What Haniyeh did say proves what so many Israeli and pro-Israel commentators have stated repeatedly, and what anti-Israel advocates scream is cruel and racist to suggest. He made clear the more death and destruction Hamas can exhibit – true, staged or otherwise – the better it is for Hamas.
These are his words:
“The image of destruction seen by the world is the proof to the extent of the IDF’s defeat and its failure in fighting the brave resistance,” to which Haniyeh added, Hamas “will be loyal to our people who were hurt by the brutal aggression. The blood spilled by the deceased and the injured is the leadership’s responsibility, we will not abandon them.”
In other words, the more dead Gazans, the better the positioning and the more integral Hamas becomes. Bravo to those who engineered this ceasefire. Once again the West is soundly defeated by Palestinian Arab manipulation.
Haniyeh is correct when he claims Hamas achieved a victory. But the party it defeated through arm-wrestling and smoke and mirrors was the West. The true battle had little to do with the military engagement with Israel.