Hamas’s dangerous game
It is now unmistakably clear that Hamas intends to cling to power in Gaza—at any cost. Its latest maneuvers are not signs of a group preparing to disarm or surrender but of a terrorist organization determined to preserve its rule through chaos, deceit and bloodshed.Seth Frantzman: Gaza's ticking clock: Hamas illustrating it can reorganize itself despite war setbacks
Hamas is once again playing a cynical and dangerous game. On the one hand, it manipulates the fate of the murdered hostages, using their bodies as bargaining chips to extract political leverage. On the other hand, it stokes internal violence in Gaza, executing and torturing members of rival clans in a ruthless effort to reassert control.
The images of Gazans being beaten and shot in the streets recall the same barbarity Hamas displayed in 2006 when it hurled Fatah men off rooftops.
Reports suggest that Hamas now wants to involve its old allies—Turkey and Qatar—in what it claims is a “search” for the remains of hostages. These supposed humanitarian gestures are nothing more than tactics meant to buy time, embarrass Israel and undermine the emerging U.S.-led coalition spearheaded by President Donald Trump.
Iran, as always, is the puppeteer behind the curtain, using Hamas to destabilize any prospect of peace.
After being forced on Oct. 9 to accept a peace framework, Hamas briefly feigned cooperation by returning 20 hostages alive. Now, it is withholding the bodies of 18 murdered Israelis, testing Israel’s patience and exploiting its moral anguish.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to ensure that every hostage—living or dead—is returned, yet Hamas continues to stall, counting on international hesitation and division.
Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s expected arrival in the region marks a critical juncture. The Middle East stands at a crossroads: either Hamas relinquishes control and allows the reconstruction of Gaza to begin under international oversight or the entire peace process collapses.
Hamas is demonstrating its ability to organize itself again as it continues to reassert itself in Gaza.Julie Burchill: How do so many women end up as ‘Feminists for Islam’?
This is significant because it was unclear at first if the terrorist organization would be able to quickly regain control of Gaza once the war had ended, or rather, if the enclave would descend into chaos instead.
What has been happening so far is evidence that Hamas is still well-organized.
This means that the clock is ticking in Gaza.
Each day that trickles by is one where Hamas has the ability to reconstitute itself, regaining its control. This terrorist organization uses various methods to do that, such as executions and other mafia-like coercion methods.
Every day brings more evidence of this through videos and accounts from Gaza. For instance, clips are showing Hamas murdering so-called dissidents and calling people in for interrogations.
There is little evidence that people are resisting Hamas’s rule. In fact, they seem resigned to it. They appear to accept that this is what their futures will hold. However, the Palestinians do not appear to be celebrating either. This is important because it illustrates that Hamas is neither able to galvanize major street demonstrations in its favor nor push people into defiance.
FiLiA – though it sounds like a knock-off sports shoe – is a gender-critical-feminist charity. Like any other lively organisation, it has had its fair share of skirmishes.
In 2015, Jane Fae (a man) pulled out of a conference due to divergent views on prostitution (the man was in favour – quelle surprise!). Julie Bindel and Caroline Criado-Perez also backed out as a result. Just last year, the woefully trans-captured Plaid Cymru banned the FiLiA stall from its spring conference in Caernarfon, after being informed that these feminists’ views were ‘potentially contrary to the party’s values’. (Amusingly, PC had to admit just a few months later that canceling FiLiA’s booking amounted to ‘an act of discrimination under the Equality Act 2010’.)
I had replied reluctantly in the negative to a few offers to wheel me out to the nearby Brighton Centre last weekend, where the most recent conference took place. But looking back, I see it was much for the best that I swerved it, as I’ve never got into a fight in my current disabled state and I’m not altogether sure that I’d give a good report of myself.
It started out predictably, with the usual gang of violent cross-dressing men vandalising the venue before the conference began. The BBC website stated: ‘Masked figures were seen in online videos smashing windows and spray-painting the building, ahead of a three-day event billed as one of the largest grassroots feminist gatherings in Europe. Activists from Bash Back, which describes itself as a ‘trans-led direct action group’, posted a statement saying it carried out the vandalism because the conference would be hosting ‘some of the most vicious transphobia in… politics’, and warned of ‘further action’ to come. FilLiA CEO Lisa-Marie Taylor bracingly boasted that ‘the activities of a small, violent minority will not diminish the spirit of sisterhood and solidarity which FiLiA embodies’.
Around 2,500 people came to hear from 250 speakers from around the world, according to organisers. One can easily fight back against an enemy who makes himself known – even when the men involved cover their faces and/or attack under cover of darkness, we know what they are, if not precisely who they are. But identifying and combatting the enemy within is the real struggle. Civil wars are said to be the most poisonous and the hardest to recover from, turning brother against brother – or in this case, sister against sister.
The first sign that something might have been amiss at FiLiA was a hijab’d woman selling similar head-coverings in the foyer. ‘What next, binders?’, Sonya Douglas asked on X. The number of keffiyehs and Palestinian flags on show could have persuaded a person that they had wandered into the Oxford Union debating chamber by mistake. Veteran feminist Bev Jackson posted that: ‘An organisation called Total Woman Victory had a stand at FiLiA disseminating a pamphlet with some of the most virulent anti-Jewish tropes I’ve ever seen.’
Jewish women have had to put up with enough monstrous bullying and belittling from the world generally over the past two years (BELIEVE ALL WOMEN – UNLESS THEY’RE JEWISH, as the saying has it). And now the poison of anti-Semitism seems to have trickled into the very heart of a conference where women of all races and belief systems should feel safe. But sadly, we’ve seen before that Islam and diversity, though often used in tandem by politicians and other clueless scolds, are often strangers to each other. Here at the FiLiA conference was evidence of a strange beast – here was Feminists for Islam.
