I was wrong. After all, not everyone was wiped out, not everyone was murdered or banished: in recent days, the population of Gaza has been protesting against Hamas, calling for its expulsion from the territory.

Yes, I was wrong.

My wife tells me that I don’t usually admit when I’m wrong easily, but I was, indeed, wrong. Here I am, humbly admitting it.

For 19 years, a terrorist organization, Hamas, has ruled Gaza and its people. We all knew that Hamas was oppressing the people of Gaza, using them as human shields, sacrificing them as propaganda, and exploiting everything Gaza received from the international community to wage war against Israel. However, I thought that the terrorist organization only oppressed—meaning “annihilated” or “drove out”—the civilians who did not support them, and, following this line of reasoning, I believed that no voice against Hamas would ever be heard in Gaza.

I was wrong. After all, not everyone was wiped out, not everyone was murdered or banished: in the last two days, the people of Gaza have been protesting against Hamas, calling for its expulsion from Gaza.

Among the protesters is a Palestinian named Hisham, who has always worked in Israel on avocado plantations and whose brother was murdered by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Why? Because he worked in Israel.

At this point, I wonder how all the university students who so vehemently protested in favor of Hamas in American universities, and here in Portugal—in Lisbon, Coimbra, and Porto—must feel. Will they ever admit that they aligned themselves with terrorism? That they defended the oppressor, making themselves morally as responsible as them for the oppression? That they were wrong?

It’s hard to admit mistakes, isn’t it?

It is, but it is also intellectually more honest.

Source: Observador