Terrorism 123

A terrorist leader giving guidelines and instructions to a small group of new recruits.

This week, in place of Hassan and Ahmed, we have a mid-level Hamas leader instructing a small group of new recruits on how to merge with the civilian population rather than try and engage the IDF while wearing full combat uniform.

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Leader: So, what’s the first thing we do in any area of Gaza where the Israelis are operating?

Recruit 1: We make sure we’re hidden away, not visible.

Leader: That’s right. So, we’re either down in the tunnels or at designated safe houses.

Recruit 2: What constitutes a ‘designated safe house’?

Leader: UNRWA and other UN aid houses are quite good. Red Cross, Red Crescent and some other aid houses are also fairly safe. The Israelis aren’t meant to probe there. We’ve in fact got some of the hostages hidden away in such houses.

Recruit 2: But what if we’re seen coming out of one of those houses in Hamas uniform? That house will then be connected with us.

Leader: (Shakes his head). That’s the golden rule. Never, ever appear in Hamas combat uniform in possible sight of any Israelis. First reason for that is you’ll be picked off immediately. So, always appear just as normal civilians. Or if you’re coming out of an UNRWA, Red Crescent or Red Cross home, appear as an UNRWA worker or medic.

Recruit 1: (Nods slowly). So, you’re saying that we should never engage the Israelis while in combat gear? Always as civilians, aid workers or medics.

Leader: Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. And what’s the advantage of that? Apart from the obvious of not getting picked out and shot quickly?

Recruits 1 & 2 look vague for a moment, so Recruit 3 intervenes.

Recruit 3: If we get shot, it simply adds to the statistics of civilians killed, which then makes the Israelis look bad.

Leader: Exactly. Or indeed posing as aid workers or medics, makes them look even worse. That medic convoy of fifteen a few weeks ago – only two were real medics, who were there for front cover for our ambush. That caused the Israelis a mountain of bad publicity.

Recruit 1: And the medic organization were happy to go along with the cover story after the event and claim that all were real medics rather than us?

Leader: They had little choice. They could hardly admit they’d provided cover for our planned ambush, because that would then indicate it was something they did regularly. And if they said anything contrary to the official line fed them, then they’d face our usual retribution: banned from Gaza or a quiet bullet through the head days later. (Gestures) The Israelis claimed that seven or eight of the medic convoy had been Hamas, but by then nobody was listening to them. Discarded simply as ‘Hasbara’.

Recruit 2: So, the general rule is always appear as a civilian, aid worker or medic – never as Hamas?

Leader: Yes, and you can add to that list journalists and stringers. Nearly all the journalists and stringers in Gaza are Palestinian, many working for Al Jazeera, and when they get killed – or us posing as them – it again reflects badly on the Israelis. The only time we appear in our combat uniforms is when there’s an official prisoner-hostage exchange.

Recruit 3: So, we just merge with the general civilian population as much as possible, including aid workers, medics and journalists.

Leader: Very much so. But you might have to be creative at times. As soon as you raise a weapon to fire, you’re immediately identified as a combatant. So as much as possible keep weapons shielded under baggy clothing, or perhaps in a package or bag you’re holding. (Eases into a smile). In fact, the other day two of our brothers dressed as women in full burqas took out a couple of IDF before being martyred.

Recruit 2: (Mirroring the smile) Also, adds to the women and children killed total.

Leader: As you’ve seen, we claim that the Israelis are killing mainly women and children in any case. Achieves two things: makes them look weak in the eyes of the Arab Press, as if that’s all they’re capable of killing, and monstrous in the West. But this ‘posing as civilians’ stance we see working particularly well with this new GHF aid initiative. We’ve offered a bounty to anyone killing GHF aid workers or their security, with so far fifteen being killed. But the only reports appearing in the media are of the Israelis killing local Gazans trying to get aid – more condemnation and demonization of them to add to their reputation as child, women, medics and aid-workers killers.

Recruit 1: Yes, I’ve seen that the media in general seem to accept the accounts we feed them over these new aid efforts.

Leader: Helped along in this case by our urging matters in that direction. The Israelis have been told to fire above the heads of those causing disruption by aid depots – misreported by Haaretz as ‘firing at them’ (looks heavenward), ‘Thank you, Allah’. If our brothers posing as civilians or those we’ve offered bounties to shoot at the Israelis or GHF workers – of course the Israelis are going to fire back. So, our claim of the Israelis shooting at civilians trying to get aid becomes founded. A self-satisfying prophecy, if you will.

