In December, the left-wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an in-depth report accusing IDF units operating in northern Gaza of rampant lawless behavior and commanders of removing restrains on firing at civilians. The report focuses on the Netzarim Corridor, the narrow zone held by the IDF that separates Gaza City and the area to its north from the rest of the Strip. Andrew Fox, a British veteran of the war in Afghanistan, found that the report did not at all comport with what he witnessed during his own visit to Netzarim in November:

The soldiers we spoke to [in Netzarim] were all reservists from the 252nd Division, the reserve formation that was the focus of Haaretz’s hit piece. The atmosphere I observed was more relaxed than a British or American base would have been, but it was well maintained and free of litter and detritus. We met one of their commanders, who was intense and focused, but who spoke eloquently about their mission and the need to dismantle Hamas after October 7.

As with all IDF commanders I have met, he was the opposite of vengeful against Palestinians. The IDF’s ethos and rules of engagement are always referenced early and often in every conversation with IDF frontline officers. Many times now, I have observed the cold determination for the job in hand these men project.

The soldiers themselves . . . were eloquent, compassionate and thoughtful. Again, not a word of hatred was expressed for anyone but Hamas.

After reading the article, Fox spoke to some contacts in the IDF, and discovered some details about the story’s questionable reporting. He also learned that the rules of engagement for suspected combatants were stricter than those employed in Afghanistan. He concludes that the “unbalanced portrayal of the IDF in Gaza make the article shameless manipulation masquerading as fair reporting, in pursuit of Haaretz’s well-established political position.”

Addressing a recent meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Committee, Mahmoud Abbas criticized Hamas more sharply than he has previously (at least in public), calling them “sons of dogs.” The eighty-nine-year-old Palestinian Authority president urged the terrorist group to “stop the war of extermination in Gaza” and “hand over the American hostages.” The editors of the New York Sun comment:

Mr. Abbas has long been at odds with Hamas, which violently ousted his Fatah party from Gaza in 2007. The tone of today’s outburst, though, is new. Comparing rivals to canines, which Arabs consider dirty, is startling. Its motivation, though, was unrelated to the plight of the 59 remaining hostages, including 23 living ones. Instead, it was an attempt to use an opportune moment for reviving Abbas’s receding clout.

[W]hile Hamas’s popularity among Palestinians soared after its orgy of killing on October 7, 2023, it is now sinking. The terrorists are hoarding Gaza aid caches that Israel declines to replenish. As the war drags on, anti-Hamas protests rage across the Strip. Polls show that Hamas’s previously elevated support among West Bank Arabs is also down. Striking the iron while it’s hot, Abbas apparently longs to retake center stage. Can he?

Diminishing support for Hamas is yet to match the contempt Arabs feel toward Abbas himself. Hamas considers him irrelevant for what it calls “the resistance.”

[Meanwhile], Abbas is yet to condemn Hamas’s October 7 massacre. His recent announcement of ending alms for terror is a ruse.

Abbas, it’s worth noting, hasn’t saved all his epithets for Hamas. He also twice said of the Americans, “may their fathers be cursed.” Of course, after a long career of anti-Semitic incitement, Abbas can’t be expected to have a moral awakening. Nor is there much incentive for him to fake one. But, like the protests in Gaza, Abbas’s recent diatribe is a sign that Hamas is perceived as weak and that its stock is sinking.