The events of Oct. 7, when Operation Al-Aqsa Flood began, have inflated Hamas into a terrifying bogeyman in the Western and Zionist imagination. The Palestinian resistance in all its diversity of thought and aims is reduced to the idea of Hamas, which is unquestioningly and breathlessly described as a terrorist entity. Thus, all Palestinian resistance becomes equated with terrorism, and all who act in solidarity with Palestine become terrorist-sympathizers. The purpose of this construction of the Palestinian freedom fighter into a 'profane figure' is not only to distort the reality of Palestinian oppression and justify Israel's wanton violence, but also to police the borders of acceptable discourse and thought among those whose sympathies lie with Palestine. Many in the Western left have capitulated to this pressure, attempting to walk an often contradictory line between upholding Palestinian rights in the abstract yet spurning the actual methods deployed by Palestinians to achieve their liberation. A serious examination of the composition of the various Palestinian armed factions, what motivates them, what their political horizons are, and what Al-Aqsa Flood has achieved from the strategic perspective of these groups remains a taboo discussion. As an entry point to the complexity and perspectives of the Palestinian resistance, The Real News speaks with writer, lecturer, and PhD candidate Abdaljawad Omar.

Abdaljawad Omar is a writer, analyst, and lecturer, based in Ramallah, Palestine. He is a PhD student and part-time lecturer in the Philosophy and Cultural Studies Department in Birzeit University.

Read a transcript of this podcast here.

Editor's note: Shortly after this recording was completed on Nov. 16, Israel began bombing hospitals in the refugee camp of Jenin in the West Bank. The next day, on Nov. 17, the director of Al-Shifa hospital announced the deaths of all 39 premature infants removed from their incubators in the NICU after the Israeli military destroyed the hospital's electrical capacities. On Nov. 21, a partial hostage swap and four-day truce between Israel and Hamas was announced.

Studio: Cameron Granadino
Post-Production: David Hebden

Additional links:

‘An unyielding will to continue’: An Interview with Abdaljawad Omar on October 7th and the Palestinian Resistance - Louis Allday, Ebb Magazine https://www.ebb-magazine.com/essays/an-unyielding-will-to-continue
"Hopeful Pathologies in the war for Palestine" - Abdaljawad Omar, Mondoweiss https://mondoweiss.net/2023/11/hopeful-pathologies-in-the-war-for-palestine-a-reply-to-adam-shatz/
"Resistance and Hope in Palestine with Abdaljawad Omar" - Millennials are Killing Capitalism https://youtube.com/live/Ll8fI3Fg4Pk?feature=shared

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'There is hope in resistance': Reframing Oct. 7, Hamas, and Palestine's armed factions