Simon O'Connor: A ceasefire of silence ...

When I visited the Gaza envelope earlier this year, I took one critical question with me and now I think I have an answer.

There is a ceasefire.

After two long bloody years, Hamas has finally done what it should have done many months ago – release the Israeli hostages. As we tragically know, they did not, and many of the Gazans they claim to represent have died as a result.

The Trump led peace deal, fragile and vague as it is. Of note, neither Israel or Hamas were part of this summit and agreement.

Strikingly, there is near silence from the pro-Hamas groups here in New Zealand, including the Green Party. After months of protests calling for a ceasefire, one would have thought these groups would be celebrating but instead there is nothing. No march of relief, no press releases, no notices of motion in the parliament.

Nothing.

Silence.

The cynical amongst us might think they never did want a ceasefire, but instead a Hamas victory.

Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, where families have gathered to call and protest for the return of their loved ones since October 7th. A photo I took while visiting there and where now celebrations are now happening

You would also think these same people would be expressing relief that both the genocide and famine they claim was occurring has miraculously evaporated if images coming out of Gaza, and the state of its citizens, are anything to go by.

As I write, Gaza is returning to it’s tribal and brutal roots. As anticipated, Hamas is seeking to reassert its control in the same way it did back in 2005 – brutal reprisals and mass public executions. The Dormush clan is a particular target, but don’t expect to see Chlöe Swarbick and friends out on the streets calling this deliberate eradication of opponents as an act of genocide. In fact, there is a degree of complicity in play when those recently calling for a ceasefire are silent as their much-lauded Hamas entity acts so brutally – no longer targeting Jews, but it’s own people.

The last few days also show the fragility of the Trump peace plan. For all his signature hyperbolic rhetoric, there is little detail in the twenty-point plan. Already Hamas is dithering around releasing the bodies of the hostages they killed, and Israel responding by limiting aid. I do find it quite remarkable however, that Hamas knows within minutes the death toll of women and children in an airstrike (never it’s men or fighters), but now has completely no idea where it hid the bodies of hostages.

Again, while we can be relieved at the releasee of the Israeli hostages, this is also a moment where the many masks of Hamas and its sympathisers around the world, including here in New Zealand, slip away.

Which brings me to a question I took with me when I visited Israel and the Gaza envelope earlier this year – how is it that so many progressive groups have chosen to align themselves with Hamas? For example, the often mentioned ‘Queers for Palestine’ group who appear woefully unaware that Hamas would literally kill every one of them if they ever met in person. We also have radical feminist groups, indigenous rights groups, far left radicals and more.

The answer, I think, is relatively simple and twofold.

The first is that the ‘Free Palestine’ crowd are just the latest iteration or expression of left-wing, progressive, and anarchic protest groups. They are protest mercenaries, linking themselves to whatever is the cause du jour. Put another way, it’s the usual groups of protesters we frequently see and who are now dressing up in different costumes and with a new flag. Prior to this, these same groups were protesting climate change, Treaty justice, or anything a National government is doing. While an overseas example, we need look no further than Greta Thunberg whose need for attention and protest moved from being a climate change activist to pro-Hamas activist.

The second aspect is a shared disdain and revulsion of Western society. I think this is the critical commonality between groups such as Hamas and protestors on the streets of nations like our own. Hamas not only wants to eradicate the Jews, but are also revolted by the Judeo-Christian and liberal values of the West. Similarly, those protesting on our streets express disdain of these same Western values. They literally want a revolution, calling our societies racist, corrupt, colonial, and irredeemably broken. As I have noted before, those embracing cultural Marxism want a revolution that is not simply economic, but one that overturns all our structural norms from free speech to the dynamics of the nuclear family.

If the ceasefire holds (and that is a big ‘if’!), we will undoubtedly see these mercenary protestors move onto the next issue complete with new slogans, new costumes, and new flags as their revolt against society continues.

I just hope and pray that the ceasefire holds, and until then the dog tag I have worn since visiting Hostage Square in Tel Aviv all those months ago, will remain with me for the journey is clearly not yet complete

My dog tag from Hostages Square families, that I have quietly worn every day since.

Simon O'Connor a former National MP graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Political Studies . Simon blogs at On Point - where this article was sourced.