Scott Horton and I Explain How Israel Supported Hamas

I recently joined Scott Horton on his show to discuss the topic of my recent article “How Israel Supported Hamas Against the PLO“. Between my own research and Scott’s encyclopedic knowledge, I am sure you will find this discussion highly informative.

Here is Scott’s description for the episode:

In this episode, Scott brings Jeremy R. Hammond on to dig deep into the multi-decade Israeli strategy to prop up Hamas in the Gaza Strip in order to thwart the formation of a Palestinian state. Scott and Hammond go through the history and discuss how these revelations destroy the case for what Israel is currently doing to Gaza.

Listen to the full interview now:

Specific topics we dove into include:

• How the New York Times instructed journalists to avoid referring to Gaza and the West Bank as “occupied territories” even though that is uncontroversially their status under international law.
• How the Times also instructed journalists to avoid using the word “genocide” when reporting on the situation in Gaza, an apparent consequence of which is that Times articles about protests on college campuses across the US omit the critical context that what students are opposing is Israel’s genocide in Gaza, thus leaving readers with the false impression that they must just be a bunch of anti-Semitic Hamas supporters.
• Why the claim that the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is anti-Semitic is so stupid and is such a clear example of how the government and media attempt to limit the public discourse to a very narrow range of acceptable dissent against the US policy of supporting Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians, including the crimes against humanity of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and now genocide.
• How I arrive at the conclusion, “So the very types of extremism that the media like to attribute to protesters of genocide is precisely the type of extremism that we see in the Israeli leadership. So the hypocrisy is so staggering, it just blows the mind.”
• Why Israel was so afraid of peace negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) that it viewed Hamas, after its founding in 1987, as a strategic ally.
• What you need to know about UN Security Council Resolution 242 of 1967 and why the US-led so-called “peace process” was always the means by which Israel and its superpower benefactor have blocked implementation of the two-state solution.
• The story of Hamas’s founding by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and an overview of the documentary record on how Israel backed Hamas as a counterforce to the PLO.
• How it is completely uncontroversial in Israel that until the Hamas-led attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since his return to power in 2009 had maintained a policy of utilizing Hamas as a strategic ally to block any movement toward peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
• The true reason why Israel withdrew military forces and settlers from Gaza in 2005, and why the absurd claim that this ended its occupation of Gaza is false.
• Why the mainstream narrative that Hamas came to power in Gaza via a violent coup flips reality on its head.
• Why I do not agree with the conclusion — accepted by many of my own readers — that the Israeli government deliberately allowed the 10/7 attacks to occur (or what those who believe this frequently call an “inside job”).
• What you need to know about Israel’s efforts to “normalize” its relationship with Arab states, like the Abraham Accords, and what you need to know about the US role in that whole diplomatic effort.
• How the US government under the Biden administration has been absolutely complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and why the US government is the biggest obstacle to peace.

Purchase a hardcover or paperback copy of Obstacle to Peace: The US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, which Scott has described as “the definitive scholarly account of the American role in the entire disaster”, directly from me here:

Here are several of my recent articles and blog posts relevant to Scott’s and my discussion: