The expression of being “stuck between a rock and a hard place” relates to being in a very difficult spot between two equally terrible bad choices.
It has been used to describe the situation of the Arab civilians in Gaza, caught between Israel and Hamas. On one side, is an enormous military which Gazans view as interlopers on their land, bombing them to pieces. On the other is their leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Hamas, who rules the Strip with an iron hand.
The Israeli military is accused of “starving” the population and advancing a “genocide” to “ethnically cleanse” the region of Arabs. On the other, Gazans have an organization which may torture and shoot those who protest against them.
On one side, there is an Israeli military that offers financial rewards for information about hostages, bounty for Hamas leaders, millions of dollars to disrupt the “financial mechanisms” that prop Hamas, and billions of dollars to Hamas to disband. On the other is martyrdom.
From the Israeli side, Gazans hear a party that will end the war immediately if the hostages are returned and Hamas surrenders. From Hamas, they hear that the Arab fight is a holy one sanctioned by Allah, as they ask Gazans to sacrifice their children for the holy mission of cleansing the land of Jews.
Are Gazans truly between two EQUALLY terrible choices?
For the devout, they are asked to decide between a peaceful and prosperous life in this world, and one of holy jihad to rid “Palestine of filth of the Jews.” The Global North (3% Muslim) would immediately chose the former while the Global South (26% Muslim and 42% Muslim excluding Latin America and China) would urge Gazans to chose the latter.
The Gazans are similarly divided according to devotion. In a PCPSR poll conducted in November 2023, soon after the October 7 massacre of 1,200 people in Israel and abduction of 251 people, support for the massacre was correlated to religious beliefs, with “religious and the somewhat religious (76% and 71%, respectively) compared to the non-religious (42%)” supporting Hamas’s attack.
The calculus is changing now that Hamas’s power is collapsing.
Gazans are not numb after 18 months of war, having experienced ceasefires. They see that Israel is not intent on a “genocide” the way portrayed by their leaders but are intent on achieving the aims of releasing the hostages and ending Hamas’s rule. Gazans also see a severely weakened Hamas which cannot round up opponents en masse and drag their bodies through the streets or toss them off buildings.
So Gazans have started to protest Hamas’s rule.
But Hamas will not go quietly. It has begun to execute protestors, including 22-year old Odai al-Rubai.
So Israel reentered Gaza with ground forces and tanks, intent on applying maximal pressure on Hamas to give up the hostages and surrender, and hopefully inspiring Gazans to pressure Hamas to end the war.
Gazans see that they are no longer between a rock and a hard place, at least as it relates to the PHYSICAL threats from Hamas. They will still have to square whether their Islamic beliefs will permit coexistence alongside a Jewish State, or will accept a short-term “hudna” truce and patiently wait for the Islamic world to rally for “the cleansing of Palestine of the filth of the Jews” in the years to come.

From a Global North’s perspective, there should not be a divide between religious faith and coexistence. Gazans should not feel torn between practicing Islam and living in peace alongside a Jewish State.
But the tension is very real as preached by “Muslim Scholars” based in Qatar and elsewhere. Radical Islam is poisoning the Middle East, placing Muslims in a quandary of life, land and belief, which can only be resolved by killing every Jew in Israel.
The end of the current physical war is approaching. The ideological war remains.
Related articles:
First Time In History, People Under ‘Genocide’ Reject Ceasefire. Repeatedly. (December 2024)
Stop Genocide. Destroy Hamas (May 2024)
Destroying Hamas Convinces Gazans To Support Two State Solution. Why Doesn’t The UN Get It? (March 2024)
Humble Faith (October 2021)
Gazans Support Killing Jewish Civilians (February 2021)
Regime Reactions to Israel’s “Apartheid” and “Genocide” (March 2017)
Names and Narrative: Genocide / Intifada (March 2016)



























