A Hamas sympathizer expelled from Kuwait. Palestinians in Gaza upload clips cursing Hamas. Money pouring into Israeli startups despite war. Terror tunnels destroyed. Iranian general taken out. Hamas offices in Germany shut. College presidents held responsible for campus antisemitism. And a push for Palestinian leaders to take responsibility. The year 2023 ended with a lot of things going right in Israel’s war against terrorism.
The American Jewish Congress released this poster as part of a report on how Hamas terror group was busted, and Israeli concerns vindicated during a key moment in the war.
WAR IS MESSY AND UNFORTUNATE. But fighting evil is sometimes the last option, especially when a terror group like Hamas launches more than 12,000 ‘dumb bombs’ on civilian population centers. So, with the bad news of innocent lives lost on all sides, the good news is manifested in the many examples of how the war against Hamas is having an impact. Here, we share with you examples of positive developments emerging from this war. Please share this far and wide in your circles, both by forwarding this email, or by sharing the Web link on our website for this post here.
THE PUSHBACK
- Kuwait Expels Hamas Mouthpiece. A women’s group of the Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood, the ideological cousins of Hamas, invited Adham Abu Selmiya to speak at a public event celebrating the Oct. 7 terror attack. Selmiya is the Gaza-based pro-Hamas social media influencer known for promoting vile propaganda to his more than 700,000 followers on X/Twitter. Selmiya was promised a huge fee. Sadly for him, Gulf Arab activists launched an online campaign titled Kick Adham Abu Selmiya Out of Kuwait. The Kuwaiti government canceled his visa on Nov. 26 and put him on a plane back to Gaza. Embarrassed, Selmiya deleted his original triumphant X post announcing his speaking event [Sorry, Adham! We have a screenshot]. A Kuwaiti activist wrote: “Praise be to God, Adham Abu Selmia’s seminar has been canceled, and he will leave Kuwait today.”
- Germany Acts Against Supporters of Hamas And Hezbollah. In November, Germany banned Hamas and joined the E.U. in criminalizing support for the group. Separately, the German police carried out a massive nationwide operation against the Islamic Center Hamburg (IZH), which is the local affiliate of Iran’s proxy Hezbollah. And Hundreds of German police raided properties of Hamas supporters in Berlin and across the country.
- Denmark and Germany Bust Anti-Jewish Terror Plot. Four Hamas activists were arrested, and Hamas lost one of its safest places for fundraising in Germany and its operations across Europe lay exposed.
- Abraham Accords Survive Assault By Hamas And Iran. Scuttling Saudi-Israel peace and hurting Abraham Accords was one of the Hamas goals in the Oct. 7 attack, as our chairman Jack Rosen wrote in Time magazine. But a month after Hamas attack, a Saudi minister confirmed normalization with Israel remained on the table, and one of the top UAE voices on foreign policy said normalization with Israel is “here to stay” .
- Arab And Muslim States Ignore Hamas. Nearly 60 states gathered in Saudi Arabia for a summit meeting on Gaza situation and rejected attempts by a handful of states to support Hamas. Iran was a net loser: Tehran’s anti-Israel narrative was rejected, and the regime was left out of follow-up committees.
- Pushback Against Attempts To Reduce Israeli Suffering. When Rep. Pramila Jayapal tried to downplay Israeli suffering due to the Oct. 7 war, she faced a backlash and the reactions helped discredit attempts to downplay Israeli losses. We weighed in with a strong statement.
- Top Iran General Neutralized. Israel killed Razi Mousavi, a senior officer in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, in an airstrike in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Dec. 25. Mousavi is the third IRGC official confirmed killed in an airstrike in Syria since Oct. 7, and the second senior IRGC general eliminated since the killing of Qasem Soleimani.
- Faith In Israeli Economy Despite War. Israeli high-tech firms raised $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, in a sign that foreigners are still investing in Israeli startups despite Israel’s war.
