The
List: You are my love, my love.
by Not Sure
4 August 2024
Ismail Haniyeh was born in a refugee camp in Gaza
sixty-two years ago. He was assassinated
on 31 July 2024 in Tehran where he was attending the inauguration of the newly
elected president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian. Whether the bomb was planted in
his guesthouse room in May, or whether he was killed by a short-range
projectile, Haniyeh, along with a bodyguard are gone.
Haniyeh’s funeral was held in Tehran on 1 August, and the
Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, led the prayers. His remains were flown to Qatar (where he had
lived since 2017) and buried in Lusail the following day.
It
is said that his last words to the Iranian Supreme Leader were said in Arabic and
were from a Koranic verse about life and death.
“It is Allah who gives life and causes death. And Allah is all-aware of all actions…If a
leader leaves, another will arise”.
From
2017 until his death, Haniyeh was the chairman of the Hamas Political
Bureau. He had previously been prime
minister of the Palestinian National Authority, and Hamas leader in the Gaza
Strip from 2007 until 2017 when he was succeeded by Yahya Sinwar. He was described as amongst the more moderate
of Hamas’ leaders.
No
heroes here. Just a few observations
about wars that last lifetimes, and the propaganda that supports them. More than sixty members of Haniyeh’s extended
family have been killed by Israel, including a sister. In October of 2017, an Israeli airstrike on
his family’s home in Gaza City killed fourteen of his family including his
brother and a nephew. On 10 April 2024, three
of his sons, and four of his grandchildren were killed while traveling in their
family car by an Israeli airstrike. Israel
claimed Haniyeh’s sons were Hamas operatives on their way to carry out
terrorist activities. The family said
that the sons and their children were on their way to Eid al-Fitr (“breaking of
the fast”) festivities. The Middle
East Eye released a video said to have come from the mobile phone of one of
the granddaughters, excitedly yelling that “Eid has come”.
There
is clip of one of Ismail’s daughters-in-law talking with deep emotion and tears
about mourning the loss of her father-in-law.
“I mourn a man whose good deeds resound throughout the earth and heavens…He
has joined our children and the blessed blood, the martyrs, the heroic, the great
and the noble commander. We will only
say what pleases God. Indeed, the eye
weeps and the heart grieves. Indeed, to God we belong and to Him we shall
return.”
This
daughter-in-law lost her husband and two children in the April attack and was
said to have been asked by her children before that Israeli airstrike, to take
them to be with their grandfather in Qatar, and away from the chaos of Gaza. She told her children that everyone in Gaza
mattered, and they must stay there, in their home.
The Middle
East Monitor reported on Haniyeh’s funeral and the words of one of his
sons:
“The
eldest son of Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, has issued a heartfelt video
message mourning his father and said that his father’s life is “not more
precious than” the lives of thousands of Palestinians being massacred by Israel
in Gaza.
“My
father’s blood is not more precious than the blood of Gaza’s children or its
men, and our tears are not more precious than the tears of the mothers and
children of the martyrs,” said Abdel Salam Haniyeh.
“We
say to the occupiers, no matter how many you kill, you will not be able to stop
the march and revolution of the Palestinian people. Every assassination attempt
against leaders will revive a new revolution for our people and the Islamic
world.”
He
added that his late father’s will has always been “to achieve national unity,
end attacks on Gaza, and achieve victory for our people.”
“My
father has been pursuing martyrdom day and night because he has chosen the path
of resistance, revolution, and struggle since his childhood.”
Abdel
Salam recalled that his father was subjected to numerous assassination
attempts.”
***
There are some online claims that Ismail Haniyeh had
seven wives and married a twenty-eight-year-old this year. These
claims don’t appear to have any merit.
Ismail was married to Amal, and they had thirteen children and many
grandchildren. In April, Amal was
hospitalized in Qatar and Ismail visited her there to tell her about the deaths
of their three sons and four grandchildren. Whatever private mourning the pair went
through, they publicly praised Allah, smiled for the camera and held their
fingers in the peace sign, or “V” for victory.
One State, Two States, Three Potato, Four. This isn’t about who is the bully and who is
the prey or what needs to happen in “Palestine” or “Israel”.
At the time of the killing of Haniyeh’s children and
grandchildren, the Jewish paper, YNET, published a piece entitled, “Wife of
Hamas chief Haniyeh smiles upon learning of sons' death in IDF Gaza strike”. It was an unbalanced piece of reporting, but
what was most striking were the comments beneath the article. These seem to change from day to day, as yesterday
there were comments about all the virgins multiplying in paradise. That comment is missing today, but here are a
few others:
Finally, me and haniyeh are on the same page
We’re both tickled pink
You reap what you sow
Scum. May they both rot in
hell with their scum offspring and may it happen soon.
Whole family of deranged
Psychos & perverts!! Good riddance
to these brood of Vipers!
They look so happy in
hospital, would someone make
them happier still with more
martyrs?
Propaganda demonizes and dehumanizes. The aim, of course, is to demonize and
dehumanize “the enemy”, but it is evident that those who believe propaganda become
demons, become something less than human.
***
In Qatar, over the coffin of her husband, Amal Haniyeh
prayed, “You are my support in this life and the next. You are my love, my
love. Say hello to all the martyrs of Gaza, say hello to the leaders, to all
Gaza's martyrs, all the Muslims. My love, may God make
it easier for you, my love, the head of my heart, my love in this world and in
the next. You are my support in this life and the next. Praise God.”
© Not Sure
Additional reading/viewing:
Haniyeh's
son: ‘My dad is not more precious than other Palestinians killed’
Wife
of Hamas chief Haniyeh smiles upon learning of sons' death in IDF Gaza strike
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rjtgpqdgc
Hamas
leader Ismail Haniyeh’s daughter-in-law shares emotional video