Media Review: Aljazeera reports on American Jewish philosopher, "Hamas is an act of resistance against oppression"

The Qatari satellite television broadcasted a video of the influential philosopher who argued recently that Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023 is an act of resistance. 

According to Aljazeera, the American Jewish philosopher, Judith Butler, described Hamas' attack as an act of armed resistance against the oppression that Palestinians have been experiencing for decades.

Butler explained, "We can have different views about the Hamas movement as a political party, or about the armed resistance, but I believe that the most truthful and historically accurate is that the events of October 7 are an act of "Armed resistance", not a terrorist or anti-Semitic attack."

While the American philosopher confirmed that the attack against the Israelis was “painful” for her, she said, “I would be stupid if I decided that the only violence in the scene is the violence practiced against the Israelis... violence against the Palestinians has been going on for decades.”

Butler added, "What happened was an uprising stemming from a state of oppression, and against the state of violence towards them."

She continued, "Let us be clear. You can be with or against the armed resistance... with or against Hamas... but let us at least call it armed resistance, and then we will have a discussion: Are you doing the right things or doing them in the right way, or should strategies be changed?"

Philosopher Judith Butler is one of the most prominent leaders of contemporary critical theory. She is an American Jew of Russian-Hungarian origins, born on February 24, 1956 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Last December, American thinker Norman Finkelstein - author of the book “The Holocaust Industry” - said that the administration of US President Joe Biden encourages the resumption of military operations in Gaza even though it can stop the war on Gaza with one phone call, stressing at the same time that Israel knows that it will fail to dismantle Hamas.

It should be noted that Judith Butler recently made similar statements to other US media outlets, including Democracy Now outlet.