In Reply to Mariam El Haj's Deceitful Interview with Ch. 5
Mariam El Haj looked right into the camera and cold-bloodedly attempted to mislead the Valley public about Hamas and her actual political views. Here's how.
Food Not Bombs RGV leader and founder, Mariam El Haj, recently gave an interview to KRGV Ch. 5’s Dianté Marigny about the upcoming Hamas rally set for Sunday evening. In it, El Haj falsely claimed that “Palestine has no army or government”, concealed the fact that she openly calls for the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel, among other deceptions.
The interviewer didn’t help, as she credulously allowed El Haj a megaphone to spread misinformation, without asking any real questions in return. El Haj has become accustomed to this deference in the press.
The interview begins with El Haj decrying that Gaza residents have been without electricity and other basic resources since Oct. 13. Indeed, Gazans are paying a heavy price for Hamas’ treacherous actions committed Oct. 7. However, El Haj did not even mention Oct. 7. as she implies Israel bears all responsibility for the current situation. She fails to acknowledge that Israel would not be conducting air raids in Gaza if not for Hamas’ nazi-style pogrom a few weekends ago.
“The people in Gaza are currently without electricity, they have been since Oct. 13,” El-Haj said. “They have not had clean water since then.”
El Haj then attempts to blur the current situation in Israel, Palestine by conflating it with everything that’s been going on for 75 years.
“This has been going on for over 75 years since the great Nakba,” El-Haj said, “We've seen an increase in violence, and we've seen a lot more displacement in the last 16 years.”
Again, El Haj lays all blame on the Israeli government, while making no criticisms of Hamas. Many Palestinians oppose Hamas and openly call for their removal from power in Gaza. But El Haj makes no criticisms, falsely portraying to the Valley public that Hamas is blameless or doesn’t even exist, since they’re never mentioned by her. She mentions an increase in violence “the last 16 years” but fails to mention the significant event that occurred 16 years ago — Hamas’ coming to power in Gaza — while simultaneously attempting to deny it ever happened.
El Haj’s next point is the most demagogic and cynical, claiming that Valley residents should view themselves in the way Gazans do, as “What the Palestinian people are going through is very similar to what people here at the border are going through with the border wall and the increased militarization of the border,” El-Haj explained.
This is the Islamist version of Hispandering. Next, we’ll be hearing about how the people of Gaza also enjoy street tacos and drink soda out of a glass bottle.
“That is just a small glimpse of what they experience in Palestine, so there's always been a solidarity there between the communities. What we're looking to do is educate the community on the fact that Palestinians exist here, and they exist around the world.”
El Haj knows very well that Hamas, who won elections in 2006 in Gaza, controls the Gaza strip. Hamas is a repressive, Jew hating band of thugs who keep Gazans under brutal rule. This is not at all the case in the Rio Grande Valley, where the U.S. Constitution reigns supreme. Secondly, the U.S. government has been interested in erecting border walls to slow down and better control drug and human trafficking. The Israelis have erected barriers to prevent military attacks from Hamas.
“A lot of people think this is a war between the Israelis and Palestinians … I wouldn't even call it a war. Palestine does not have a military, they don't have a government,” El-Haj said. “What is happening right now is against international law. It is unjust."
Another reason El Haj lied about Hamas not having governmental authorities or military might is because she does not want you to look into how Hamas’ military operations are funded, which is by Iran, Syria and Lebanon. Hamas’ nazi-style pogrom October 7 showed intense military sophistication and training. The Palestinian Authority, which defers to Hamas, also bears governmental powers in the West Bank.
Hamas successfully repelled and overtook Israeli Defense Forces caught off guard in southern Israel during the pogrom. Their launching of rockets, which takes military hardware, from civilian areas is also against international law and a war crime, but yet Mariam has zilch — nada — to say about Hamas rocket launch sites.
“We want to urge politicians in this country that [a ceasefire is] what we need,” El-Haj said. “That's the only way that we can save people, because aid is not getting to them.”
Isn’t she just tugging at your heart strings, like a slow Irish air on violin? Here again, El Haj makes no consideration for the fact that a ceasefire would allow Hamas and its military allies in the region to regroup and rearm, as well as plan a counter-offensive against Israel. In fact, El Haj says nothing about whether she believes Hamas should stay or go. How come? It’s the question of questions right now. Yet, she seems to have no answer. Nevertheless, her support for Hamas is unquestioned.
El Haj claimed that when people say “Free Palestine” what they mean is to end the occupation of conquered Palestinian land by the Israeli government. But this is a bold-faced lie. Food Not Bombs RGV hails the slogan, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” What this demand calls for is the destruction of Israel and driving all Jews out of the Middle East, which is what Israel’s destruction would lead to.
El Haj cynically concealed her “antizionism”, which on every other day of the week she’s proud to bolster, but this time she knew a televised interview called for a much less strident tone than that which she normally employs when she thinks she isn’t being recorded.
Leading the calls internationally for a ceasefire are Iran and their proxies in the region. Like Hamas, Hezbollah, El Haj, and her fellows, Iran calls for the destruction of Israel. A post on Food Not Bombs’ Facebook reads, “Support of Zionism goes against the fundamental idea of Food Not Bombs.” Why didn’t El Haj say this on Ch. 5? What she means is, Israel should not exist.
One commenter, Georgeara Castaneda-Garza, responding to my last article posted to the Unete956 Instagram page, verbatim said, “Israel shouldn’t exist.”
As I discussed in my last piece, supposed “anti-Zionism” is nothing but veiled and sublimated Jew hatred, in today’s context. Jew haters who don’t know the first thing about Palestinians, from liberal-left and upper middle-class academics like El Haj to neo-Nazi groups in the United States, delight in the knowledge that a Jewish state can be found oppressing a certain population. Then you can call Jews Nazis, say they’re committing ethnic cleansing, say they’re committing a holocaust and apartheid and genocide, all in the name of social justice. Can anything be more sadistic?
All of Mariam’s lies had but one purpose: to deflect blame and attention away from Hamas, while making political and military demands that will aid them, as well as to conceal from television viewership, with whom she moderates her tone, the well-known fact that she openly calls for the destruction of Israel. Will you deny or contest any of this, Mariam? I dare you to, but you won’t, because you know it’s all true.
jonathansalinas@substack.com