• @[email protected]
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      -131 year ago

      Toward the end of Netanyahu’s fifth government in 2021, approximately 2,000-3,000 work permits were issued to Gazans. This number climbed to 5,000 and, during the Bennett-Lapid government, rose sharply to 10,000.

      That’s what counts as empowering Hamas? Letting Palestinians earn a living?

      I mean I guess you can spin it that way, but it’s a spurious claim to make.

      • @OccamsTeapot
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        121 year ago

        The idea was to prevent Abbas — or anyone else in the Palestinian Authority’s West Bank government — from advancing toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. Thus, amid this bid to impair Abbas, Hamas was upgraded from a mere terror group to an organization with which Israel held indirect negotiations via Egypt, and one that was allowed to receive infusions of cash from abroad.

        Along with the rest of the article this describes the point in general terms. You can research more if you want to

        • @[email protected]
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          -131 year ago

          I mean, maybe there was some kind of conspiracy to pit Hamas against Fatah.

          To me, it seems more likely that they were trying to treat Hamas as what people here act like it is: some kind of governing party in Gaza to be negotiated with. That was obviously an error.