The death of Ismail Haniyeh has resulted in lots of threats of revenge, retribution, and war. One of the reports referred to Haniyeh as a “moderate”. I’m astonished that anyone can call a leader of an organization that is devoted to the destruction of Israel and will not even engage in face to face negotiations with Israel using such terminology. Neither Haniyeh nor any other member of the Iranian proxy groups (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, etc.) is moderate in their approach. They all want to see dead Jews. Add to that the demands for a militant Palestinian state devoted to the same values and you have a summa Haniyeh has been working for ever since he was put in charge of Hamas’ international relations. He was good at his job. That’s the reason so many people come out to demonstrate against Israel.
I am sorry that many Palestinians suffer because of Hamas policies He was no one of them. He amassed a personal fortune estimated at as much as $2 billion. He also managed to get other countries to foot the bill for Hamas terrorism. Gazans have a standard of living near that of some European countries. This means that the widely reported Hamas (and UN) figures based on the local poverty line may be as high as 30%, but compared to a world-wide poverty line it is only 1%. Gazans do have fresh water and electricity (much provided by Israel, and for which Hamas refuses to pay).
Average life expectancy in Gaza is around 72 years. That’s higher than in Egypt, Haiti, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and most of Africa. Gazans have 36 hospitals for a 2 million population. No wonder that Hamas feels safe in commandeering them for military purposes. The people still get better treatment than much of the Arab world.
And don’t forget that the false image of a starving population means massive aid from the rest of the world (at no cost to Hamas) when other regions really need it more.
I don’t grieve for Ismail Haniyeh, and neither should you.
Wetherhorn 