Tahar Ben Jelloun is a celebrated Moroccan writer who writes all of his works in French. He lives in Paris where he is that peculiar thing, a “public intellectual.” He has been at times critical of, and at other times defensive about, Islam.
Now he has come out with a scathing condemnation of Hamas for its October 7 atrocities, and several Moroccan writers have denounced him for this. Not one Arab writer anywhere has come to his defense. Ben Jelloun’s denunciation of Hamas can be found here: “Moroccan intellectual condemns Hamas; others then attack him,” Elder of Ziyon, December 1, 2023:
As a Moroccan Arab and Muslim by birth, culture and traditional education, I cannot find the words to say how horrified I am by what the Hamas militants did to the Jews. Brutality, when it attacks women and children, becomes barbaric and has no excuse or justification.
I am horrified because the images I saw touched me to the depths of my humanity.
I believe that we can resist an occupation, fight against colonization, but not with these acts of great savagery.
It’s too bad Ben Jelloun insists on mentioning resistance to an “occupation” in Gaza, when he knows perfectly well that Israel pulled out in 2005, and that in Judea and Samaria, a/k/a the West Bank, 85% of the Palestinians, living in Areas A and B, are fully in control of their own destiny. And he apparently thinks that the Jews of Israel, in their own homeland, are engaged in a form of “colonization.” Has he forgotten the terms of the Mandate for Palestine, which set aside for the future Jewish state all the territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea? When Israelis “settle” in Judea and Samaria, on state or waste land, or on land that former Arab owners had abandoned, or on land that they bought from Arabs willing to sell to them, they are merely following the terms of the Mandate itself, which called for “close settlement by Jews on the land.” I suspect Ben Jelloun has not forgotten, but rather never knew, what territory was included in the League of Nations’ Mandate for Palestine. A little burning of the midnight oil by Ben Jelloun — learning about the Mandates system, the Mandate for Palestine, Article 80 of the U.N. Charter, and UN Security Council Resolution 242 — would not be out of place.
The Palestinian cause died on October 7, 2023, assassinated by fanaticized elements, mired in an Islamist ideology of the worst kind.
Hamas is the enemy, not only of the Israeli people, but also of the Palestinian people. A cruel enemy without any political sense, manipulated by a country where young opponents are hanged for not wearing a veil on their heads….
This brutality comes from far away. Certainly from the occupation and humiliations suffered by youth without a future, quickly taken over by an Islamist movement dependent on the goodwill of Iran….
Here Ben Jelloun sounds as if he is excusing Hamas operatives, these “youths without a future” who suffer from “the [non-existent] occupation and humiliations” imposed by Israel. It would have been better had he stuck to denouncing Hamas operatives, instead of suggesting reasons, that some might interpret as subtle justifications, for their acts.
No, there is no reason to excuse what they did in homes, in camps, wherever they could seize young people partying.
The horror is human, I mean animals would never have done what Hamas did. A minister in Netanyahu’s government [Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant] called Gazans “animals.” No, these are men without conscience, without morality, without humanity who perpetrated the massacres, then there is a population which suffers, which is neither armed nor barbaric.
It was not just “massacres” that Hamas perpetrated. We need details. There were babies who were beheaded, children who were burned alive, young girls who were gang-raped and murdered, men who had their eyes gouged out or genitalia cut off, women who had their breasts sliced off. Children were murdered in front of their parents and parents were murdered in front of their children. Ben Jelloun ought to have spelled out the details of what really happened on October 7, instead of confining himself to the word “massacres.”
Do not confuse Hamas with the population (2.5 million people), who live under occupation and embargo….
A few caveats, M. Ben Jelloun. The population of Gaza is not 2.5, but 2.2 million. Exaggerated claims about Arab and Muslim populations are often made, but should not be allowed to pass. More important, the people of Gaza do not “live under occupation and embargo.” Not a single Israeli has lived in Gaza since 2005. The “embargo” of which you write is intended to keep out only “dual use” materials that have a military as well as a civilian use. No medicines or food have been embargoed. But cement, steel rods, and other materials that can be used to build bunkers, weapons warehouses, rocket launchers, and the vast network of underground tunnels, are naturally subject to the embargo. Until this latest war, Israel continued to supply Gaza with water, diesel fuel, and 50% of its electricity. All this stopped on October 11. During the humanitarian pause, Israel again allowed water and electricity into Gaza from Israel. For obvious reasons, it has had to limit fuel deliveries, for that fuel is what Hamas uses to power its military vehicles, and the generators that make living in the tunnels viable.
I, in my solitude, in my sadness and my shame as a human being, my disgust at this humanity to which I refuse to belong, I say, no, this is a fight that does not honor their cause. No, to those who applaud in certain Arab capitals. No, to this bloody triumph over the innocent. No, to the blindness of those who pull the strings of a tragedy where, sooner or later, it will be the Palestinian population who will pay this heavy bill.
This is the heart of his statement, the best part, the part that has most enraged those other Moroccan intellectuals who are now so critical of him. Elder of Ziyon adds:
Morocco’s Hespress wrote that other Moroccan intellectuals were “almost unanimous” in denouncing Ben Jelloun.
Moroccan writer Aziz Lazraq said that this article was filled with “hasty and emotional statements that are not part of his language or nature, and devoid of any meaning.”
Another writer, Montaser Hamadeh, accused Ben Jalloun of adopting the French position towards Israel instead of the Moroccan one….
Moroccan writers have long been jealous of Ben Jelloun’s fame, and resent the maddening fact that he writes so fluently in the language “of the former oppressor.” Now they seem to think that he has no right to his own opinion, but must subscribe to a unanimous “Moroccan position” on Israel, one which does not permit any horror over Hamas to be expressed, or any fellow feeling for the people of Israel.
Not forgetting the few caveats I have about parts of Ben Jelloun’s statement, I think it deserves great praise as the most devastating condemnation of Hamas’ atrocities by any writer in the Arab world. Perhaps other Arab writers will in time come round. After all, someone had to go first.
rick says
It’s far worse than M. Ben Jelloun thinks. Palestinians by proudly adopting Nazi methods have proved that Islam is a Satanic cult at best. Maybe somewhere there are Arab leaders who are wrestling with the problems of making Islam fit the 20th and 21st centuries but not Palestinians, The only modern Western ideas they like come from the Third Reich and Hitler. In short they are westerners who have been blind by the writing on the wall about Islam, wake up and realize this is a Death cult with no limitations to cruelty and viciousness, all of which they use the Koran to defend. If there are moderate Muslims out there maybe their horror and shame will hasten some sort of Reformation of Islam but don’t hold your breathe.
Wellington says
Only half-getting evil is half-assing it and this is not nearly good enough. As long as Islam is one way or another excused then death, maiming, stultification and rot aplenty will continue. Half-getting Nazism or Marxism is not sufficient and this is also the case with Islam.
commonsense says
That Ben Jelloun (who was previously unknown to me) is unanimously savaged by other Moroccan luminaries should be a warning to Western tourists, particularly Jews, who wish to vacation in Morocco. You are putting yourselves in danger. Stay the hell out of Muslim countries, even those considered cosmopolitan and welcoming to visitors. Go elsewhere.