- U.N. Breaks Silence On Hamas Sexual Violence. On Dec. 1, two months late (but better late than never), the UN Women condemned Hamas for sexual violence on Oct. 7. And U.N. officials raised voice on rising Antisemitism, on Dec. 22. Separately, an event at UN New York saw heartbreaking testimonies from those who saw and dealt with Hamas sexual mutilation cases. And on Dec. 28, New York Times published a detailed investigative report into Hamas sexual violence.
- Hospital Controversy: Hamas Busted, Israel Vindicated. This was a key moment in the war, when Israel offered evidence on how Hamas weaponized Gaza hospitals in war, endangering lives of staff and patients. Proofs included signs that some of the medical staff collaborated with Hamas on hiding Israeli hostages and failed to report the information to the international community.
- Ceasefire Attempts Defeated. Multiple attempts for a cease-fire at the U.N. Security Council were defeated. The U.S. diplomats did a great job of explaining to the Council that draft resolutions calling for a cease-fire were partial against Israel while sparing Hamas. Two statements stood out: one by Amb. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and the other by Amb. Robert Wood. Worth a read.
- Polls Show Majority Americans Support Israel At War. December 2023 Times/Siena Poll of Registered Voters Nationwide confirmed that overall support for Israel remains healthy. Here are two important takeaways for 2024, according to an analysis by Jewish Insider: “One, Biden’s decision to remain publicly supportive of Israel is clearly the smart move politically. Older voters, who are the most reliable, remain solidly behind Israel and Biden would risk creating a bigger rift if he tried to distance himself from Israel’s war against Hamas.”
- Criticism For Hamas Apologism. A bipartisan group of House lawmakers have criticized the Associated Press and its style guide for guidance that advises against using the terms “terrorist” and “terrorism” to describe Hamas and its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Don’t Forget To Check Out Our Major Wins Against Hamas This Week: In Media, Academia, And Politics Report Published By American Jewish Congress on Dec. 10, 2023.
PALESTINIANS AGAINST HAMAS
- Palestinian Woman Begs Haniyeh And Hamas To Stop War. A clip of a woman at the Jabaliya camp in Gaza went viral in the last week of December 2023 where her underage daughter stood by her crying as she pleaded to Hamas terror chief Ismail Haniyeh to stop the war citing widespread food shortages. “We Palestinians have been humiliated,” she says in the clip.
- Arabs Criticize Hamas. Amjad Taha, an Arab influencer active in the Gulf and the West, says “Israel is not our enemy and won’t be. Hamas is everyone’s enemy.” This is part of a wider trend on social media where a number of Arab and Muslim influencers are raising their voices against anti-Israel hate amid backlash by extremists.
- Mourners Curse Hamas. Palestinians burying war victims in Gaza were seen in a viral clipcursing Hamas and shouting, ‘Sanwar and Haniyeh, we are the victims of your war.’ In the same clip, a young Palestinian man calls Hamas’s war a “suicidal cowardly reckless action.”
- Palestinian Bedouins Riot Against Hamas. A Bedouin clan, who are Arab Muslims and Palestinian by heritage, went viral last week when its members rioted against Hamas at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt because Hamas fighters killed a Palestinian teenage boy from the clan for taking food from international aid entering Gaza.
- Arabs Plan A Future Without Hamas. Many reports and our own contacts in the region indicate that major Arab states want a future in Gaza that does not include Hamas. They also want to permanently resolve the conflict with rights for Palestinians and peace for Israel and the region, with no role for Hamas’ narrative of ‘from the river to the sea.’
- More Arabs Want To Speak Up against Hamas and the mutilation and hate it displayed on Oct. 7. Many are in contact with the American Jewish Congress and other organizations working for peace between Israel and its neighbors. Some of them want us to help create an environment and tools to amplify their voices. Many of them want Arab governments to stand by their right to speak against Hamas. Another thing to note is that more pro-Hamas rallies were seen in some Western cities than in the Middle East.
We will continue to monitor the situation and war for you into the new year. Please share this far and wide in your circles, both by forwarding this email, or by sharing the Web link on our website for this post here. Consider supporting our work with a donation.
