The person I replied to claimed that the Palestinians had no say in Hamas's rule. That is quite contrary to reality.

okay, but they are victims to it either way and its disingenuous to aim to invalidate and discredit that

Hamas won an election by mere plurality in 2006, against an incompetent Fatah

Which means not even a majority of the voting population voted for them

Over 50% of Gaza is children

The last vote was 18 years ago

so over 50% of Gaza has never seen an election and had no say in Hamas rule

of the remaining 50%, even if 100% of that population voted, less than 50% of them voted for Hamas

so in the best case scenario, 20% of Gaza voted for Hamas. but of course its way less than that because not 100% of adults voted

they are all victims of an autocratic regime where going against Hamas is death

going too close to the walls during even peacetime is death by the Israelis

and we’re supposed to smugly justify collective punishment on the idea that the current population has a real choice in the matter?

that lacks emotional intelligence