Dec. 27, 2018
- Palestinian columnist Sami Fuda denounced the Hamas crackdown on its critics in Gaza: “Apparently, freedom of expression is unacceptable to the de facto rulers of the Gaza Strip… The policy of intimidating and imprisoning writers will not deter them and is completely ineffective and unacceptable.”
- While these few Palestinians have expressed concern over Hamas’s effort to silence its critics, international human rights organizations, including some that operate in the Gaza Strip, continue to turn a blind eye to this assault on public freedoms. They are either afraid of Hamas, or they do not give a damn about human rights violations unless they can find a way of pointing an accusatory finger at Israel.
- Hamas is prepared to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a rally marking the 31st anniversary of its founding, but says it cannot afford to provide financial aid to impoverished Palestinians. Meanwhile, any Palestinians who dare to ask Hamas the wrong questions will find themselves behind bars.