Egyptian activist in exile decries region's changing views on Hamas
“For Egypt and other Arab countries, Hamas is only a terrorist group when it attacks Arabs and Egyptians”
Recommended -
Prominent Egyptian writer and activist Dalia Ziada now lives in exile for speaking out against the Palestinian militant group Hamas after its deadly October attacks in Israel.
She is sounding the alarm on a troubling shift in attitudes towards the terrorist organization.
“When it comes to attacks against Israel and the Jewish people, Hamas is no longer seen as a terrorist group but as a hero,” Ziada told i24News this week.
Her criticism of Hamas was once aligned with official Egyptian policy. But regional views have warped, she argued, with disturbing hypocrisy.
“For Egypt and other Arab countries, Hamas is only a terrorist group when it attacks Arabs and Egyptians,” Ziada explained. “But when it comes to Israel and the Jewish people, [Hamas] is no longer considered as such, but as a hero."
Ziada slammed the “duality and hypocrisy we live within our region,” pointing to the troves of Arab media spreading lies and propaganda about Hamas' brutality.
“I was thinking about the women and children who were brutalized by Hamas and I wanted to speak for them,” she recalled after seeing horrific videos from October's attacks.
Follow the latest updates on the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza>>>
Beyond the region, Ziada warns of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists infiltrating Western democracies to spread their ideological terror. She called the Muslim Brotherhood “a terrible threat” seeking to sabotage freedom and pluralism from within.