Gaza Riots: Really About the Embassy?

by Bassam Tawil
May 18, 2018 at 5:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12329/gaza-riots-jerusalem-embassy

Translations of this item:

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Throughout history, the excuses to attack Israel keep changing.
For 8 years under the Obama administration, the Palestinians had portrayed themselves, and been treated as, the deserving underdog -- the "good guys." Now, a foreign government is actually holding the Palestinians accountable and calling them out for activities they had taken for granted, such as incitement to riot and murder, or funding terrorists and their families. The Palestinians do not like it one bit.
The Palestinians hate the Trump administration not because of the decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, but because it speaks truth to them and exposes their perfidy and malice. They hate the Trump administration because they see it as an obstacle on their way to eliminating Israel.
What happened at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip was an act of aggression by Hamas on Israeli sovereignty. It was an act of war. Even the terrorists did not say that they were protesting the embassy relocation. The terrorists and the rest of the Palestinian demonstrators were chanting "Death to Israel" and "Death to America." They were chanting that their goal is to replace Israel with an Islamic state.
The idea that Hamas is concerned about the US embassy move is a sick joke. All one needs to do is to listen carefully to what Hamas is saying, namely that its struggle is to "liberate all of Palestine, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River." Hamas is saying that the protests it has been orchestrating are aimed at enabling millions of Palestinians to flood Israel and turn it into an Islamic state.

Much of the world is convinced that the Palestinian protests that took place on May 14 and 15 were directly connected to the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

This misapprehension can be traced directly to the international media, which helped create the impression that the clashes that took place between Palestinians and the Israel Defense Forces along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel came in response to US President Donald Trump's decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Instead, what we have witnessed in the past few days is part of the ongoing Palestinian struggle against Israel. This is a struggle that began with the establishment of Israel 70 years ago and is continuing to this day. It is a struggle that every now and then finds a new excuse to launch terror attacks against Israel and kill as many Jews as possible.

Most notably, throughout history, the excuses to attack Israel keep changing.

Once, it was that Ariel Sharon, then Israel's opposition leader, had "invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque." This was in September 2000, and Palestinians used that lie to launch the Second Intifada: a massive wave of suicide bombings and drive-by shootings and other forms of terrorism that left thousands of Israelis maimed or dead. At that time, Palestinian leaders told their people to take to the streets to defend their holy sites because Sharon and other Jews were planning to destroy them.

About three years ago, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and his Ramallah-based associates lied to their people again. This time, they told Palestinians that permitted visits by Jews to the Temple Mount, also known to Muslims as Haram Al-Sharif, were designed to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Abbas even went as far as vowing that the Palestinians would not allow Jews to "defile with their filthy feet our holy sites." Abbas's well-known speech ignited another uprising -- this time known as the "Knife Intifada."

It is no secret that the Palestinians were never happy with the election of President Trump. It is no secret that the Palestinians were never happy that President Trump had surrounded himself with a number of Jewish senior advisors: Jason Greenblatt, Jared Kushner and US Ambassador David Friedman.

From the moment Trump took office, the Palestinians saw that the good old days of the Barack Obama administration were gone. The Palestinians had gotten used to hearing the White House and State Department scapegoat Israel for the crimes of the Palestinians. The Palestinians noticed a rather dismaying change in tone between the two administrations.

Suddenly, the Palestinians woke up to see criticism being fired in their direction. This came as quite a shock to them. For 8 years under the Obama administration, they had portrayed themselves, and been treated, as the deserving underdog – the "good guys." Now, a foreign government was actually holding the Palestinians accountable and calling them out for activities they had taken for granted, such as incitement to riot and murder, or funding terrorists and their families. The Palestinians do not like it one bit.

The Palestinians hate the Trump administration not because of the decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. They hate the Trump administration because they see it as being pro-Israel. They hate the Trump administration because it speaks truth to them and exposes their perfidy and malice. They hate the Trump administration because they see it as an obstacle on their way to eliminating Israel.

Does anyone seriously think that a young Palestinian living in the Gaza Strip and who has never been outside the coastal enclave really cares whether the US embassy is located in Jerusalem? This Palestinian has never been to Jerusalem or the West Bank; in most instances, young Palestinians have not even been out of the Gaza Strip.

Why should a young Palestinian living in the Gaza Strip care about the embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem when the vast majority of the Arab residents of Jerusalem and Arab countries do not seem to be bothered by Trump's decision?

Proving this week that the last thing on their mind is the issue of the US embassy, the Arabs of Jerusalem did not stage any protests or even go on strike (only a few Arab citizens of Israel and a handful of political activists from east Jerusalem showed up for a planned protest near the site of the new US embassy). Moreover, we did not see millions of Arabs and Muslims take to the streets in their countries to express outrage over the embassy move.