Recruit 1: We’re fortunate I suppose that the media hasn’t seen through that, we have them so much on our side.

Leader: Part of it is people loving an ‘underdog’. But the rest is through the journalists and stringers I mentioned. With 99% of them being Palestinian, what chance of an Israeli-slanted perspective is there? And, as said, if they do report negatively about us, they get banned from reporting in Gaza in the future. So it’s very much a one-way-reporting street.

Recruit 2: I see the Americans are clamping down, though. They’ve already criticized CNN and the BBC for biased reporting, and now have sanctioned Francesca Albanese for her UN reporting.

Leader: I must admit, she was a bit blatant and obvious at times. Hadn’t learned our trick of merging with civilians in her reporting to mask her bias. And Sarah Wilkinson was banned from going online a couple of months ago.

Recruit 2: Could it be the beginning of the end in terms of the mainstream media nearly always taking our side?

Leader: I don’t think so. We’ve still got scores of online proponents of our cause, with millions of supporters between them. Look at Glastonbury the week before last. We couldn’t have wished for better support if they were full Hamas members. Then on top we’ve got Al Jazeera, and even newspapers like Haaretz from within Israel often taking our side. And I don’t see CNN, the New York Times and the BBC giving up their left-wing bias in a hurry, despite the US State Department and the likes of Mike Huckabee giving them a dressing down.

Recruit 1: But this shoving us all into an area by Rafah also looks worrying – as if the next step is pushing us all into Egypt.

Leader: I know. And the Egyptians have already said they’re willing to take 500,000 Gazans, with Trump also negotiating with other Arab nations. But we’re busy heading that off. Already, we’ve got the international community shouting ‘ethnic cleansing’, and a few Gazans on news interviews protesting why should they leave, ‘After all, this is our home?’

Recruit 1: Is that reflective of Gazans as a whole?

Leader: No. We’ve made sure our trusty local Palestinian stringers interview only starch Hamas supporters, who’ve already been coached on what to say. (Shrugs) After all, if you had a family and a choice between this bomb-site and fresh new housing in a neighbouring Arab nation free of bombing and getting caught in the middle of hostilities – where would you choose?

Recruits 1 and 2 nod knowingly, but Recruit 3 appears to harbour some doubt.

Recruit 3: Some Gazans are very proud. Despite the drastic situation, they don’t want to leave.

Leader: True. But how much longer can we expect them to cling on in the hope of finally destroying Israel, especially after what’s happened now in Iran? Brought to their knees and much of their leading military killed in only twelve days – that doesn’t bode well for our long-term ambitions.

Recruit 3: And now I hear talk of both Syria and the Lebanon joining the Abraham Accords, and possibly Saudi too.

Leader: (Nods sagely). It was in fact talk of Saudi’s possibly joining the Abraham Accords that made us go ahead with October 7^th. It certainly brought focus back on the Palestinian cause.

Recruit 1: So, do you think overall it’s been worthwhile?

Leader: Oh, we’ve suffered heavy losses, but the Israelis have too – not only with civilian and soldiers lost, but mainly their reputation. It will take them many years to recover from that, not be seen as genocidal aggressors. And while we’re still holding hostages, we’ve still got a few aces to play.

Recruit 2: Or if the Iranians did finally manage to develop a nuclear weapon. That could give fresh hope that our final ambitions, and theirs – the destruction of the Jewish State – might be realized.

Leader: (Nods slowly). No doubt why they’re clinging to continuing a uranium enrichment programme, claiming it as an ‘unalienable right.’

Recruit 2: (Smiles thinly). I like the sound of that – ‘an unalienable right to destroy the Jewish nation’.

Leader: Yes, it does have a certain ring to it. Though I doubt the media, however much they might be on our side, will ever present it like that.

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John Matthews is an experienced writer and journalist. The author of 24 books, including two centred around WW2 and the holocaust in the name of J.C. Maetis (his father’s original Jewish name) his first experience of writing about the Middle East came as a war correspondent covering the last years of the Lebanese Civil War, which led to his second book, ‘The Crescents of the Moon’. He has since written on the subject for a number of journals, including The Times, Sunday Times, Newsweek, The Independent and The Spectator. He was also in the run-up to the millennium editor of European Brief, the main magazine for the European Parliament, editing the likes of Tony Blair, Al Gore and Henry Kissinger on subjects ranging from the fall of the Berlin Wall and European unity, climate change and nuclear fusion to, once again, the Middle East. He lives in London with his wife and family.

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