Gee, what could have made things so bad in Gaza that Hamas just had to start launching missiles from behind human shields? For that let’s go to the NYT:
Hamas had been struggling. The turmoil in the region meant it lost one of its main sponsors, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, whom it broke with over his brutal fight against a Sunni Muslim-led insurgency, and weakened its alliance with Iran. It lost support in Egypt when the Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted and replaced with a military-backed government hostile to Hamas.
Unemployment in Gaza is around 50 percent, having risen steeply since Israel pulled out its troops and settlers in 2005 and severely tightened border restrictions.
Hamas appeared powerless to end the near-blockade of its border by Israel and more recently Egypt. It could not even pay its 40,000 government workers their salaries.
Israel pulled out its settlements — some forcefully — to gain peace. When none came, Israel sealed the border. Hamas was so brutal (not to mention corrupt) that Egypt sealed its side of the border. Hamas keeps its people in a permanent state of poverty on purpose, because resentful people will do things like make themselves human shields for missile launchers.
You’d think that might be news. But no. It’s all the fault of the Egyptian military and those damn Jews.
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