SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: Does it really seem to you like Israel wants to destroy Hamas? Or is it keeping them weak and in charge to justify more crimes?

https://x.com/academic_la/status/2086570220345561517

In order to understand why Israel is rejecting the plan to disarm Hamas and bring in a new government, you have to look at all the steps it has taken to cultivate Hamas over the years:

1) 1970s–80s: Israeli authorities granted Sheikh Ahmed Yassin permits to expand mosques, clinics, schools and charities in Gaza, the institutional base Hamas grew out of in 1987. Israel funded many of these mosques directly according to Yitzhak Segev, IDF general. 

2) Late 1980s: Israel cracked down hard on Fatah and the PLO while largely leaving the Islamists alone, and even helping their organizations control the Islamic University of Gaza, and only outlawed them once they first attacked Israelis in the First Intifada. 

3) The 2005 disengagement: Sharon's unilateral withdrawal was executed without coordinating with Abbas, deliberately, since the point was to avoid a negotiated process. Hamas credited it to armed resistance rather than PA diplomacy and it helped them win the elections in 2006.  

4) 2006: Israel allowed Hamas to run in the elections for the PA. Fatah asked it to ban them and Sharon refused. 

5) 2007: After the Hamas–Fatah split, Israeli policy treated the division as an asset. Gen. Yadlin said Israel would be "happy" with Hamas ruling Gaza rather than the PA.

6) 2012-2019: Netanyahu cements Hamas rule in Gaza. Told Likud members in 2019 that "anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas," and had made similar remarks in 2012.

7) 2015: Israeli intelligence mapped out all the Hamas finances and recommended an operation to disable them. Netanyahu refused. 

8) 2018-2023: Israel approved and escorted monthly Qatari payments, roughly $15–30m, partly in cash suitcases) into Gaza and the Mossad made sure Qatar kept it coming. 

9) Israeli governments under Netanyahu absorbed rocket fire and incendiary balloons without a decisive response, and expanded Gaza work permits from ~2,000 (2021) to nearly 20,000 (2023) as a stabilization payment.

10) Systematically weakening Abbas: Various steps like refusing to negotiate, building settlements, freezing salaries and payments and various other means strengthened Hamas at the expense of Fatah. 

11) 2023-: When Israel invaded Gaza Hamas remained in power. Netanyahu ruled out any PA role — "neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority" and has not allowed in any alternative government, not Palestinian and not Israeli and not anyone. Only Hamas. 

12) 2023-: Israel has expanded from ~53% of Gaza (Oct 2025) to ~70% (Aug 2026) but has not moved on the remainder, and reportedly isn't planning a new ground operation despite Hamas's non-disarmament. They could go in and remove Hamas but refuse to. 

13) 2026: Refuse the offer to disarm Hamas. Despite claiming the entire goal of the "war" in Gaza is to disarm Hamas, the offer to do exactly that is refused. 

Does it really seem to you like Israel wants to destroy Hamas? Or is it keeping them weak and in charge to justify more crimes? October 7 was Israel proving unable to keep Hamas on a simmer and it boiled over. But they still use them as a tool to justify their crimes and to prevent a Palestinian leadership that can make peace from emerging.