But do you condemn Hamas?Condemning Hamas as the Palestinian, Hamas as the un-Australian

Authored by Yassir Morsi and Tasnim Mahmoud Sammak for Islamophobia Observer Australia on 3rd April, 2024

In the wake of October 7, 2023, a recurring question posed by Western mainstream media to pro-Palestinian voices was, "Do you condemn Hamas?" During the final weeks of October, the debate over condemning Hamas intensified, sparking fierce discussions and, at times, turning into a target of mockery. Uniformly asked by right-wing and liberal media anchors and interviewers, the question was met with frustration by pro-Palestinians, which was captured in a cartoon that depicted a grieving mother in agony as she held her dead child while Western reporters thrust microphones that demand she condemn Hamas. Circulating on social media, the image serves as a stark illustration of mainstream Western media’s erasure of an unfolding genocide by centring Israel as a victim of terrorism. 

Why was this question raised repeatedly, and what potential discussions might it further suppress in the public discourse? The question to condemn, while seemingly straightforward, resonated far beyond its supposedly innocent and initial intent to invite people to denounce terror. As a tool for Zionist moral disengagement, the question shifts attention from the broader, historical context of Israel’s occupation to a narrowly focused and loaded question. Namely, can Hamas' actions, initially reported as beheading babies and mass rape, be seen as defensible?