Hamas and Its Weapons of Language

How false narratives, religious distortion and double standards are turning a human rights crisis into a global campaign of antisemitic propaganda.

When people say “Gaza is under blockade,” most imagine a complete seal. Nothing going in, nothing coming out. No food, no aid, no people. It sounds like a deliberate act of starvation and cruelty. Organisations like Oxfam have said, “Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza for the last 17 years.” The British Red Cross stated, “No humanitarian aid has entered Gaza for more than three months.” The International Rescue Committee said, “Israel’s current ‘near-total’ blockade,” and UNICEF called it a “land, sea and air blockade.” The word itself carries weight, but is it really the full truth?

When you start looking into it properly, you realise the word “blockade” doesn’t reflect reality. It creates a picture of containment and intentional famine, but what’s really happening is more like enhanced border security. Aid and food do enter Gaza. However, there are restrictions on what can come in and on who can leave, but it’s not total. Israel inspects everything going in because many materials have been used before to build tunnels or weapons. These are called dual-use items, and it makes sense to ban them when the other side keeps attacking you with them.

Imagine a football stadium with a history of violence. Stabbings, flares, weapons being smuggled in. The club decides to introduce metal detectors and security checks. Entry becomes slower, some people complain, but it’s done for safety. That is basically what Israel is doing. It is not a siege to destroy life. It is a filter to prevent Israeli deaths.

If someone keeps throwing bricks over your fence, you don’t just leave the gate open. Yet that is exactly what Israel is expected to do. And when it doesn’t, when it tightens security or responds to attacks, it is accused of committing atrocities. People accuse Israel of apartheid, even though Jews are banned from  Gaza while many Arab Muslims live freely within Israel. Terms like ‘colonialism’ and ‘genocide’ are carelessly thrown at Israel without regard for their meaning. They wonder why such claims are called antisemitic. It is because no other country is told to tolerate rockets and terror on its doorstep without reacting. Israel is held to an impossible standard that no one else is asked to meet. And when that double standard just happens to fall on the world’s only Jewish state, some people like myself notice.

One of the most powerful and dangerous words now being used is “genocide.” It’s shouted at protests, painted on signs, screamed in interviews and posted all over social media. The problem is, genocide is not simply about body counts. It is about intent, the deliberate and systematic effort to eliminate a people. That legal threshold is crucial. And so far, even the International Court of Justice, which has accepted South Africa’s case against Israel, has not declared that a genocide is taking place. Yet that hasn’t stopped people from saying it anyway, as though simply believing it emotionally is enough. But international law doesn’t work that way.

What we’re seeing is the word “genocide” being redefined in real time based on death tolls, not intent. It is being used to provoke moral outrage rather than legal clarity. It is mob court rule rather than being legally established.  That is not justice. It’s psychological manipulation. And it shows how language is being weaponised, not to defend human rights, but to push a narrative that dehumanises Jews by accusing them of the very crime committed against them in the Holocaust. This tactic is known as Holocaust inversion. It flips history on its head by turning the memory of Jewish suffering into a political weapon. Instead of remembering Jews as victims of genocide, they are recast as perpetrators. Israel is labelled a Nazi state. IDF soldiers are compared to SS officers. Airstrikes are equated with gas chambers. Gaza is falsely called a concentration camp. These aren’t just exaggerated analogies, they are deliberate attempts to morally reverse the roles of history and strip Israel of its legitimacy. It is not education. It is a smear campaign rooted in antisemitism that turns one of humanity’s darkest moments into political theatre.

Ask yourself, if you are screaming “Free Palestine” and calling for a two-state solution, yet at the same time you justify Hamas as a resistance group, constantly attack Zionism, and use phrases like “from the river to the sea,” then what you’re actually doing is parroting propaganda while pretending to seek peace. Because that slogan or attacking Zionism doesn’t represent two states. It represents one state without Jews. That’s not liberation. That’s elimination. So when people claim to want peace while promoting slogans that imply the destruction of Israel, it’s no wonder antisemitism is called out. Language is being weaponised by Hamas to justify genocide in a way that convinces the public to morally go along with it.

