Hamas Affirms Right to Resist as Disarmament Demands Mount
This statement, reported by The New Arab, comes as a direct response to increasing pressure from international bodies and occupying powers to dismantle Palestinian resistance capabilities. Mainstream outlets, including The New York Times , routinely frame such rejections as 'obstinance' or 'radicalism,' implying Hamas is an impediment to peace. This perspective conveniently omits the context of
ongoing military occupation, blockades, and daily violence against Palestinians. The demand for disarmament from an occupied people, while their oppressors retain overwhelming military superiority and actively use it, is a perverse inversion of justice, painting the colonized as the aggressor for defending their existence. What the headlines don't tell you is that calls for Palestinian disarmament
are rarely, if ever, accompanied by similar demands for the demilitarization of the occupying force. The Gaza Strip's nearly two million residents have been under a suffocating air, land, and sea blockade since 2007, an act of collective punishment that predates any armed response from Hamas. This blockade, enforced by the very powers now demanding disarmament, has crippled the economy and created
a humanitarian catastrophe, making basic necessities like clean water and medical supplies scarce. The Piaz notes that Western-aligned media also conveniently skirts the fact that the United States alone provides Israel with approximately $3.8 billion in military aid annually, effectively underwriting its occupation and continued expansion, while simultaneously condemning any Palestinian attempt