Hamas operations tied to decades of oppression

SHAH ALAM - Days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address at the United Nations, in which he announced the establishment of a new Middle East centred around Israel and its new Arab partners, leaving out Palestinians, he now suffers a politically and strategically fatal blow.

The Palestinian resistance faction, Hamas, executed a meticulously planned and precisely executed rapid incursion from Gaza into Israel, employing air, sea, and land forces.

Concurrently, thousands of missiles were launched towards Israeli targets, while hundreds of Palestinian combatants assaulted both military and civilian zones in the southern part of the country.

This resulted in the loss of at least 100 Israeli lives and the apprehension of numerous Israeli soldiers and civilians as captives.

Experts share their thoughts on these operations on Israel, adding that the situation should not only be attributed to Saudi normalisation to rationalise the attacks.

Asia Middle East Centre (Amec) Research and Dialogue senior research fellow Muath Omar said the message shown was clear of the motives of the operations, and the situations regarding the Al Aqsa Mosque as well as the general oppression towards Palestine people were further echoed.

“The message from Hamas and the leaders of the resistance was clear about its motives for performing such operations.

“When we look at the situation in the Al Aqsa Mosque, the invasion towards the mosque was done on a daily basis by the extremist and Zionist groups.

“They would practice Talmudic prayers in the mosque, provoke, and even attack Palestinian worshippers, denying them entry,” he said.

He said that as the situation unfolded, it showed a clearer picture of what was happening in Palestine, and the Saudi normalisation alone as a cause was a narrow view of the subject as there were other issues such as detainees and the consistent oppression.

“We saw detainees being prevented from exercising their basic rights, their medical rights, and the limits imposed for family visitations.

“This attack was not something done out of the blue; it had many valid reasons and had been a continuous catastrophe for over 70 years,” he said.

Senior Israel analyst Mairav Zonszein on X also echoed similar views on her tweet that the Saudi normalisation was at most a trigger.

“This is an understatement. This kind of operation with this many Hamas members likely took months of preparation. There are several factors that led to this moment; the Saudi normalisation is at most a trigger,” she said.

Viva Palestina Malaysia Azra Banu said the most important factor in the operation was the long-standing 75-year occupation and the interference towards their peace.

“We can see the most important factor was the continued 75-year occupation, oppression, and continued with their lands being taken, resources such as water being diverted or stolen, and in general, their lives under occupation.

“The attacks on Al Aqsa mosque done daily prevent them from practicing their faith and beliefs, which gave them a legitimate reason to fight and resist,” she said.

She said that the Palestinian homes were being destroyed on a daily basis, leaving many stranded, and the message now was that Palestinians were speaking to the world that they were simply fed up with the hypocrisy and occupation, leaving it up to the world to put an end to the longstanding issue.