Egyptian Activist Speaks Against Hamas

Egyptian Muslim activist Dalia Ziada is a founder of the Liberal Democracy Institute in Egypt and a vocal opponent of Hamas.  In a recent interview, Ms. Ziada confessed that the initial reports by the Arab media simply portrayed the Oct. 7th attacks as a border clash between IDF troops and Hamas militants.  However, a few days later, Ms. Ziada had the opportunity to view the actual footage of the massacre that was released and was horrified by the images and videos that she witnessed.  Upon realizing the truth Ms. Ziada went onto social media and began publishing about what happened and accused the Arab media & their leaders of lying about the attack.  Dalia issued strong criticism of the Hamas attack and voiced support of Israel's actions to remove Hamas from power in Gaza.  She soon faced strong backlash from the Egyptian community that is largely in favor of Hamas actions against Israel and was forced to go into hiding.  

What was Ms. Ziada's sin that led her to go into hiding?  She spoke the truth.  She showed the Arab world what Hamas did and why Israel launched their armed response.  Sadly, speaking the truth in the Middle East can be very dangerous.  Both social media outlets and Arab media outlets began to smear Ms. Ziada as a "Zionist Traitor."  Salafists in Egypt began to call for revenge, some when to her mother's house looking for her, and the authorities made no attempt to protect her.  Some state authorities even began to accuse Ms. Ziada of being an Israeli spy.  Though Ms. Ziada knew that Egypt was not a society that protected free speech, she did know that the Egyptian leaders were at peace with Israel and have long opposed Hamas and have actually fought against them for the past 10 years.  Hamas is the armed wing of the Muslim Brotherhood which tried to take over Egypt during the Arab Spring.  She was stunned to find so many of her countrymen accusing her of being a treat to their nations national security when in truth it is Hamas and other Jihadist terrorist groups that have long threatened Egypt's security & stability.  

Ms. Ziada reveals that in the deep establishment in Egypt and most Arab nations, there is still a lot of hatred toward Israel and Jewish people in general.  This hatred is deeply ingrained in these societies.  In Egypt for example, there are still public demonstrations on Oct. 6th in which people within the country celebrate their near-victory over Israel in the 1973 October War, but they don't celebrate the Peace Accord that was signed, which has in truth benefited the nation more then the war ever did.  Ms. Ziada soon realized that if she stayed in the country she would either be killed or end up in prison, and was ultimately forced to flee Egypt.  This case should show us how bad the situation in the Middle East really is.  That there is a lot of radicalism in the Islamic world that is buried beneath the surface and is ingrained in every aspect of Islamic society, and the West is blind to it.  Despite her hardship, Ms. Ziada is continuing to urge people to speak the truth.  Ms. Ziada stated that she is saying what many in the Middle East are thinking, but that they're afraid to say it.  However, there are some who are beginning to speak, and many of those people are Iranians.

It is rather ironic that the Iranian regime is most likely Israel's greatest enemy, yet some of their staunchest allies are Iranian people.  In fact, many Iranian people are more staunch allies of Israel then a lot of Westerners.  The reason for this is that many in the West are ignorant to what Hamas really is, but Iranian people are not.  In the past, many Iranians have not been as vocal about criticizing the regime for one simple reason: fear.  The Iranian tyrants who run the country actively crack down on dissidents within the borders, imprisoning and killing thousands.  Even those who are fortunate enough to flee the country are not safe.  The regime is known to send agents outside their country to silence dissidents who are a part of the Iranian diaspora, or they will threaten their families who were forced to remain inside the country with harm.  However, now the Iranian people are beginning to become more vocal.  

Iranian citizens within Iran have posted their currency on social media in which dissidents stamped it with the Star of David and Hebrew writing that says "Death to Khamenei" & "Death to Hamas."  At an Iranian soccer game, the regime brought out the Palestinian flag in solidarity with Hamas and the crowd chanted "Shove that Palestine Flag Up Your Ass!"  It's clear that the Iranian people are sick of their nations money going to fund Palestinian terrorism and not to the Iranian people.  Ms. Ziada's testimony shows that many in the world are willingly blind, and that trying to open the eyes of the blind can be dangerous.  However, what we're seeing in Iran does show that it must be done.  The people need to start seeing where the true evil is, and the fact is that the root of the evils in the Middle East is not Zionism, it's Jihad.  

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