No, everything and everyone is not Hamas

Accusing anyone and anything of being Hamas is Israel's favourite defence from criticism. This strategy may have served them well in the past, but now it is crumbling.

This was made apparent earlier this month when Israel's national security minister lashed out at US President Joe Biden for pausing certain arms shipments amid an impending Rafah incursion.

"Hamas 'loves' Biden," asserted Itamar Ben-Gvir on X.

In some ways, Ben-Gvir's invocation of "Hamas" came as no surprise. Israeli officials and their defenders have increasingly accused institutions and individuals who dare to criticise Israel of having links to or sympathies for Hamas.

But what was particularly outrageous about Ben-Gvir's post is the fact that Biden has been a staunch supporter of Israel throughout his political career and has shown unwavering loyalty for Israel's current war on Gaza.

Despite a growing chorus of international and domestic criticism for Israel's actions, mounting evidence of war crimes and the plausibility of genocide, the Biden administration has continued to send weapons to Israel, push a massive funding package, and protect Israel from any accountability.

Nonetheless, even this president—who has loudly and proudly declared his unwavering support for Israel—was not safe from the "Hamas" trick.

The slightest indication that Biden would have any red line was enough for such an absurd statement from an Israeli minister.

But the actions of Ben-Gvir against Biden have become a common defence for Israel, whereby "Hamas" is a catchall to describe any critic of Israel's violations of international humanitarian law and complete disregard for human life in Gaza.

Similarly, accusations of anti-Semitism have been wielded against critics of Israel as well.

However, the weaponisation of anti-Semitism has come under increased scrutiny, as Jewish faculty and students participating in protests openly reject these false narratives. Others, like professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies Raz Segal, argue that the weaponisation of anti-Semitism actually puts Jewish people at risk.

Israeli officials likely engage in these false allegations, like affiliations with Hamas, because the use of such tactics have been effective in the past to deflect public discourse away from Israel’s actions. But the excessive use of this claim has brought them under question.

The UN is Hamas

Take the United Nations for example, and UNRWA, the UN relief agency that focuses on Palestine.

In December, Eylon Levy, who was at the time a spokesperson for the Israeli government, attacked the United Nations, saying that the international body has acted as "complicit partners in Hamas' human shield strategy."

Even after leaving his job, Levy has continued to make such statements, recently posting on X that "UNRWA is a Hamas front and an integral part of its military machine."

More recently, after Israeli extremists set fire to an UNRWA facility, Jerusalem's Deputy Mayor Arieh King defended the attacks by calling the agency an "enemy."

Israel's United Nations Ambassador Gilad Erdan agreed, calling the UN a "terror organisation" and a "collaborator with Hamas."

Students and South Africa are Hamas

This is not the first time Erdan has levelled these kinds of accusations. In response to campus protests in the US, Erdan linked American students—protesting against their country's complicity in the war on Gaza and the slaughter of Palestinians—with Hamas.

During a speech at the UN General Assembly, the Israeli ambassador stated, "We always knew that Hamas hides in schools. We just didn't realise that it's not only schools in Gaza, it's also Harvard, Columbia, and many 'elite' universities."

Earlier, after South Africa filed its genocide case against Israel in January—which the International Court of Justice ruled was plausible—a spokesperson for Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that South Africa "is functioning as the legal arm" of Hamas.

Even journalistic objectivity has been blasted by Israeli officials as serving Hamas. Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid stated early in Israel's assault on Gaza, "If the international media is objective, it serves Hamas. If it just shows both sides, it serves Hamas."

Backfiring strategy

However, this strategy by Israel to exclaim "Hamas" at every critic of its crimes against humanity or institution that is simply trying to perform its function appears to have backfired.

For one thing, the premise of the argument is deeply flawed for anyone familiar with the history of Israel's decades-long occupation and the struggle for Palestinian liberation.

And the overuse of this strategy has become so exaggerated that even the general public has come to see it as an absurdity. Well-known journalist Mehdi Hasan aptly summed up the situation on CNN when he stated, "The Israeli position now is anyone who disagrees with them is Hamas."

As one meme shared by British journalist and activist Owen Jones illustrates, "Israel's communication strategy" has failed.

The now viral image proclaims, "you can't call everything Hamas," reflecting the way Israel has tried to defend its actions with blanket accusations that have become almost comical, if not for the horrors they are meant to hide.

It may seem like satire when the meme uses the example of hospitals and journalists accused of being Hamas, except it is true.

In January, the World Health Organization publicly rejected allegations by Israel of "collusion" with Hamas and Israel recently shut down the news agency Al Jazeera, which Prime Minister Netanyahu called “the Hamas mouthpiece.”

The desperation of Israeli officials to call everything Hamas is meant to justify its appalling atrocities in Gaza. The strategy is failing because people are choosing to believe their own eyes.