AhlulBayt News Agency: Only one year after Hamas’s significant victory in a popular Palestinian election, the Zionist regime imposed severe sanctions and an economic blockade on Gaza.
Eleven years after Gaza-based resistance movement Hamas clinched historic victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a remarkable confession.
In a 2017 interview with Donald Macintyre for The Guardian, Blair unabashedly admitted to thwarting the Palestinians' democratic choice—a transgression of historic proportions at the time.
Blair revealed that he and other global leaders were wrong to bow to the Israeli occupation's pressure, orchestrating an immediate boycott of Hamas after its landslide at the polls.
Though international monitors had declared the elections free and fair, Blair—then at the height of his premiership—was ensnared by Israel’s wicked agenda, fully swallowing its campaign to discredit both the electoral process and its victor, Hamas.
As has been the norm for most American presidents to kowtow to Israel, George W. Bush drove the settler-colonial regime's demands to halt aid to, and cut off relations with, the newly-elected Hamas government. Blair, often derided as Bush’s loyal “poodle,” a label he earned through his unquestioning support for US policies, also cemented his reputation as a war criminal.
He brazenly demanded that Palestinians abandon their democratic will unless they conformed to conditions set by foreign imperialistic powers.
Bush and Blair insisted that Hamas recognize Israel, renounce violence, and abide by previous agreements between its Fatah predecessors and the occupying regime.
Austria, then holding the EU’s rotating presidency, echoed this hardline stance on behalf of the 25-nation bloc, declaring, “there is no place in a political process for groups or individuals who advocate violence.”
Vicious efforts to isolate and oust Hamas from political power were spearheaded by Bush and Blair. And as a countermeasure to strengthen the hand of a willing collaborator, they hastily provided diplomatic and financial support to Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah.
Within a year following Hamas's stunning victory, the Zionist settler-colonial regime imposed a stifling boycott as well as an economic blockade of Gaza.
An unending 17-year blockade since 2007 that has seen relentless bombings, assassinations, detentions, and denial of basic supplies, which, as Dr. Firoz Osman correctly described, is a policy of "extermination."
Over 43,700 residents of Gaza have been martyred in just one year so far.
This exposes the Zionist narrative—shamelessly promoted by Western leaders and mainstream media—that October 7 happened in a "vacuum" as a blatant falsehood.
The hypocrisy and double standards of the West, which shocked much of the world in the aftermath of October 7, are far from new. Their roots lie in the illegal establishment of Israel as a colonial project on Palestinian land in 1948.
But for the generation that witnessed Hamas's outstanding 2006 election victory, it was more shocking to discover Western powers warning that they would not deal with a Palestinian government led by Hamas.
Former US President Jimmy Carter said the elections in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip were “completely honest.” Nevertheless, instead of accepting this free election, the West sought to suppress its results.
The profiling of Hamas as a "terrorist" organization is not only a ruse but deliberately manufactured by the Israeli regime and latched onto by its Western lackeys to demonize and criminalize resistance, including armed struggle, against the occupation.
Zionist lobbying groups, particularly in South Africa, have employed similar tactics. However, these efforts are destined to fail when confronted with the lessons of South Africa’s liberation movements.
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Eleven years after Gaza-based resistance movement Hamas clinched historic victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a remarkable confession.
In a 2017 interview with Donald Macintyre for The Guardian, Blair unabashedly admitted to thwarting the Palestinians' democratic choice—a transgression of historic proportions at the time.
Blair revealed that he and other global leaders were wrong to bow to the Israeli occupation's pressure, orchestrating an immediate boycott of Hamas after its landslide at the polls.
Though international monitors had declared the elections free and fair, Blair—then at the height of his premiership—was ensnared by Israel’s wicked agenda, fully swallowing its campaign to discredit both the electoral process and its victor, Hamas.
As has been the norm for most American presidents to kowtow to Israel, George W. Bush drove the settler-colonial regime's demands to halt aid to, and cut off relations with, the newly-elected Hamas government. Blair, often derided as Bush’s loyal “poodle,” a label he earned through his unquestioning support for US policies, also cemented his reputation as a war criminal.
He brazenly demanded that Palestinians abandon their democratic will unless they conformed to conditions set by foreign imperialistic powers.
Bush and Blair insisted that Hamas recognize Israel, renounce violence, and abide by previous agreements between its Fatah predecessors and the occupying regime.
Austria, then holding the EU’s rotating presidency, echoed this hardline stance on behalf of the 25-nation bloc, declaring, “there is no place in a political process for groups or individuals who advocate violence.”
Vicious efforts to isolate and oust Hamas from political power were spearheaded by Bush and Blair. And as a countermeasure to strengthen the hand of a willing collaborator, they hastily provided diplomatic and financial support to Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah.
Within a year following Hamas's stunning victory, the Zionist settler-colonial regime imposed a stifling boycott as well as an economic blockade of Gaza.
An unending 17-year blockade since 2007 that has seen relentless bombings, assassinations, detentions, and denial of basic supplies, which, as Dr. Firoz Osman correctly described, is a policy of "extermination."
Over 43,700 residents of Gaza have been martyred in just one year so far.
This exposes the Zionist narrative—shamelessly promoted by Western leaders and mainstream media—that October 7 happened in a "vacuum" as a blatant falsehood.
The hypocrisy and double standards of the West, which shocked much of the world in the aftermath of October 7, are far from new. Their roots lie in the illegal establishment of Israel as a colonial project on Palestinian land in 1948.
But for the generation that witnessed Hamas's outstanding 2006 election victory, it was more shocking to discover Western powers warning that they would not deal with a Palestinian government led by Hamas.
Former US President Jimmy Carter said the elections in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip were “completely honest.” Nevertheless, instead of accepting this free election, the West sought to suppress its results.
The profiling of Hamas as a "terrorist" organization is not only a ruse but deliberately manufactured by the Israeli regime and latched onto by its Western lackeys to demonize and criminalize resistance, including armed struggle, against the occupation.
Zionist lobbying groups, particularly in South Africa, have employed similar tactics. However, these efforts are destined to fail when confronted with the lessons of South Africa’s liberation movements.
/129