Sure, Hamas has proved itself relatively resilient, but it is now battling a foe more formidable than the IDF: Internet Porn.
“A couple of weeks ago Hamas installed a filter to prevent people from accessing such pages on the net,” said Ali Sarayfi who runs an Internet cafe in the university area of Gaza City. Inside the cafe dozens of young people are glued to computer monitors, surfing the Internet and enjoying one of their last remaining links to the world outside the fenced-off territory. Since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip on June 15 last year after routing forces loyal to the secular Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, Israel has sealed the impoverished territory off from all but limited humanitarian aid. With the economy teetering on the edge of collapse and the vast majority of Gaza’s residents out of work, the Internet cafes are one of the last affordable recreational outlets available to the territory’s 1.5 million people. “Before, anyone could gain access to sites with sexual content, and some people even came here to do just that,” said Sarayfi. “But today that’s all finished, and it’s better that way.” In the past when some Internet cafe owners tried to prevent access to certain sites, “they were threatened. People in powerful Gaza families told them the windows in their shops would be broken,” he added.
Will the “powerful Gaza families” stand up to Hamas and insist on their right to, well, adult entertainment? And how powerful can they be if they can’t afford home-access to the Internet? In any case, this is one battle Hamas will inevitably lose, and not a single Desert Eagle will be fired.
