On 30th October, Congress’ spokesperson Lavanya Ballal Jain, Community Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M) leader MA Baby and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader MK Muneer refused to call Hamas a terrorist organisation during a debate on India Today moderated by Rajdeep Sardesai. They also refused to condemn the Hamas leader addressing a rally in Kerala and went round and round in circles over the question.
During the debate, Sardesai and other panellists consistently targeted Union Minister Rajiv Chandrashekhar, claiming he connected the Kerala blast at the convention centre to a Hamas rally. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla repeatedly clarified that the minister did not connect the dots as it was being claimed. Still, he drew parallels that such rallies and incidents point towards the possibility of radicalisation.
Congress spokesperson refused to condemn Hamas
Moving on, Congress spokesperson Lavanya Ballal Jain was questioned by Sardesai if the Congress party condemned the terrorist attack in Israel, what is happening in Gaza and the Solidarity Youth Movement rally that took place in Kerala where former Hamas chief Khaled Mashal addressed the crowd. Lavanya kept going round and round in her answer. Still, she neither condemned Hamas’ terror attack on Israel nor did she give a clear answer on Hamas’s leader addressing a rally in Kerala.
"Attack on civilians/innocent people is against international law..it is a crime": MK Muneer, Muslim League leader
— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) October 30, 2023
Should the rally be allowed where a Hamas leader was addressing? Answers @LavanyaBallal, Cong spokesperson#NewsToday #Kerala #Blasts | @sardesairajdeep pic.twitter.com/LyzIVLRPoQ
She said that holding a rally is a fundamental right of every Indian. However, she pointed out that there has been no communal tension on record in Kerala for the past five years. She said there had been no communal tension, but “we are jumping to declare that Kerala is a Tinder Box. Kerala is becoming communally sensitive. Let’s also be very clear that there has been no communal violence in the state in the last five and a half years, and most of the communal violence incidents have happened in the Hindi speaking States, especially in the BJP ruled States.”
‘Not sure if there was an element of radicalisation in Hamas leader’s speech’, claimed CPI(M) leader
Sardesai asked CPI(M) leader MA Baby how the rally by the Solidarity Youth Movement (SYM) was allowed when former Hamas chief Khaled Mashal addressed the crowd. SYM is the youth wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami organisation.
In his reply, MA Baby cited freedom of speech and said any legal organisation is free to hold rallies for any cause, including for Palestinians or any other “liberation movement”. He further refused to acknowledge the contents of the speech by the Hamas leader and said whatever was being talked about in the media was just speculation over what he said. He further emphasised the fact that Hamas is not a banned organisation in India. He further asserted that it was unclear if there was any element of radicalisation in the speech.
Notably, on 9th October, MA Baby extended his support for Hamas and said, “If you are labelling Hamas a terrorist organisation, then you will have to accept the fact that Israel also is a terrorist country. The time has come to declare Palestine as an independent country with eastern Jerusalem as its capital.” This statement was pointed out during the debate by BJP’s spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla, who said it justified what Hamas did on 7th October.
‘Hamas represents people of Gaza’
Denying calling Hamas a terrorist outfit, MA Baby said, “Hamas is now the elected representative of the Gaza region. They are part of the Palestinian Liberation Movement. They are the most influential organisation there. My party has differences about the approach of Hamas, but Hamas is one of the militant streams.”
He further cited United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterrers’ statement where he said, “It is important to also recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled, their people displaced, and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.”
MA Baby used the statement to justify the Hamas terrorist attack on Gaza, saying even the UN justified it. However, he completely skipped on the fact that just a day after the statement, Guterres himself said his statement was misrepresented, and in no way was it justification for what Hamas did in Israel on 7th October.
IUML leader chose whataboutery
Sardesai questioned IUML leader ML Muneer if he unequivocally condemned what happened on 7th October. On that day, the Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas initiated the largest terror attack on Israel, killing around 1,300 Israelis and foreigners, including children, elderly and women. Over 200 were taken hostage by Hamas.
Replying to his question, Muneer asserted that whatever happened on 7th October was not out of the blue but a reaction to what had been happening to Palestinians for decades. Rooting for whataboutery, Muneer continued and said under international law, killing any civilians is against the law. However, “What Israel has done in retaliation to this, killed 7,000. Out of 7,000, 4,000 are children. Are they a member of Hamas?” Muneer echoed the same narrative that Hamas did not attack Israel in a vacuum during the debate.
Solidarity Youth Movement rally featuring Hamas leader
On 27th October, Khaled Mashal, the former chief of the terrorist organisation Hamas, virtually addressed a ‘solidarity event’ organised by the Solidarity Youth Movement. The group is the youth wing of the extremist Jamaat-e-Islami Hind outfit. The terrorist leader reportedly called for the annihilation of Hinduism and Zionism in his address. In his speech, Khalid asked people present at the rally to extend unconditional support to Hamas and made anti-Hindu comments. Anti-Hindu slogans were raised in the rally held in Malappuram, and the audience is heard applauding the address of Khaled Mashal playing on a large screen. They supported his call and vowed to support Hamas terrorists.
Israel Hamas war
On 7th October (local time), Hamas launched the worst terrorist attack on southern Israel, killing at least 1,300 Israelis and foreign nationals, including children, the elderly and women. Over 200 people were taken hostage by the Hamas terrorists. Women were raped, children were killed in front of their parents, the elderly were shot dead point black in their homes, Israeli soldiers were killed, and the terrorists mutilated their bodies during the attack. Israel launched a counter-strike on Hamas. So far, around 8,000 lives have been lost in Israeli air strikes. Israel has warned the civilians multiple times to evacuate, but reports suggest that Hamas terrorists kept stopping them. Meanwhile, India launched Operation Ajay to rescue Indians from Israel. On 1st November, the Israel-Hamas war entered its 25th day.
