BY MOSHE HILL OPINION COLUMNS APRIL 02 2025
Last week, thousands of Gazans took to the streets in what may be the boldest display of dissent against Hamas since the October 7 attack that plunged the region into its latest war. In Beit Lahia and other parts of Gaza, chants of “Hamas out” echoed through funeral processions and protest gatherings, a visceral cry from a people battered by war because of the iron grip of a terrorist regime. If a pro-Palestinian cause existed in the West, this would have been a rallying point from Columbia to Washington, DC. The lack of such a reaction only continues to prove the obvious: There is no pro-Palestinian movement, only an anti-Israel one.
Basel Kanouh, a protester allegedly tortured to death by Hamas security forces, became a symbol of this unrest – his body reportedly dumped at his family’s doorstep as a grim warning. That name would mean nothing to the pro-Hamas supporters, who know the height, weight, and blood type of Mahmoud Khalil, for example. The difference is that Khalil is being deported by President Trump, while Kanouh was murdered by Hamas. College elites don’t care about that.
The protests erupted after 18 months of war. Gazan Lawyer Moumen Al-Natour wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post about these latest actions on the street. Claiming to have lived under Hamas rule since he was 11 years old, Al-Natour writes that “To support Hamas is to be for Palestinian death, not Palestinian freedom. Hamas is killing us – through war, poverty, and extortion – not liberating us.”
Gazans, fed up with the group’s governance, voiced grievances that cut to the core of their suffering: Hamas’s corruption, its hoarding of resources, and its violent suppression of dissent. Hamas responded predictably, with batons, bullets, and torture chambers, killing at least one protester and injuring others. Fatah, Hamas’ rival in the Palestinian Authority, seized the moment, with spokesperson Munthir al-Hayek urging Hamas to “heed the people’s voice” and step aside. Even Hamas’ own Basem Naim acknowledged the unrest, tepidly defending the right to “cry out in pain” while decrying “dubious political agendas” – a thinly veiled jab at the protesters themselves.
Hamas has governed Gaza since 2007, presiding over a humanitarian catastrophe exacerbated by its own policies: launching rockets, building tunnels, and clinging to power while its people starve. A movement genuinely invested in Palestinian welfare would channel its energy into dismantling this oppressive regime, amplifying the voices of Gazans who risk death to demand freedom. Instead, the most prominent pro-Palestinian voices in the West – figures like Rashida Tlaib, organizations like Code Pink, and student groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) – have remained conspicuously mute on these protests, their focus locked on a singular target: Israel.
Take Representative Rashida Tlaib, the dominant voice in Congress speaking on behalf of Palestinians. Her social media and congressional record brim with denunciations of Israeli “apartheid” and US complicity, yet no statement has emerged addressing the anti-Hamas uprising in Gaza last week. X users have noted this silence, with one post from @persianjewess on March 26 accusing her and others like Ilhan Omar and Mehdi Hasan of ignoring the protests entirely. The few times that Tlaib gave lip-service to Hamas atrocities, her rhetoric consistently pivots back to Israel, sidestepping the internal rot that Gazans are now confronting head-on.
Code Pink, the feminist anti-war group that regularly harasses members of Congress for supporting Israel, follows a similar pattern. Known for delegations to Gaza and solidarity campaigns, they’ve met with Hamas officials in years past, framing the group as a legitimate resistance force. Their recent X posts, like one on March 27 promoting a Los Angeles event for Palestinian rights, fixate on US and Israeli culpability without a whisper about the Gazan protests or Hamas’ brutality. Students for Justice in Palestine, with its network of campus chapters, has likewise stayed silent. After praising the October 7 attack as a “historic win,” SJP has continued to organize against Israeli policies, but the plight of Gazans turning against their rulers doesn’t seem to register on their radar.
This selective outrage reveals the true nature of the “pro-Palestinian” label. If these groups and figures were genuinely committed to the Palestinian people, they would be amplifying the protests, pressuring Hamas to relinquish power, and advocating for a governance shift that could alleviate suffering. Instead, their energy remains fixated on Israel – its military actions, its blockade, its very existence.
The evidence from Gaza itself underscores this disconnect. The protests weren’t about Israel – they were about Hamas. Mourners at Basel Kanouh’s funeral didn’t chant against Tel Aviv; they demanded an end to Hamas’ rule. Fox News reported the chilling details of Kanouh’s death – tortured by Hamas terrorists, his body a message to silence others. AP News documented the scale: thousands in the streets, braving Hamas’s batons and gunfire. Over here there was nothing.
There were no university encampments, no blocking of streets or yelling at shoppers in malls over what Hamas is doing to Gazans. As the old saying goes, “no Jews, no News.” The fact is that there is no pro-Palestinian side here – only an anti-Israel one masquerading as such. So as long as that is true, there will never be peace in the region. Hamas makes too much money and gets too much support from the world to go away. So, they’ll stay, and the Palestinian people will suffer, because they have no advocates on the world stage demanding that they live in peace and prosperity.