Two hashtags in Dutch #welinmijnnaam and #nietinmijnnaam. In English? #inmyname and #notinmyname. But, what's the fuzz about these hashtags?
People in my country use these hashtags to express their position on social media. Better said, the war may (continue) "in my name" or the war may "not in my name." But "war" refers to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. There were no words about the war in Sudan. I noticed that yesterday when watching 'Eva', a talk show broadcast every day between 19:00 and 20:00 hrs on Channel 1.
Two guests, one was a well-known public person turned activist, and the other to me a known defense expert who was defending the Israelis. And what about me as the viewer of the discussion? I don't do politics as it has proven that it brings us to nowhere or does it?
If I look at how the two guests were arguing then look at how it goes across the global north, well, the war in Gaza has divided people in the global north. The cause is information.
An hour earlier and on the same channel, 'Een Vandaag', which analyzes daily current affairs, reported that 26% of the Dutch have turned their backs on news reports about Gaza as the survey participants found the coverage too hefty, making them feel powerless in bringing change for the good. This feeling affects their private life.
The interviewed people appeared to be members of the ' Een Vandaag' opinion panel. I don't know if you can view them as representative when it comes to displaying the Dutch public opinion on the matter. Because, what questions did they have to answer, and how were these questions formulated? The latter is important as the formulation may influence the interviewed person while reading the questionnaire.
But, is turning away from news about the war in Gaza burying your head in the sand?
I don't think so as it depends on how information is compiled, particularly by Western news agencies. Their content is heavily political and interpretative while, for example, content from Al Jazeera English, and Al Jazeera Arabic are generally reactive because they have reporters on the ground in Gaza. Those who follow these sources receive regularly educative information in the form of documentaries about the history of Palestine which I never have seen on Dutch TV channels.
When it comes to the war in Gaza, no one will understand why there was an 'October 7th' and what drives the Israelis really since Netanyahu's ill-conceived declared war on the same day.
First, 'October 7th' didn't come from out of the blue. A view that has made the Israelis furious as they brandished it as "supporting terrorism" while such can only be claimed when the attacked party lives in a time of peace and the attacker resides in its territory. Well, the Israelis haven't lived in a time of peace by their own choice since 1967 while Hamas does not reside in that part of the land that European Jews took from the Palestinians when it was a British colony.
Secondly, Netanyahu knew at least since 2021 about activities in Gaza indicating that Hamas was planning something. However, people in my country do not know what motives he still has to keep this fact away from the public. It's the trial against him to could bring Netanyahu's genocidal career to an end.
Thirdly, Hamas didn't emerge from a vacuum. A whole history that was before their existence has been silenced. No wonder that even so-called experts don't know what they're saying when they claim that the Israelis have the right to defend themselves.
Let me say that there are two 'issues', namely the Palestinian problem and the Gaza problem.
The first problem affects also the population of Gaza as they are Palestinians too. This problem was created in 1916 by the Briton, Mark Sykes and the French Francois Picot, and a year later finalized by the Briton Arthur Balfour by signing a letter to Prime Minister Rothschild in which the establishment of a Jewish state was concluded.
As a territory, Gaza became a problem that was created in 1956 by Britain and France when both countries lost the Suez Canal after the Egyptian president, Gamal Abdel Nasser had nationalized the strategic waterway. France and Britain wanted the canal back. They asked the Israelis for help who in return attacked the Egyptian troops in Gaza as the enclave was under their military rule. The Israelis drove the Egyptians out and colonized the Strip until 2005. Why do I say 'colonize'?
In the Law Of Belligerent Occupation, occupation is determined as temporary. But, establishing 21 permanent settlements is colonizing. The latter remains the issue in the West Bank where more than a hundred permanent settlements are, and where more has been planned.
By the way, did you know the "issue" about Iran's nuclear program has its roots in a comment that David Ben-Gurion made in 1956 about the American secret Manhattan Project?
In 1987, there was an "incident" involving an Israeli colonist truck driver and four Palestinians from Jabaliya in a car. The truck driver rammed the car killing the four Palestinians. A protest broke out that was crackdowned by the armed colonizing forces. But that only fueled more anger which turned into the First Intifada. The brutal crackdown that followed led to the forming of the armed resistance that year, and that we know as Hamas.
The United Nations has designated Hamas as a political movement while its armed wings are within the frame of the Law Of Belligerent Occupation, which states that occupied people have the right to form armed groups to resist occupation.
Members of the Hamas have the full right to resist the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the annexation of the West Bank. If they take and use that right, they must distinguish themselves from the civilian population, or based on articles 43 & 44 of the Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions, at least carry their weapons openly during attacks and deployments.
In other words, Hamas is brandished as a terrorist organization to hide the status the Israelis have by international law. Because they never have lifted their self-declared stage of war since 1967. They have never been living in a time of peace by their own choice. So, it is not without reason that the United Nations warns the Israelis that their actions may also constitute war crimes. That is why I view Netanyahu's declaration of war from October 7th as ill-conceived, idiotic, and absurd as you can't declare war when you're still in a never-lifted stage of war.
The survey I wrote about shows that Dutch people either don't take the time to check the information they read or don't have the knowledge of how to check let alone that they know the history about Gaza and Hamas that I refer to. No wonder they get disorientated mostly by unverifiable claims.
