A promotional reel for the 2015 movie Macbeth, starring Michael Fassbender as Macbeth. Video courtesy of INSTAGRAM: @macbeth_movie.
“I have no spur/ To prick the sides of my intent, but only/ Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself/ And falls on th’other.” –Macbeth, the lead character in William Shakespeare’s (1564–1616) play The Tragedie of Macbeth (1606), Act 1, Scene 7.
**********
The lines above come from Macbeth, the fictional doomed Scottish usurper King and anti-hero of William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy.
If you are familiar with the play - Macbeth, the Scottish usurper, expounds on how his reasons for killing Duncan, the King of Scotland - are solely to satisfy his social ambitions and those of his wife, Lady Macbeth. Macbeth is aware that murdering King Duncan will lead him into mental darkness and moral turpitude.
However, Macbeth’s ambitions and his wife override his loyalty to Duncan and his emotional apprehension about committing regicide. In Public Health Policy Reviews 20, we compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin to the doomed Macbeth in Shakespeare’s timeless play.
But Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Putin are not the only two leaders who are “steeped in the blood” of their political enemies and countless civilian casualties from wars.
**********
Ismail Haniyeh: Forged in Fire
Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh (left) in 2012 at a meeting with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (right) in Iran. Photo image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.
“Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee: I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.” –Act 1, Scene 7.
**********
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is also a real-life Macbeth.
In fact, given the stark historical incongruence in the death toll that Palestinian civilians always suffered in conflicts with the Israelis over the past seventy-six years – it is appropriate to say that Mr. Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders are currently “steeped in the blood” of their people.
Very few of the people protesting Israel’s current invasion of Gaza from America and Western Europe consider what role Hamas has in the humanitarian and public health emergencies happening to the Palestinians. Indeed, we can make an argument that Hamas’s devotion to radical Islamist philosophies and terrorist resistance tactics in synchronicity with the other Jihadist leaders across the Middle East contribute significantly to the economic deprivations and social suffering of the Palestinians.
Political leaders in Israel and the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) have long accused Mr. Haniyeh and the other leaders of Hamas of corruption and abject neglect of the Palestinian people.
**********
The Schemer
A promotional reel for the 2015 movie Macbeth, starring Michael Fassbender as Macbeth. Video courtesy of INSTAGRAM: @macbeth_movie.
“Here lay Duncan, his silver skin laced with his golden blood, and his gashed stabs looked like a breach in nature/ For ruin’s wasteful entrance.” –Act 2, Scene 3.
**********
A promotional reel for the 2015 movie Macbeth, starring Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth. Video courtesy of INSTAGRAM: @macbeth_movie.
In Public Health Policy Reviews 9, we began to review and analyze the public health impacts of Israel’s invasion of Gaza as a prism toward understanding US Foreign Policy in the Middle East.
One week later, we investigated US military imperialism in the Middle East over the last 20 Years. With both series, we focused on how the policies of Israel, the US, and Western Europe impact the region’s economics, society, and culture.
Beyond merely mentioning Hamas’ horrific surprise attack on an open-air Israeli music festival on Saturday, October 7th, 2023 – we have not yet considered Ismail Haniyeh’s culpability for the deaths of over 35,000 Palestinian civilians as of the date of this blog post.
According to some humanitarian reports, about 70% of the dead in Gaza since October 7th are women, children under the age of eighteen, or elderly people of sixty years of age or older.
**********
The Murderer
“I am in blood / Stepp’d in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er,” –Act 3, Scene 4.
**********
Here, Macbeth – slowly going mad after murdering the previous King and his supporters to usurp the throne, is lamenting his fate.
Macbeth realizes he has lost control of his bloodlust after complete immersion in the bloodshed he spilled to gain power. Likewise, the October events orchestrated by Mr. Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar – Hamas’ leader in Gaza, were such a shock to the international community that most Western European and North American countries afforded Israel and Netanyahu license to do whatever it deemed necessary to destroy the terrorist organization.
The Israeli attack on Gaza has quickly become one of the most destructive and deadly conflicts of the 21st century in only eight months of fighting. The IDF’s indiscriminate and relentless carper bombing of the Gaza Strip has destroyed homes, buildings, and civilian infrastructure.
The war in Gaza has displaced over 1.7 million Palestinians, with most people fleeing to the southernmost city of Rafah. Food and drinkable water are so scarce that the UN says famine is approaching.
**********
The Political Arsonist
A promotional reel for the 2015 movie Macbeth, starring Michael Fassbender as Macbeth. Video courtesy of INSTAGRAM: @macbeth_movie.
“Double, double toil and trouble... Something wicked this way comes,” –Act 4, Scene 1.
**********
Suppose you peruse independent and objective news reports regarding Israel versus Hamas in war and politics over the last two (2) decades.
In that case, it soon becomes apparent that Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, and the bureaucratic apparatus of Hama’s government have engaged in a war of attrition with the IDF since they gained power in the Gaza Strip in 2007.
The battle strategy of Hamas sanctions attacking civilian targets in Israel, as well as killing, maiming, raping, and kidnapping as many Israeli civilians as necessary to inflict a psychological toll on Israeli society. Of course, the death toll in Gaza caused by the IDF’s current invasion reveals Israel’s mastery of the same tactic.
Still and all, the complete military asymmetry – and tactical disadvantages that Hamas, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and other insurrection movements in the region have historically faced against Israel demand honest assessments of the limits of radical Islamic terrorism to gain power.
**********
The Tyrant
Macbeth is a 2015 movie starring Michael Fassbender. Photo image courtesy of INSTAGRAM: @macbeth_movie.
“Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player/ That struts and frets his hour upon the stage/ And then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” –Act 5, Scene 5.
**********
Most of the young people demonstrating for the Palestinian cause on college campuses over the past few months do not ascribe much blame to Ismail Haniyeh and Hamas for the abysmal humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Yet, it is important to note that Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar, and Hamas have a notorious reputation for aggressively monitoring and suppressing Palestinian civilians who disagree with their radical philosophies and military tactics. Hamas has killed Palestinian political enemies.
Then, there are countless “unsolved” murders of Palestinian journalists and suspicious maiming of social activists in Gaza who had the temerity to criticize Hamas.
**********
Hamas and the Art of the Fight
Macbeth is a 2015 movie starring Marion Cotillard (left) and Michael Fassbender (right). Photo image courtesy of INSTAGRAM: @macbeth_movie.
“Why should I play the Roman fool and die/ On mine own sword? Whiles, I see lives, the gashes/ Do better upon them,” –Act 5, Scene 8.
**********
Israel is very clearly waging a war on Palestinian civilians, despite Prime Minister Netanyahu stating that the reason for the IDF’s current offensive is to “root out” Hamas terrorists from Gaza’s government, civilian infrastructure, and social life.
Mr. Haniyeh is okay with the attrition rate afflicting Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The myopic devotion to a military campaign and terrorist tactics as the only viable means to oppose Israel’s seven-decades occupying Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank makes Ismail Haniyeh and Hamas just as culpable for the dissolution of civilian infrastructure and public health in Gaza as Israel.