelis in recent conflicts may not seem as threatening, however in its ideology it is just as dangerous and this cannot be ignored. Why should Israel be penalised for having the Iron Dome to protect its citizens from Hamas rockets, which leads to lower death tolls? 

I hope that Malala will recognise the danger of donating to UNRWA, an organisation affiliated with terrorist groups, and which indoctrinates generations of children with hate, anti-semitism and violence which only perpetuate the issues of the conflict. She has dedicated her life and worked incredibly bravely in advocating against terrorism and she should not exclude Hamas from this fight.

My thoughts and prayers are also with the recent victims of the barbaric attacks in Pakistan and Australia, and I long for a world where terrorism, namely the killing of innocent civilians, in all its manifestations is no longer a part of daily reality.

Poland-5 days that changed me

A Jewish graveyard measuring 312.679 km squared

This is probably the best way to describe Poland. Knowing this, it is surely very strange to imagine how a 5 day trip there could have a positive impact on someone's outlook on life. Prior to leaving, I was very unsure over how the trip would affect me in the long term, but I did have a very fixed idea of how I thought visiting concentration camps would make me feel outwardly, based on photos I had seen and on word of mouth. I pictured it as 5 days full of tears and emotional turmoil, however I experienced something very different from this. I experienced a variety of emotions, ranging from positive to negative, all of which I feel had a long lasting effect on me.

feelings of anger

We drove around from cemetery to memorial and I noticed that the marks of 1000 years of Polish Jewry are mainly hidden in inconspicuous nooks and crannies around the country, with western civilisation existing next door seemingly ignorant of the atrocities which occured there. The impact of the Jewish people, who before the Second World War had made up 10% of the Polish population, on Polish society seemed to have been simply built over and forgotten by those who still live there. The Jewish cemetery in Warsaw is huge and beautiful, yet lies concealed behind a tall metal gate on a main road. The memorial at the umschlagplatz (center) of the Warsaw ghetto, where people were rounded up to be deported to concentration camps, also lies on a main road, and watching civilians passing by without a glance at a place that contained such an important history of so much bloodshed and evil seemed odd and unjust to me.

These photos depict the juxtaposition between the modern, cosmopolitan city life of post-communist Poland and the deeply saddening memorial remembering the unspeakable horrors of the deportation and death of so many people so close by not too long ago. These photos were taken within a minute of each other.

We went to smaller, lesser known towns which, far worse, had no memorial whatsoever to the Jews who had perished there. We went to a small town, whose population had been 50% Jewish before of the war but that had nothing that gave testimony to the Jews in its umschlagplatz (center). We stood there and sang in remembrance of those who perished and noticed people opening their windows in curiosity at where this noise was coming from in their quiet little town. 

It may be controversial to say this, but I felt that the significance of Auschwitz-Birkenau was downplayed, with a road over the tracks that had led 1.1 million people to their death. I captured a bus, driving right past the infamous entrance, marring the respectful silence.

Hope

The day that we visited the concentration camp Majdenek, where 234,000 people were killed was distressing, as we saw instruments that had been created by humans to kill other humans.

Pit filled with human ash and bones collected at Majdenek.

Rows of shoes collected from prisoners at Majdenek.

A gas chamber at Majdenek.

However, we visited  the grave of Rabbi Noam Elimelech that evening, and we sang and rejoiced to the sound of beautiful music, while literally standing in the face of death, which filled me with hope for a positive future. After being at Majdenek in the morning, a place where so many Jews were murdered, it was uplifting to stand by the grace of a Rabbi, a symbol of flourishing Jewish life, and pay respect to him. He led a particularly admirable life, and he was someone who wanted his students to celebrate when he died rather than be filled with despair, an idea which seemed to echo one of the messages from the trip overall.

A trip to Poland could end up being a nonstop depressing wake up call to the weakness of the human mind and person in the way that it struggles and fails to stay moral, sane and humane in the face of hardship. I heard endless stories of Jews turning against each other and about certain members of the Judenraat who became obsessed with and taken over by a lust for power, which I didn't know much about prior to trip. We were of course also told many stories of atrocities which the Nazis themselves committed. Hearing all of this is enough to make you lose your faith in the human race and its morality. I am someone who believes in the Judeo-Christian moral code, and after having a discussion with a friend about moral relativism on the trip I began to think about how humans have the power to commit such evil deeds. This Tuesday, I heard the son of Hans Frank, the man politically responsible for most death camps in Poland, speak about his relationship with his father and his feelings and memories on the holocaust. Hearing him talk about his realisation from a very young age that what his father was doing was very much wrong wrong was remarkable, and cemented my faith in humanity. 

Overall, the trip filled me with hope more than despair. I felt proud to have chosen to come to Poland to learn about and honour the memory of those who were victims of the Holocaust. Everything we did there, be it lighting Shabbat candles or singing Hatikvah, felt like an act of  defiance against those who had tried to exterminate us. I also noticed that the sights were emptier than I had expected, and realised how important it is that each and every one of us take the initiative onto ourselves to go and visit Poland.

I left the trip with a sense of duty to make sure others are educated about the horrors of the Holocaust, to make sure there is always someone there to prove Holocaust deniers wrong, and a desire to give back to the State of Israel and the wider Jewish community. 

Sign reading 'Work Sets You Free' at the entrance to Auschwitz I.

The other side of the sign above.

Candles which we lit to mark Shabbat coming in, at one of the women's bunkers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Lighting candles on a Friday night is something prisoners there were certainly not free to do, and sneaking candles in would have been an incredible achievement. Personally, lighting candles on a Friday night is something which I do ritualistically, without thinking properly of its significance. However, being free to light candles in a place where Jewish women were once so persecuted was a very meaningful and powerful experience for me.

Memorial to those who were gassed and cremated at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Outside the center of the old Warsaw ghetto.

Memorial to Jews of Lodz who died in concentration camps.

עם ישראל חי