It is true that the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip demonstrated along the border with the Gaza Strip on May 14, the day when the inauguration ceremony for the US embassy took place in Jerusalem.

However, the demonstrations were in the context of the so-called Great March of Return, a six-week campaign launched by Hamas and other Palestinian groups. The organizers said that the march had three main goals: to achieve the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees and their descendants so that they would be able to move to Israel, to thwart Trump's yet-to-be-announced plan for peace in the Middle East, and to return the Palestinian issue to the top of the world's agenda.

The "Great March of Return" demonstrations began in late March and reached their peak on May 14, one day before the Gregorian day marking Israel's 70th anniversary, which the Palestinians call Nakba Day (Catastrophe Day). So the demonstrations that took place on the day of the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem were in the context of the "Great March of Return," and not specifically planned for the embassy move.

The demonstrations that took place that day were no different from the previous weekly protests orchestrated by Hamas and its allies in the Gaza Strip. On May 14, thousands of Palestinians again tried to breach the border with Israel, but were repelled by Israeli troops. They did not try to breach the border to protest against the embassy relocation.

Rather, they sought to infiltrate Israel to wreak havoc and kill Jews. Jerusalem is about 97 km (62 miles) away from the Gaza border, and they knew that they would never be able to reach that city.

What happened at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip was an act of aggression by Hamas on Israeli sovereignty. It was an act of war. It was an attempt by a terror group to use tens of thousands of civilians as a cover to infiltrate the border. ِEighty percent of those killed by the Israeli army on that day were Hamas members. Even Hamas has admitted this; senior Hamas official and spokesmen Salah Al-Bardaweel revealed in a television interview that 50 of the 62 Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire were Hamas members.

Pictured: A group of young Gazan men drag away of section of razor wire that was cut away from Israel's security fence, as part of Hamas' attempt to breach the border and cross into Israel, May 14, 2018. (Image source: VOA News video sreenshot)

If the protests in the Gaza Strip were against the US embassy inauguration ceremony, what were 50 Hamas members doing trying to infiltrate the border with Israel? Were they on their way to holding a peaceful protest against the Trump administration? Were they on their way to stage a peaceful sit-in strike outside the offices of the United Nations in Jerusalem?

No: the Hamas terrorists were on their way to kill Jews. They were on their way to infiltrate Israeli communities near the border with the Gaza Strip. Even the terrorists did not say that they were protesting the embassy relocation.

The terrorists and the rest of the Palestinian demonstrators were chanting "Death to Israel" and "Death to America." They were chanting that their goal is to replace Israel with an Islamic state. They were chanting that there is no room for Jews in this region. They were chanting slogans against the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, whom they accuse of being too friendly with Israel and the Trump administration.

The Palestinians are using the issue of the US embassy as yet another excuse to pursue their war on Israel. Abbas and his cronies are using the embassy as an excuse to step up their campaign to delegitimize and demonise Jews. Their goal is to isolate Israel in the international community.

Does anyone seriously think that Abbas really cares about the precise location of the US embassy? Why has he never protested against the fact that the US Consulate General is already in Jerusalem? Why has he never protested that the Knesset and the Prime Minister's Office and the Israeli Supreme Court are already based in Jerusalem? Why should Abbas or any Palestinian be upset if the US embassy is located in west Jerusalem and not in an Arab neighbourhood in east Jerusalem? Abbas is not objecting to the embassy; Abbas is objecting to the Israeli state, which he has repeatedly described as a "colonialist project" imposed on Arabs by Western powers.

If he really cared about the US embassy inauguration, he would not have spent the days prior to the ceremony in Chile, Venezuela and Cuba.

The idea that Hamas is concerned about the US embassy move is a sick joke. All one needs to do is to listen very carefully to what Hamas is saying, namely that its struggle is to "liberate all of Palestine, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River." Hamas is saying that the protests it has been orchestrating are aimed at enabling millions of Palestinians to flood Israel and turn it into an Islamic state with a Jewish minority. Hamas could not care less about the location of the embassy. Hamas wants "Palestine" and "Palestine" in its entirety.

Abbas and Hamas are using the US embassy move to wage another blood libel against Israel, by accusing it of killing innocent and unarmed civilians -- a charge that is wholly counterfactual in the wake of Hamas's own admission that most of the victims were Hamas terrorists. The Palestinians have once again found an excuse to wage war on Israel and Jews, this time in the form of the embassy move.

