Since Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel, which massacred an estimated 1,200 Israeli men, women and children in a grotesque campaign of violence, a growing chorus of voices have sought to falsely reframe the subsequent war between Hamas and Israel as a one-sided massacre by Israel against Palestinian civilians.

In her December 10 column in The Toronto Star entitled: “The silent betrayal of Palestinian women by global feminism,” Nimao Ali, a self-described “social justice activist who has advised law enforcement and government on cultural awareness,” and who serves on the board of the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council, adds to this discordant chorus.

In her commentary, Ali described scenes of destruction from the Gaza Strip, describing a “surreal, apocalyptic scene.” Apparently unsatisfied to merely describe the indisputable suffering by those in Gaza, Ali then identifies the target of her ire: Israel, which she writes “has executed a targeted assault on the very heart of Palestinian society, their mothers, daughters, and sisters.”

While there would be nothing objectionable about Ali writing about the suffering of women in the Gaza Strip as a result of Hamas’ massacre in Israel and the subsequent war, she instead falsely claims that Israel has carried out a “targeted assault” on Palestinian civilians, in an argument that has no basis in reality.

Alleging that Israel is intentionally and methodically targeting and murdering innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip is entirely without merit, and represents a profoundly dishonest attempt at disseminating anti-Israel propaganda without any respect for truth or factual accuracy.

Moreover, other than her opening sentence referencing “the Israel-Hamas war,” nowhere in Ali’s column does she ever mention Hamas, the Gaza-based extremist Islamic terrorist organization which not only carried out the October 7 attacks, but is the party entirely responsible for the undeniable suffering faced by both Israelis and Palestinians.

While there is no dispute about the suffering endured by Israelis and Palestinians alike, Ali has not only failed to identify the chief culprit, she seems intent on avoiding mention of it as much as possible in her commentary.

Omitting Hamas is akin to a columnist in the 1940s excoriating the Allied war with Nazi Germany in World War Two, and yet finding it unnecessary to mention Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany and its war of conquest across Europe and beyond.

It is Hamas which launched an unprovoked and bloodthirsty massacre in Israel on October 7, torturing, raping, murdering and dismembering the bodies of its victims, all while filming their exploits, and taking hundreds of innocent hostages back to the Gaza Strip.

It is Hamas which siphoned off international humanitarian aid meant for Palestinians in Gaza, and instead redirected it towards the construction of a massive network of subterranean terror tunnels and rockets.

It is Hamas which makes no compunction about using its own people as de facto human shields, whether by building its tunnels directly underneath civilian infrastructure, firing rockets from heavily populated civilian areas or preventing Palestinians from fleeing areas of heavy fighting.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar leads by example. As a target of Israel, Sinwar in public frequently surrounds himself with small children in a cynical attempt to protect himself.

But to Ali, Hamas apparently does not exist for Gazan women, pinning all of their suffering on Israel for its “systemic violence.”

Unsurprisingly, Ali says nothing to her readers about Hamas’ incredible misogyny against Gaza’s women, or of the sexual assaults, genital mutilation and pedophilia that the terrorist group perpetrated on October 7, or its monstrous disrespect for human life, Israeli or Palestinian alike.

While Ali rightfully bemoans the suffering of women in Gaza, she fails to identify Hamas as the chief culprit behind their condition. Until she musters up the courage to do that, she is effectively promoting the perpetual suffering of the very women she claims to support.