Article

2023-02-05 Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Darkest tragedy, unrealized dreams: ‘Whispered in Gaza,’ Part 3, the final interviews

[IsraelTimes] The last installment of an extraordinary series of animated video interviews — already viewed millions of times worldwide — in which ordinary Gazans tell their harrowing stories.

Produced by the Center for Peace Communications, a New York nonprofit, they are being published by The Times of Israel because they represent a rare opportunity for ordinary, courageous Gazans to tell the world what life is like under the rule of Hamas.

Since the series’ debut, the videos have accrued two million views via CPC’s platforms, and approximately one million more through a combination of partnering outlets with separate platforms, reposts on social media, and WhatsApp and Telegram transmissions. According to analytics, the largest audience resides in the Arab world, followed by English-speaking countries.

There have been several hacking attempts, presumably by Hamas in a failed attempt to block distribution of the material. The unsuccessful hacks included bot assaults on CPC’s distribution mechanism. CPC had previously disclosed one of those attempts. We have also been made aware that Hamas produced counterfeit clips with voiceovers to twist the Gazan testimonies evidently in order to sabotage the reach and audience of “Whispered in Gaza”.

All interviews were conducted over the course of 2022. The speakers all currently reside in Gaza.

Over the first and second installments, Gazan men and women shared their experience of Hamas repression, corruption, brutality, brainwashing, and warmongering. Several also described their participation in a homegrown attempt to confront Hamas rule through street demonstrations in 2019, which Hamas quashed with an iron fist.

This final installment, released amid a new wave of Hamas terror in Israel and Israeli military responses in Gaza, aims to enhance the new discussion of Gaza’s future which this series has now sparked. As CPC president Joseph Braude writes in an accompanying opinion piece, the first 17 clips have already been viewed several million times. Among their audience in the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas, some in the Arab world who had long perceived Hamas as a legitimate “resistance” movement are reacting with dismay at the group’s actual behavior, while some Western policymakers have called for creative thinking about a new approach to the coastal Strip.

The first of this installment’s eight clips narrates the darkest individual tragedy in the entire “Whispered in Gaza” series. Two others relay seldom-heard Gazan perspectives on Israeli citizens and a clash with the IDF. As to the remaining five, they platform Gazans wishing to address an international audience directly. The interviewees respond to questions about their hopes and dreams for Gaza’s future, as well as potential roles for outside powers in supporting their goals.

Videos and transcripts can be seen at the link. Living under a totalitarian regime gets ugly, and Hamas’s Gaza is no exception.

Posted by trailing wife 2023-02-05 01:11|| || Front Page|| [21 views ] Top
File under: Hamas

#1 If Hamas was an organic movement, there might be hope for accountability and improvement. Unfortunately all Palestinian leadership groups have always been controlled by outside interests whose primary aim is Palestinian rage. Hamas functions as an Iranian internal weapon against the state of Israel. Palestinian prosperity would dull the rage which is the primary function of the Palestinian movement to Iranian interests. The prosperity of the Hamas leadership group is thereby based on its ability to subjugate and control its own citizens not on facilitating community interests. Some would argue that the people could just vote out Hamas. Those individuals do not understand totalitarianism.

Posted by Super Hose 2023-02-05 08:21|| 2023-02-05 08:21|| Front Page Top

#2 Some would argue that the people could just vote out Hamas. Those individuals do not understand totalitarianism.

Truly, Super Hose.

Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, so they’ve been following that playbook. They have lots of community charity outreach efforts, provide schools and summer camps, and got themselves elected in 2007. But the PLO/PA — headed by Mahmoud Abbas — refused to give up power, so here we are, with both groups having taken the train to their station and gotten off.

There is also the jihad thingy, which runs alongside the Will To Power stuff, just like in Egypt, Turkey, and all the rest. Iran happily funds Hamas as the second part of their pincer around Israel despite that little Sunni/Shiite disagreement, with Hezbollah in Lebanon with its 100,00+ rockets and missiles as the other side. Several years ago Israel sprang the trap prematurely, when they blocked Hizbollah’s border crossing tunnels, then Gaza’s, and both spent several weeks vainly shooting rockets and missiles across the border without the possibility of getting their jihadis safely under the border for the planned second pincer of mass attacks wreaking havoc on the populations in Israel’s border communities.

Posted by trailing wife 2023-02-05 11:25|| 2023-02-05 11:25|| Front Page Top

#3 You can see from the interviews that the result in Gaza is the same as Cuba or East Germany. Hamas is permanently in power, the funding is provided from nefarious external sources, the hearts and minds of the people are controlled by propaganda and/or the education system. They may rise up one day, but it won’t be today.

Posted by Super Hose 2023-02-05 17:13|| 2023-02-05 17:13|| Front Page Top

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