They are trying to create the false impression that the conflict with Israel began -- and is now focused on -- Trump's decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem -- as if before the decision, Palestinians had recognized Israel's right to exist as the homeland of the Jewish people. As if before the decision, Palestinians had not been engaged in semi-daily killings of Jews. As if before the decision, Palestinians had not been inciting and promoting violence against Jews.

Sadly, there are many in the international media who are helping the Palestinians promote the lie that this moment in the Israeli Arab conflict is all about the decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. In reality, this moment – and all others – in the Israeli-Arab conflict is about some Arabs rejecting that Israel exists at all, within any borders, in the Middle East.

Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East

© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

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Comment on this item

17 Reader Comments

william carr • May 20, 2018 at 23:37

I would like to see a change in the language used to describe Israel. It was the RE establishment of the State of Israel, not a creation from nothing as the 'palestinians' and their supporters like to claim. It was also a LIBERATION of the Land of Israel from over a thousand year Occupation. The Muslims have no right to the Land of Israel or any of the lands they conquered in North Africa and the ME.
BTW "from the river to the sea" is often heard chanted by supporters of the 'palestinians' even in Western countries, which means nothing less than the annihilation of Israel!

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tiki • May 19, 2018 at 12:08

Western journalists......the willing soldiers for Hamas & Abbas.

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Morton Winner • May 19, 2018 at 01:37

Mr. Tawil's latest article is extraordinary-a perfect depiction of the true basis of our times, of our headlines. If one adds to this article the letters/comments of Alan O'Connor, and of Bart Benschop, one has the supreme and ineluctable antidote to the filthy lies used to oppress and kill the Jews since the very beginning of Islam. I cannot find any greater expressions of praise to offer Messrs. Tawil, O'Connor, and Benschop, than to say that their words are in keeping with those of our holy prophets and judges.

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Jerry Ram • May 18, 2018 at 17:07

Thank you for your excellent article. Why would Muslims want peace? They have everything going for them. They are hostages in their own culture. It is very convenient for the UN and other organizations to use and foment the Muslim Israeli situation. After all, Jews have always been the victims so why change the status quo?

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Stan Lee • May 18, 2018 at 13:08

Embassy move or not, Iran seeks to provoke and a loss of Palestinian lives mean nothing to Iran and its legions in and about the Holy Land.

Once again, the Palestinians are being used for anti-Israel escapades, because there is little to no expense for Iran.This will not be the last time, it is trying to sap Israel's strength and so is Turkey.

In addition, Iran receives the credit and notoriety to make it a key figure as Islam's major force against Israel's existence. But, now Turkey sent Israeli-manufactured drones it purchased for its own use to Iran. That allows the Iranians to "reverse engineer" those high-tech. weapons for which it will probably look favorably at Turkey.

Erdogan schemes to bring Iran to his side against Israel and the western powers including USA. The "West" must realize that Erdogan is no natural ally in NATO, it will turn out as a serious mistake made in a frenzy to "out-flank" Russia's power in that neighborhood. That should initiate a dilemma for Iran and Turkey, both of which seek to individually rule over an Islamic Mideast caliphate which is a goal for each of the two Islamic powers.

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Geoff Mizel • May 18, 2018 at 12:25

As long as the Palestinian people are indoctrinated through endless Propaganda 24/7 and basically stay IGNORANT to their actual situation relating to the state of Israel, Hamas and Fatah will forever have an iron grip on their people to exploit. The people of Gaza and the rest Bank are tools, Pawns, of the Islamo-fascist terrorists.

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A.T. Halmay • May 18, 2018 at 11:53

This lengthy discourse has it right and wrong. The move of the embassy is a huge symbolic move to a culture that holds symbols high in all assessments. When Morsi took power in Egypt he mentioned the recapture of Jerusalem as one of his aims. We shouldn't speak of Palestinians as a whole in this never ending conflict. Anyone who has visited Israel would have met decent, civilized and appealing Palestinian Arabs. It is the leaders who must be singled out and Israel should have been going after these leaders, capturing them, incarcerating them or assassinating them - but getting rid of them for good. If that doesn't work then there is always Queen Isabella's solution - total deportation.

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jeb • May 18, 2018 at 09:16

I have to concede the author may be right after all who am I, but my thoughts are somewhat different although there is no doubt the Embassy move has been seized on to incite violence. But the issue among the Gazans is I believe motivated by the notion that for decades now and especially since the onset of the peace process the Palestinian leadership whether overtly Islamic radical lead by Hamas or covertly by the PA, is adamantly opposed to the existence of Israel on the basis of their religious political beliefs.

The impoverished Palestinian Arabs 2/3rds of the Gaza lives in refugee camps and 40% of the West Bank have been told their condition will only change when they may "return". Hence they have linked their struggle to socialist terms that which rightfully a condition of their own religious intolerance especially by Hamas and to lesser that pf no less import among the PA leadership.