This led me to ask a wider question. If Gaza also borders Egypt, why is Israel the only one being blamed for this so-called blockade? Egypt controls the Rafah crossing and has similar concerns about Hamas. Egypt has destroyed tunnels, closed the border and limited movement across it. Yet you barely hear their name mentioned. The outrage is always aimed at Israel alone.

When I raised this point with people who say they support Palestine, it was ignored. The focus and blame was always shifted totally and only on Israel. That felt strange. It made me start to question what else was being overlooked. If the concern is really about humanitarian suffering, why is there no criticism of Egypt? Why are people so quick to call Israel genocidal, but stay completely silent when the perpetrators are Muslim governments? Why aren’t they shouting about Pakistan, an Islamic theocracy created through religious partition, where minorities still face persecution?

As I looked deeper into these conversations, I also noticed another pattern. I began hearing Muslims explaining religious claims as part of da’wah. That is their word for spreading the message of Islam. Some said Jesus wasn’t crucified. Others claimed someone else was crucified in his place. Some said Jesus was a Muslim. They told me the Bible was corrupted and only the Quran was pure. That was the moment I really began to question what I was being told. If you can rewrite another religion’s core beliefs and present it as fact, how much else are you willing to distort?

That does not mean I have a problem with all Muslims. Quite the opposite. I strongly believe in freedom of religion and conscience. I have no issue with moderate Muslims who live peacefully, raise families, work hard and contribute to society. These are the people I respect. They are not preaching hate. They are not telling me my religion is false. They simply practice their faith privately and with dignity. My issue is with the radicals and the echo chambers. The ones who turn every debate into propaganda, who glorify martyrdom, who justify terror by playing victim.

Which brings me back to Gaza. There is no doubt the people there are suffering. But the suffering is not because Israel refuses to let cement through the border. It is because Hamas has used that cement to build attack tunnels instead of homes. They have turned medical imports into weapon stockpiles. They have trained children to die instead of encouraging them to live. And every time they provoke a war, they hide behind civilians so that every retaliation brings global outrage.

The double standard becomes clearer with every conflict. Israel is not only expected to tolerate violence, but to respond with perfect precision in one of the most complex combat zones on Earth. If even one civilian dies, Israel is accused of war crimes. But no one asks why Hamas continues to operate from hospitals, schools and mosques. No one asks how aid is being misused. Instead, all eyes turn to Israel.

What many forget is that Israel is defending all its people. Not just Jews, but Muslims, Christians, Druze, Hindus and others. Israel is a diverse society. The conflict is not about religion in the way Hamas wants people to believe. Hamas frames it as Arabs versus Jews to stir emotions. But the truth is more complicated. The issue for Hamas is not what Israel does. It is that Israel exists. That is what makes coexistence impossible with them.

The question no one seems to ask is this: if you were in charge of Gaza, what would you prioritise? Would you continue an ideological war that has brought decades of misery, or would you work to feed your people, build infrastructure and give your children hope? The answer seems obvious, yet Hamas continues to choose the path of war. And the international community keeps giving them cover by placing all the blame on Israel.

Israel isn’t perfect. No country is. But the level of scrutiny and hostility it receives goes beyond criticism. It becomes obsession. Every action is twisted. Every word is misinterpreted. Every defensive measure is treated like an attack. And because it is the world’s only Jewish state, this bias quickly crosses the line into antisemitism.

It is like watching someone being attacked in their home. When they finally stand up for themselves, the world tells them to sit back down. They say, “Take it. You’re stronger.” But what if the attacker is cutting off fingers, setting fire to the furniture, and then crying when pushed away? The public sees the tears and not the damage. And then tells him to leave.

But what if it’s his home too?

What’s needed is honesty. Honesty about Hamas and its language tactics. Honesty about who is really blocking peace. Honesty about what words like blockade and genocide really mean. Until we speak truthfully and fairly, we are not helping Palestinians. We are helping Hamas. And by doing so, we are turning a human rights issue into another weapon for hate. And the Palestinians you claim to care about suffer more because of this.