Hamas monitored political activity, online posts, and apparently even love lives. Palestinians were stuck between an Israeli blockade and a repressive security force.

The Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has for years overseen a secret police force in Gaza that conducted surveillance on everyday Palestinians and built files on young people, journalists and those who questioned the government, according to intelligence officials and a trove of internal documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The unit, known as the General Security Service, relied on a network of Gaza informants, some of whom reported their own neighbors to the police. People landed in security files for attending protests or publicly criticizing Hamas. In some cases, the records suggest that the authorities followed people to determine if they were carrying on romantic relationships outside marriage.

Hamas has long run an oppressive system of governance in Gaza, and many Palestinians there know that security officials watch them closely. But a 62-slide presentation on the activities of the General Security Service, delivered only weeks before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, reveals the degree to which the largely unknown unit penetrated the lives of Palestinians.

. . .

Everyday Gazans were stuck — behind the wall of Israel’s crippling blockade and under the thumb and constant watch of a security force. That dilemma continues today, with the added threat of Israeli ground troops and airstrikes.

MBFC
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  • @[email protected]English
    29•7 months ago

    Paywall and the archive doesn’t work…

    But it sounds like this was pretty tame compared to other countries.

    Shit, Israel goes into Gaza and abducts people for torture and long imprisonment without charges based on social media and claimed statements to informants…

    And this says Hamas followed people to see if they were having an affair?

    And kept files on people? Some journalists?

    Hasn’t Israel killed more journalists than even Russia the last couple years?

    I don’t see what’s surprising or concerning here. And I don’t see where the article is getting their info either. Are they just repeating IDF propaganda again?

    Nevermind, I googled it.

    The author is from multiple propaganda outlets in Israel, and belongs to pro-Israel “think tank”…

    https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/experts/adam-rasgon

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Institute_for_Near_East_Policy

    Although WINEP plays down its links to Israel and claims that it provides a ‘balanced and realistic’ perspective on Middle East issues, this is not the case. In fact, WINEP is funded and run by individuals who are deeply committed to advancing Israel’s agenda … Many of its personnel are genuine scholars or experienced former officials, but they are hardly neutral observers on most Middle East issues and there is little diversity of views within WINEP’s ranks."[43]

    Not only funded by AIPAC, but started be people with a bunch of AIPAC connections.

      • @[email protected]English
        10•7 months ago

        I wouldn’t say that.

        Not only did Reddit have Poppingkream, but they could actually ban people and do something about vote manipulation.

        There’s more than a few accounts on here that if you get into an argument with them, you’ll always see 3-5 down votes immediately, and they’ll get an equal amount of up votes as soon as they post.

        Because on some apps it takes two clicks to sign into a new account, and some people care enough about votes to switch over and over again.

        On Reddit they’d crack down on that. Eventually giving an IP ban.

        Here trolls have a bunch of options for random instances to make a new account and go right back at it.

        Lemmy has its own problems, even if they’re not the same as reddits.

    • @[email protected]English
      9•7 months ago

      The Israeli Shin Bet does pretty much the same domestic espionage and there’s rightwing patrols in ultra orthodox neighborhoods as well monitoring for illicit relationships etc.