A Reuters headline reads War boosted extremists in Gaza, says U.N. official. Quoted is John Ging head of the UNRWA
“The extremists here — there are more now at the end of this conflict than there were at the start, that’s the product of such conflict — are very confident in their rhetoric that there should be no expectation that justice will be delivered through the rule of law. Now we must prove that wrong,” he said.
The investigation had to examine “legitimate allegations” on both sides, as Israeli civilians had also suffered, he said.
He may well be right, but I doubt it. Hamas was shown to be unable to stand up for those it governed. They’re not up to the task of fighting Israel. Noah Pollak concluded based on anecdotal evidence:
The war certainly will not convince many Palestinians that terrorism against Israel is wrong (I don’t think anything could do that); but it might show them that it is unwise and dangerous, and that Hamas is a poor vehicle for their ambitions.
Stories of Gazans critical of Hamas surfaced during the war too. I found them convincing given that the penalty for disagreeing with Hamas could be very high.
The idea that a UN official would lie, is well established.
I think that Ging needs a heave-ho.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
