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Egyptian TV host Ibrahim Eissa slammed in his November 1, 2023 show on Al-Kahera Wal-Nas TV (Egypt) the statement by Hamas Official Mousa Abu Marzouk that Hamas is not responsible for the safety of the people in Gaza. Abu Marzouk said in a Russia Today interview on October 27, 2023 that the tunnels in Gaza are meant to protect Hamas fighters, and the U.N. should provide shelter for the people of Gaza, because most of them are refuges (see MEMRITV clip number 10585). Eissa said that this statement is disgraceful because the number one responsibility of a government is to provide security for its people. He continued to say that if Hamas will not protect its people, it should step down from government. Eissa stated that Hamas had the opportunity to focus only on resistance, but it chose to stage a coup, drive out the Palestinian Authority, and even throw some of its officials off rooftops
Ibrahim Eissa: "How did [Mousa Abu Marzouk] answer the question why Hamas had not build bomb shelters in Gaza, during its 16 years in power?"
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Mousa Abu Marzouk: "These tunnels are meant to protect us from the airplanes. We are fighting from inside the tunnels. Everybody knows that 75% of the people in the Gaza Strip are refugees, and it is the responsibility of the United Nations to protect them. According to the Geneva Conventions, it is the responsibility of the occupation to provide them with all the services, as long as they are under occupation."
Eissa: "This statement is the closest thing to insolence, and is the furthest thing from responsibility. This is the most disgraceful statement possible. This is how Hamas leaders talk to their people, saying to them: You are not my responsibility.
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"The Hamas leaders are saying to them: You are the people of the United Nation, not my people.
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"How can such an answer be described other than insolent and disgraceful? People are upset that I am criticizing Hamas, while Hamas is at war, but Hamas themselves are saying that the Palestinians are not their responsibility. Soon, they will start talking to us about the need to provide aid... Didn't you just say that this is none of your business? That you are only responsible for Hamas and its fighters? That you have dug tunnels to protect [only] yourself? What about the Palestinian children who are targeted by the Israeli aggression? No they should ask the United Nations to protect them. Why would I build bomb shelters for them? I'm digging tunnels for myself.
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"Obviously, [Abu Marzouk] is saying all this while sitting in Qatar.
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"The number-one job of any government in the world is to protect the lives of its people and to defend its borders. This is their number-one job. Nothing is more important. But you say: We are a resistance movement and protecting the people is not our business. Enough them. Step down from the government. Stay in your tunnels, carry out your attacks, but don't be responsible for the people. Instead, you claim to be the government, and you carried out a coup and drove out the Palestinian Authority, and threw some of its officials from the rooftops...
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"This is a disgraceful government. They say it is none of their business.
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"If you believe that the people of Gaza are the responsibility of the U.N., why are you still in the government? Why do you gamble on the lives of the people, knowing that you will not provide them anything? The truth is that you are peddling in their lives. You are [shouting]: 'The people of Gaza are being killed!' and 'Where are the Arabs?' Sir, where are you? Are you not the government? What government? You say you are a movement... So why is [Hamas] still the government? A government needs responsible people, not disgraceful cowards."