FERHAT MEHENNI: SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL IN THE FACE OF HAMAS TERRORISM

FERHAT MEHENNI: SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL IN THE FACE OF HAMAS TERRORISM (STATEMENT)
Since 07/10/2023, Kabylia’s support for Israel in the face of Hamas terrorism has earned us an unprecedented outburst of hatred from certain Algerians. Criminal passions are aroused in the official media, and calls for my assassination are echoed all over social networks, encouraged by the Algerian authorities.
I’ve been dealing with this hatred for decades, to the point of being completely immune to it. Once again, I know that the current fever will sooner or later pass.
What are you really blaming us for?
You reproach me and the MAK(Movement for self-determination of Kabylia) militants for daring to claim the right of the Kabyle people to liberate themselves from Algeria by peaceful means, and to put an end to Algerian colonialism, which has lasted since 1857. The serious events surrounding Hamas are merely a pretext for condemning us, not for our support for Israeli civilians, but for our constant defense of Kabylia’s right to independence. However, let’s get back to the expression of your anger, feigned or real.
According to your reactions on social networks, you criticize us for being indignant at the massacre of women, children and unarmed civilians, perpetrated by Hamas terrorists whom Algerian opinion wrongly takes to be Palestinian resistance fighters. This is one of the points I’m going to address after a few additional preliminary clarifications.
If the amalgams, bluffing and lies that build mass manipulation are ineffective on the valiant Kabyle people, who know the ropes and support us in our drive for Kabylia’s right to self-determination, I note that some politically vulnerable Algerians are psychologically permeable to hate speech against the Kabyles. The regime gets on their nerves and easily turns them against us. It helps them forget their hard lives, the shortages of milk, oil, semolina and pulses…
So I’m speaking particularly to you, Algerians, who are angry – and anger is a weak word – at me and at all those who, like me, have a sense of duty to themselves and to other peoples.
Look me straight in the eye, without fear, for I am not the devil you are being asked to take me for, and try to hear what I have to say. I am a man of peace, a man of culture whom the denial of rights to the Kabyle people has turned into a politician. I am not the thief who plunders your wealth, nor the dictator who crushes you and deprives you of your most basic rights and freedoms. I am not the general, the gendarme or the policeman who humiliates, violates and threatens you. I have never in my life committed a terrorist act, and I forbid myself to do so, whatever the reasons. I have a moral obligation to honor Kabylia, not to trample on its values, which are sacred to me.
The Algerian authorities, who are the cause of all your collective misfortunes, always need to divert your gaze from their own crimes to focus on their political opponents, whom they ask you to take as your enemies. Don’t be fooled any longer.
Everywhere in the world, our project has its equivalent. Its supporters and opponents debate it as normally as possible in their highest assemblies. Our conception of politics is one that values democracy, the confrontation of ideas, not the confrontation of men. The military solution is not ours.

As an artist and a poet, I’m very sensitive to human distress. As an intellectual, I have a duty not to mince my words or hide behind my little finger. I have so often sacrificed my interests and friendships on the altar of my values and principles. I express my sorrow at the pain of others, and I allow myself the courage to assume my positions and convictions before God and mankind.
Having made my introductions, let’s get back to what you’re accusing me of, to see who, you or I, is in the wrong.
Hamas militias massacred hundreds of women, children and elderly people, all shot down in cold blood, on 07/10/2023. These militiamen boast about it by filming themselves committing these horrors as if they were feats of arms. But there’s nothing glorious about killing women and children. Never! Killing unarmed civilians is cowardice. The height of ignominy is to kill someone for his or her nationality, religion, gender or human origins. To be Jewish or Israeli, Arab or Kabyle should in no way make us a man to be slaughtered, but a human being with whom we could build a world of love, peace, justice and freedom. That I should express my solidarity with the victims of this crime against humanity is normal, logical and natural. What’s more, it’s my duty.
Imagine yourself in the place of the victims Whether you or your loved ones were massacred in the place of the Israelis. Would you consider it right for a distant government to welcome this, as Algeria has just done? Of course not! Besides, there are precedents in Algeria. The GIA(Armed Islamic Group) and GSPC, who terrorized the Algérois region in the 90s, massacred entire localities, often after raping the women. This happened in Ben Talha, Sidi Youcef… Was there a country or a people that refused to show solidarity with the victims of terrorism? Be logical. You can’t denounce and fight terrorism at home while encouraging it elsewhere. Today’s Hamas was yesterday’s GIA, GSPC, AIS and AQMI in Algeria. It is inconsistent to salute Hamas, to present its acts as heroic, and to denounce those perpetrated by the armed elements of the former FIS as terrorist crimes. In both cases, it seems to me that all those who take murderers for heroes should question their conscience.
From my point of view, Hamas is a nihilistic organization that does not work for the independence of Palestine. The proof? Since its creation, its founding act has been the assassination of all Fatah militants in the Gaza Strip, which it has taken over. Its modus-vivendi is more akin to that of Al Qaeda and Daech. It serves foreign interests from which it draws its resources.
To clarify our position on the issue of the right to a national home for each people, I am the first to make this claim loud and clear. Each people chooses the approach that corresponds to its convictions, strategy and tactics. As far as Kabylia is concerned, we have adopted the path of peace, negotiation and reference to international law. We are working to achieve our independence within the framework of the law and under the aegis of international bodies.
It’s not logical to support the Palestinians’ right to their own state, while at the same time fighting against the same right claimed by the Kabyles.
I invite all those who are against the legitimate aspiration of the Kabyle people to their independence, while supporting with all their might that of the Palestinians, to question their contradiction. Starting with the Algerian government, which keeps Kabylia under the colonial yoke, while defending the right to self-determination when it comes to the Palestinians. What is a right for one people is also a right for all the others! Don’t let despair turn Kabylia into an Algerian Palestine.
The MAK and Anavad are imbued with noble sentiments and great human values. They are neither criminals nor barbarians. On the contrary, they are the last doves of Kabylia.
A bon entendeur!
Exile, 12/10/2023
Ferhat MEHENNI
SIWEL 122203 OCT 23