Berletic on Palestine

Sorry Brain but I love you anyway!

As you know, I am a great admirer of Brian Berletic and his work. He is a simply superb analyst!

But no one is perfect. I certainly am not, as I am sure that you have noticed.

Then again, I don't do podcasts where I have to talk off-the-cuff – I write – and then I look at it and think – "what the fuck!". . I sense an incongruity or contradiction.I realize I don't really know something and I have to check That takes time. And sometimes I have to rewrite everything, correcting what I said earlier.

Take a look at Brian's recent video and pay attention to his comments on Palestine and Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood --which are simply wrong!

If you read my various previous in-depth articles on the history of Hamas, you know that Hamas became independent from the Muslim Brotherhood years ago. You should also know that the Muslim brotherhood was at odds with both ISIS and Al Qaeda, although it did not support the Assad regime either.

After Hamas broke with the Muslim Brotherhood, it redefined its goals for a new Palestinian state, which would be multi-confessional if not secular— not discriminating against any religion-- but protecting the values of all-- in contrast to an essentially theocratic Israel which, while it offers some rights and liberties to non-Jews. does so restrictively to ensure the supremacy of the Jewish population.

Berletic, however, sees Hamas as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood which he conflates with Salafist extremism and anti-Semitism, seeking to "drive the Jews into the sea".

Of course there groups other than Hamas-- in Palestine-- which are more extreme --and unite with it in the struggle against Israel.They may think this way — but not today’s Hamas

Berletic contrasts Hamas with Hezbollah – specifically. Hamas taking civilian hostages-- something Hezbollah has not done. But the two organizations are very different.

Hezbollah has a professional military wing which is set up long ago to defend Lebanon's borders. Hamas has only recently professionalized its forces with the help of the IRGC. It is not defending its borders – it is already Israeli occupied territory .

So it is a resistance force – not a defensive force. By necessity, it has to fight asymmetrically.

The Israelis have been punishing the Palestinians for years, incarcerating men women and children – who are essentially hostages. Many have died due to poor treatment. Rape and torture are common.

How to free these unfortunates?

Obviously, Hamas does not have the military power to conquer Israel. The only way to free these people was to take hostages – and barter.

Hamas knew that its October attack would very likely would result in a massive reprisal, destruction and death, with an untold number of victims in the short term. But the Israelis had been killing Palestinians for years-- in smaller numbers-- which the world ignored-- a slow-motion genocide.

Taking hostages provoked full, real-time genocide which could not be hidden-- and which horrified the world— not that the world did anything to stop it.

The bombs that killed all those children were American – not Israeli-- although the Israelis dropped them. If the US had not supplied the weapons, there would have been dead kids.

So, this was not just an Israeli genocide – it was an American one, too.

Hezbollah is in a totally different position. It faces two enemies; one, Israel; the second the Lebanese government, which is been bought off by the Americans and the Israelis, and against which Hezbollah fought a bloody civil war, years ago.

Despite polls conducted by organizations such as Arab Barometer which is funded by a variety of US organizations, Hezbollah has the support of the Lebanese people-- .- if only because it is a source of reliable social services.

Recently, Hamas has offered to step down as the government of Gaza, in favor of another body. That won't do anything – and probably won't happen – because the Israelis and Americans don't actually want it to happen. They need Hamas as the face of the Palestinian people to keep on killing and justify expelling most of the Palestinians to some other place, probably Jordan.

Take another look at Brian Berletic's video. My issues with him about Palestine notwithstanding, he is still one of the best analysts there is.

Article 3 of the Putin series

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