France 24 Discovers 'Anti-Hamas' Palestinians Exist, Courtesy of Israel
Yasser Abu Shabab, leader of a Bedouin clan militia, was reportedly killed in Gaza while attempting to resolve a family dispute. France 24 benignly notes his militia as 'Israeli-backed' (France 24). What's consistently omitted is the systematic Israeli strategy, dating back decades, of bolstering rival factions and clan leaders to undermine any unified Palestinian leadership. This isn't newfound
organic resistance; it's a playbook from the Nakba, consistently applied. So, when a Western outlet breathlessly reports on an 'anti-Hamas Palestinian' as if it's a novel phenomenon, one might wonder if they've forgotten the countless instances of Israel arming collaborators or, say, funding Hamas itself in its early days to counter the PLO. (A fact recounted by former high-ranking Israeli
officials, like Brigadier General Yitzhak Segev, who told the *New York Times* in 2009 he 'gave money' to Islamic associations in Gaza, later identified as Hamas.) The 'discovery' of internal Palestinian divisions, conveniently, only happens when it serves Israel's current narrative. How many times must this cycle repeat before the media reports the pattern, not just the latest incident?