A video of Hamas thugs torturing Palestinians in Gaza is graphic proof that far from being a liberation movement, Hamas is one of the biggest obstacles Palestinian workers and farmers face to be able to defend their class and national interests.
The video sheds light on why growing numbers of working people in Gaza — tired of Hamas’ dictatorial rule and emboldened by Israeli advances in dismantling the Jew-hating organization — feel able to speak out in opposition to this reactionary group.
The Israel Defense Forces released the 45-minute video Nov. 10 — compiled from videos made by Hamas from 2018 to 2020 recently found by Israeli soldiers on a computer in Jabaliya.
The videos show prisoners chained upside-down to the ceiling with sacks over their heads — or in other painful positions — as Hamas thugs alternately toy with them or beat them on the soles of their feet.
This is no surprise to anyone familiar with Hamas. From the day it took power in Gaza after winning a close election against Fatah in 2006 and then launching a slaughter that drove its opponent out of the area, Hamas has used torture and murder against members of its own organization and other Palestinians it accuses of being “collaborators” with Israel.
This goes hand in hand with Hamas’ determination to eliminate all Jews from Palestine, a legacy of its roots in the Muslim Brotherhood and other collaborators with the German Nazis. This goal was built into its 1988 founding covenant.
In addition to torture, at least six prisoners were executed in 2012 after being accused of giving Israel information. One was tied to a motorcycle and dragged through the streets.
In 2014 Hamas executed 24 prisoners, including at least eight on “trial,” and tortured dozens of others.
Amnesty International reported that many of those abducted by Hamas have been “subjected to torture, including severe beatings with truncheons, gun butts, hoses and wire or held in stress positions.” And the report noted that some of the torture took place at Gaza City’s main al-Shifa Hospital. That’s the same hospital Israeli forces occupied last year after discovering a Hamas command post underneath. It is also where Israeli hostages had been held.
This brutality goes along with Hamas’ reactionary political line. The group beats and jails homosexuals. In 2016 it tortured and executed Mahmoud Ishtiwi, one of its own commanders, after he was accused of being gay.
In 2021 a Hamas judicial council forbade women from traveling without the permission of a male guardian. In 2022 it banned street music.
The people of Israel and Gaza have paid a high price for Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, pogrom against Jews. The Hamas death squads killed 1,200 people, wounded thousands, took 250 hostages, and raped and mutilated dozens of women. They also killed dozens of Arab citizens of Israel and immigrant workers who worked with Jews.
Thousands of Gazan civilians — in addition to some 15,000 Hamas thugs — have been killed since Israel launched its war to eliminate Hamas as a threat Oct. 8, despite Israeli army warnings to civilians to leave potential combat zones. With the successes Israeli forces have had, many Gazans feel free today to speak out, blaming Hamas for the destruction they have faced.
Hamas is a ‘betrayal’ of Palestinians
Interviews have recently been published by the Media Line outlet with several Gaza residents who worked inside Israel before the war. Their words puncture the myth promoted by apologists for Hamas, that the group is viewed by Gazans as their protector. It also shows the possibilities for Jewish and Arab workers to join together in common struggles.
Hasan, who worked in a factory in Israel for 20 years, said, “It was generally good. I earned enough to live a dignified life in Gaza. But now we live like animals.
“This is the result of having bad Islamists in power, like Hamas,” he said, adding, “Israel also bears responsibility.”
Sami and his son Riyadh also spoke to Media Line. Sami was working in Israel Oct. 7. When he tried to cross back into Gaza, he was detained by the Israeli police, beaten, jailed for a month and then sent back. Sami’s wife and children were killed during an Israeli strike, as was Riyadh’s wife.
“Today we have nothing, no work, no homes and our children are gone. There is nothing left,” Sami said. Despite his mistreatment by Israel’s capitalist government, Sami noted that in Israel he worked with both Jewish and Arab citizens and they all got along. Hamas being in power “has dragged us back 200 years,” he said. “This is not a national movement. It is a betrayal.”
Hamas “started the war on Oct. 7,” Riyadh said. “If they had not initiated this nothing would have happened.”