Tipping Point Quick Hits (01.25.24)

Hamas disinformation, North Korea nukes and the Avian Flu

Hamas Now Denying Oct. 7 Attacks

On Monday, I posted about the growing wave of denial about the October 7 massacre on Israel, with multiple social media accounts now claiming that the attacks were “false flag” operations by Israel or Mossad. Like Holocaust denial, that kind of thinking is dangerous and evil. It is a symptom of the antisemitism that is beginning to run rampant in our culture.

Hamas itself seems to be recognizing this sentiment and attempting to use it for their advantage. Earlier this week, Hamas published a 16-page document that works to justify its “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” attacks on October 7. It says that Hamas is not a terrorist group but a “national liberation” group.

Addressed to Arab and Islamic nations, the document denies that Hamas committed any atrocities against civilians and instead calls for an international investigation. The Jerusalem Post summarized the document this way:

The first section of the document presents the conflict as a 105-year battle by Palestinians against “colonialism.” It makes reference to the Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate, and recounts the formation of Israel by “Zionist gangs” while “the Palestinians were denied from [sic] the right to self-determination.” 

The document levies accusations against Israel related to the Six Day War, West Bank settlements, and the supposed “Judaization” of the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem; it also makes reference to the issues of Palestinian prisoners, the blockade of Gaza, and the denial of a Palestinian right of return— maintaining, all the while, that the United States is complicit in Israel’s actions.

It also avoids mentioning any captives taken by Hamas or the raids on border towns, and insists the operation only targeted Israeli soldiers. It blames Israeli helicopters for the massacre of 364 civilians at the Nova music festival. It says Israel is hypocritical for causing civilian casualties in Gaza as a response to civilian casualties in the October 7 Hamas operation. Then it praises the religious devotion and ethics of Hamas fighters:

The document boasts of the Hamas terrorists’ “religious and moral commitment,” claiming that the “Al-Qassam Brigades fighters…avoid[ed] harm to civilians, especially children, women, and elderly people.” It adds that “if there was any case of targeting civilians; [sic] it happened accidentally and in the course of this confrontation,” and “maybe some faults happened during… implementation due to the rapid collapse of the Israeli security and military system.”

After that, the document says that the International Criminal Court at The Hague should investigate Israel’s response before taking a truly bewildering turn:

The fourth section of the document, titled “A reminder to the world, who is Hamas,” seeks to rebrand the organization, designated as a terrorist group by the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and the EU— as a “national liberation and resistance movement.” The document refers to several clauses in Hamas’s updated charter from 2017, alleging that the conflict is not with the Jews, but rather with Zionism. The section condemns “what the Jews were exposed to by Nazi Germany,” despite Hamas officials’ repeated denials of the Holocaust and their use of antisemitic rhetoric, and praises Muslim nations for having provided Jews a “safe haven” for centuries.

If anyone believes that, I have some oceanfront property in my hometown of Amarillo, Texas, I’d like to sell them.

Anyone who takes this document at its face value will conclude that Hamas is the noble victim of an attack by Israel, rather than the perpetrator of a brutal massacre that transformed life in the Middle East over the past four months. The question is whether the United Nations is likely to believe it. Public sentiment is turning against Israel due to lies spread on social media. Hamas is publicizing its own lies about the massacre.

Zechariah 12:3 says, “And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it” (NKJV).

Zechariah says that people of the world will become so intoxicated with their efforts to take the land of Israel that they will become drunk and disoriented. This passage is about the final Battle of Armageddon, but the October 7 events are a harbinger to that battle. Like a big heavy stone that’s jagged, anyone who tries to pick it up will be injured. Zechariah 12 is ultimately where things are headed, but what we have seen since October is a bitter foretaste of things to come.

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Alarm Bells in Washington about North Korea

A recent article by a former CIA analyst and nuclear scientist has captured the attention of Washington over the past few days. Robert L. Carlin, a scientist who has spent time in North Korea, wrote that “the situation on the Korean Peninsula is more dangerous than it has been at any time since early June 1950.”