Hamas is not the Vanguard You Want to Support

Senior Landecker Fellow Jelle Zijlstra wrote an opinion piece recently published in Het Parool, a prominent Dutch newspaper.

In his article titled “Hamas is not the Vanguard You Want to Support,” Jelle comments on the recent news from Israel and Palestine.

“I was appalled by the euphoria I encountered on social media after it became clear that Hamas had launched its deadly attack on Israel,” Jelle shares. At the same time, he views the systematic violence of the Israeli state as a crime against humanity.

As a Jew and a supporter of Palestinian liberation, Jelle believes that “if the struggle for Palestinian freedom is a just fight for human rights and against oppression, then Hamas is not the vanguard you want to support.”

“The fact that the biggest donor to Hamas is the Iranian regime should make all of us bristle,” he adds.

Jelle concludes his opinion piece with a call for kindness.

“If we want to fight for a just world, let’s not succumb to dehumanization and bloodlust. Let’s mourn, let’s hold each other.

Let’s not just dream of the better world we want to see for those who happen to be the star in our Instagram algorithm, but for everyone,” he asks.

Read more

• The original article is available on this Het Parool page (in Dutch).
• Unofficial English translation can be viewed here.

Jelle is one of thirty 2021-2022 Landecker Democracy Fellows. This fellowship, a collaboration between the Alfred Landecker Foundation and Humanity in Action, was created to strengthen a new generation of leaders whose approaches to political and social challenges can become catalysts for democratic placemaking and community building. Read more about the fellowship here.