The U.S. government, European governments, and even the Israeli government have all provided humanitarian assistance to Gaza over the years.
Commentary
Some of the most beautiful, exotic textiles in the world are crafted by Arabs based on the artistic genius of ancient designs. The Englishman returning home from the Empire’s Middle Eastern colonies balancing the heathen booty of a rolled-up carpet on his shoulder is a visual cliché; T.E. Lawrence even boasted that, in the course of a raid during the Arab Revolt in 1917, he had secured for himself “a superfine red Baluch prayer-rug.”
Few scarves are more stunningly attractive than a genuine Kufiya, now made in an array of shades and styles. The original black-and-white version long ago gained the nickname PLO scarf, a head covering that seemed surgically attached to the late Yasser Arafat, who draped it over his shoulder in the shape of a map of Palestine absent any Jewish State. Arafat’s al-Husseini clan is based in Gaza, the home of the Hamas terrorist entity.
Should you search the internet in pursuit of a genuine Kufiya, manufactured in Hebron, you'll likely come across American Muslim Women Magazine’s recent article “
24 Palestinian Brands You Can Shop to Support Palestine.” The first listed is PaliRoots, touted as “not just a brand, it’s a movement.”
“From kufiyas and clothing with Palestinian motifs and symbols to traditional Nablus soaps, stickers, jewelry, and more, PaliRoots offers high-quality products inspired by Palestinian culture, identity, and people,” the article reads.
It doesn’t sound very political, but PaliRoots’s website’s “
FAQ’s About Palestine” characterizes the Israeli state as racist and genocidal:
“Segregation is built into the DNA of Israel. ... Gaza is an open-air prison where Israel controls what comes in and what goes out. ... Palestinians are treated as less than human.”
PaliRoots adamantly defends and promotes Hamas, claiming that “Hamas was the first major glimmer of hope for all those subject to [Israel’s] crimes.” Its assaults are downplayed and excused, since its missiles aimed at Israelis are but “glorified fireworks powered by fertilizer and sugar ... Hamas knows these rockets will be stopped by the Iron Dome 99 percent of the time.”
And here’s PaliRoots’s whopper: “Hamas is reactionary and not comparable to the Israeli Defense system in any way nor are they a threat to Israeli citizens.”
The families of the more than 1,400 innocent Israeli civilians who were just intentionally slaughtered by Hamas might have a quibble or two.
The
Hamas charter, which compares Jews to Nazis, states that the organization “strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine” and is “one of the links in the chain of the struggle against the Zionist invaders. ... Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. ... In the face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised. ... It is the duty of the followers of other religions to stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region.” And it claims that “the Zionist plan is limitless.”
After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates,“ it reads. ”When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion.’”
American Muslim Women Magazine highlights the “PaliRoots Funding Projects” that “collaborate with nonprofits to organize high-impact campaigns for a variety of causes in Palestine.” Could any of PaliRoots’s customers imagine that such fans of Hamas are taking pains to ensure that money doesn’t end up in the terrorist group’s hands?
Reuters just
described how “Hamas uses a global financing network to funnel support from charities and friendly nations, passing cash through Gaza tunnels or using cryptocurrencies to bypass international sanctions, according to experts and officials.”
The Council on Foreign Relations
pointed out that “some Islamic charities in the West have channeled money to Hamas-backed social service groups, prompting asset freezes by the U.S. Treasury.”
Hamas has also made an art out of
using taxation within Gaza to fund its militancy, bringing in many millions of dollars. Earlier this year, in its capacity as the government of Gaza, Hamas
imposed a 16.5 percent tax on 24 products coming in from the West Bank, such as mineral water, soft drinks, and entertainment items, despite a poverty rate within Gaza exceeding 70 percent. The economic ministry in Ramallah in the West Bank has declared the new Hamas tax illegal. Such taxes mean that even well-intentioned trade seeking to improve economic conditions within Gaza ends up funding terror.
It would be difficult to have confidence that the purchase of any clothing, jewelry, or furnishing from the region escapes providing financial assistance for terrorism. But beyond that, even if you aren’t buying such things, you’re actually still financing Hamas. As
Forbes noted, the U.S. government, European governments, and, believe it or not, even the Israeli government have all provided “humanitarian assistance to Gaza over the years that has likely gone to fund Hamas’s malign activity.”
In the “Merchant of Venice,” Shylock was informed that “the quality of mercy is not strained.” It’s obviously difficult, if not impossible, to “strain,” in the modern sense, the charity intended for the inhabitants of Gaza in a manner that bypasses the terrorists of Hamas.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
