Hillary Clinton's Hamas Post Sparks Backlash

Hillary Clinton sparked an intense social media reaction, with both criticism and support, after writing an article for The Atlantic in which she argues it would be a mistake to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza-Israel war.

The former secretary of state claimed Hamas "will never stop attacking Israel" and would use any ceasefire to regroup and rearm before launching another assault.

Israeli troops remain locked in fierce combat in Gaza and have entered the Al-Shifa Hospital, which they claimed was also being used as a Hamas command center.

The Israeli invasion followed the coordinated Hamas attack on October 7 which left around 1,200 Israelis, predominantly civilians, dead and another 240 kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip as hostages. More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

In her piece for The Atlantic, titled "Hamas must go," Clinton described helping to negotiate a ceasefire in 2012, which she claimed was violated by Hamas in 2014 when the militant group "started another war by abducting Israeli hostages and launching rocket attacks against civilians."

She wrote: "That is why I am convinced Hamas must go. On October 7, these terrorists killed babies, raped women, and kidnapped innocent civilians. They continue to hold more than 200 hostages. They have proved again and again that they will not abide by ceasefires, will sabotage any efforts to forge a lasting peace, and will never stop attacking Israel."

Clinton also praised President Joe Biden's administration for not demanding an immediate ceasefire, saying any unilateral pause in hostilities would "give Hamas a chance to re-arm and perpetuate the cycle of violence."

After being shared by Clinton on X, formerly Twitter, the article received a mixed response from social media users.

One Twitter user replied, "you're a hypocrite," and shared a post by Clinton on 10 March, 2022, in which she stated: "If Russian leadership would rather not be accused of committing war crimes, they should stop bombing hospitals."

A similar point was made by Jackson Hinkle, a self-described "American Conservative Marxist-Leninist" and trenchant critic of Israel who has 2.1 million followers on X.

He reposted an edited version of Clinton's March 2022 tweet, with "Israeli" replacing "Russian," and commented: "Fixed it for you Hillary Clinton."

Sameera Khan, a self-styled "foreign policy analyst," commented: "Another regime change operation? Are you serious? How well has this gone in the past?"

However, David Weissman, who claims to be a former Donald Trump supporter, took a different view. Responding to Clinton's post, he commented: "Well said, you're absolutely right."

David Atherton, who writes for quarterly journal The European Conservative, said: "I have reached purgatory when I agree with you."

On Tuesday more than 100,000 demonstrators gathered in Washington D.C. in a show of support for Israel, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Ahead of the march, video posted on social media showed a medic tent for the event had been graffitied with slogans including "Palestine will be free" and "Gaza will win."