By disputing Israel’s ‘eliminate Hamas’ narrative, CNN confirms its genocide

Unless the international community truly takes a stance against genocide instead of linking the term solely to the Zionist narrative of the Holocaust, Israel will be able to carve out a niche of its own. A genocide in the name of eliminating Hamas is the Israeli storyline which almost the entire world has accepted. And despite the obvious discrepancies, even disputing Israel’s spin about its genocide has its benefits for the Zionist settler-colonial project.

Unusually for a mouthpiece for Zionist propaganda, CNN has outlined how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims that the occupation forces are eliminating Hamas are a blatant lie. Far from the Israeli military being close to achieving its objectives of eliminating the resistance movement, research by Washington’s America Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project, the Institute for the Study of War and CNN itself shows that Hamas has not only regrouped, but also managed to recruit for its battalions where heavy losses have been sustained. Hamas is proving to Israel and the world that as long as colonialism exists, resistance will thrive. And as Israeli revels in its assassinations of senior Hamas leaders, the movement also reminds us that ideas cannot be killed.

CNN’s assessment also proves that Israel is committing genocide.

Netanyahu knows, as does the occupation army, that Hamas cannot be eliminated. Israel cannot eliminate Hamas, but it can eliminate Palestinians from Gaza in a genocide that can ultimately end in forced displacement, besides the tens of thousands of Palestinians documented to have been killed. Israel’s “eliminating Hamas” narrative helps in its intention to empty Gaza of Palestinians.

“To say that we are going to make Hamas disappear is to throw sand in people’s eyes,” Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari pointed out in June. “If we don’t provide an alternative, in the end, we will have Hamas.” The Israeli army clarified later that Hagari was talking about the ideology of the resistance movement, not its fighters. However, an ideology needs people to maintain it, and as long as Palestinians live under settler-colonial oppression, resistance will never be eliminated.

Netanyahu has carefully evaded the stipulation of a timeframe for ending the genocide, bringing Hamas up as the reason why Gaza is bombed relentlessly. CNN again proved the genocidal intent and action. If Hamas is regrouping consistently, then Israel will bomb Gaza indefinitely. Netanyahu will always proclaim victory as imminent, but never realised. For Israel, this constitutes a long-term plan to normalise genocide. And given that the international community’s complicity with Israel is multifaceted and intertwined, Israel’s plan can succeed. If it does, the stain on politics should be emblazoned on the forehead of every political leader who failed to act.

It is in Netanyahu’s interest to disseminate a narrative that is taken for granted, and the international community is a willing accomplice. “The ability of Hamas to reconstitute its fighting forces is undiminished,” said retired US Army Colonel Peter Mansoor. And yet, Israel’s main arms suppliers see no wrong in helping the occupation state to commit a genocide under the pretext of eliminating Hamas. If Hamas cannot actually be eliminated, Israel basically has the green light to take its time killing Palestinians as part of the next stage of its colonisation process. Meanwhile, the international community turns a blind eye to Netanyahu’s political strategy to reject a political solution.

By disputing Israel’s ‘eliminate Hamas’ narrative, CNN confirms its genocide