To shift the focus on the move of the US Embassy as a cause even if fallacious shifts the blame as if to avoid the accusation of being Islamophobic.

The bottom line is the UN is doing nothing to encourage the shift from a Palestinian return that is connected in their minds with the status of Jerusalem the two critical issues Clinton put off to kick start the peace process but the fact is their was no process is doomed from the beginning it was inevitable it would arrive at the point it is today, US recognition of West Jerusalem as the de facto capital of Israel and the confirmation Israel is a legitimate state.

It also places the onus on the Palestinian leadership to do more development for statehood rather than turning its focus away from the total destruction of Israel by right of return and the annihilation of the Jews the declared charter of the terrorist organization and tyrannical government of Gaza.

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Peter Rotberg • May 18, 2018 at 08:26

The same old story over and over again.
The world turns terrorists into heroes and victims into criminals and "human" rights violators on ISR- Gaza borders
Make Mr. Bassam's message of truth known the world over
Peter Rotberg

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geoff

Peter Rotberg • May 18, 2018 at 12:30

Albert Einstein said it best when he defined INSANITY as engaging in the same behavior over and over again, each and every time expecting a different result but each and every time getting the exact same result.

The Islamo-/Fascist Israeli conflict.

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Alan O'Connor • May 18, 2018 at 08:19

The Arab/Islamic attacks against Jews living in what is now Israel began well before the State was founded in 1948. Jews frequently suffered pogrom type massacres from about 1850 onwards, when Jewish settlers began returning to the area. During the British Mandate period, the British rulers frequently turned a blind eye to the situation and, at times, even encouraged the Arab mobs. So the current situation is not something new and one only has to look at the history of the area to appreciate this. In simple terms, devout Moslems will always hate Jews and one only has to read the Koran, Hadiths, etc to understand why.

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b.a. freeman

Alan O'Connor • May 18, 2018 at 15:44

Alan, the brits were as anti-semitic as anybody else back then; the whole reason that the balfour declaration was made was to placate the "world-controlling jewish cabal" that controlled all the money in the world, in hopes that they would pay to support the british war effort in WWI. in the bad old days, "everybody knew" that joos were evil, and thus hated them. the leaders of the early 20th century would have fit right in with modern-day kluxers and nazis. come to think of it, they would have fit right in with modern-day antifa, although they would have been pretty uncomfortable around the BLM folks.

nevertheless, pious muslims are world leaders in anti-semitism; they hate kuffar in general, but they *really* hate da joos.

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Hamish McDonald • May 18, 2018 at 06:54

When an emissary was sent from Lord Exmouth to Algiers to inform them that the white slave trade was entirely unacceptable and that there was to be no more of this, he was sent back with a definitive no.

Then following a cannonball fired at the Spanish and English ships, from Muslims in Algiers, Lord Exmouth dropped his hat as a sign to
begin, and the twenty gunships poured out fifty thousand cannon balls over twelve hours, and the next day another emissary was sent from the Muslims with an unconditional surrender.

Unfortunately, this kind of reply is not on the agenda of the main players and so Islam is now winning everywhere. Unless the west acquires backbone and deals with problems with common sense they stand a real chance of losing.

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eve • May 18, 2018 at 06:32

Thank God for Gatestone and Bassam Tawil.
Shame so few want to hear this.

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Bart Benschop • May 18, 2018 at 06:31

Dear Sir,

According to Muslim records:
The Arab attacks on Jews started with Muhammad, the messenger, who arranged the murder of a Jewish mother and her children while asleep when the father was away because the Jews refused to submit. This was followed by the murder of a group of old Jewish men. For this, the citizens of Mecca expelled Muhammad and his ilk and they fled to Yathrip. This was followed by the murder of all the males of one of the Jewish tribes in Yathrip and the enslavement of the women and children. Later the Arab peninsula was ethnically cleansed. During the British Mandate, the British ethnically cleansed Transjordan of Jews.
This policy of ethnically cleansing any area which was under Al Shari'iah previously is a core duty of Muslims.

Kind regards
Bart Benschop

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geoff

Bart Benschop • May 18, 2018 at 12:28

The sole policy of the Islamo-Fascists is three-fold: 1) eliminate the state of Israel 2) KILL all Jews 3) death to America.

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Charles

Bart Benschop • May 19, 2018 at 02:53

I cannot fault your assement. The problem is the media who do not report the facts. Hence ignorance is pervasive. The RC Church, the Church of England and their followers, and all countries ruled by Leftist ideology support the Palestinian narrative. The Truth, to them does not matter.

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