AP spins for Hamas

Hamas doesn’t need a PR agency. The AP is doing it for them.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) – The Israeli military has rounded up 379 militant activists, including dozens of electoral candidates from Hamas, prompting accusations that Israel is using a weekend truce breach as an excuse to crush the Islamic group before upcoming Palestinian elections.

The arrest sweep in the West Bank – the biggest in three years and part of a new offensive against Hamas – came after Israel failed to win international backing for its demand that the militant organization be barred from the Jan. 25 parliamentary vote.

Israel says a government that includes Hamas, which calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, would threaten peace prospects. But letting Hamas contest elections is the cornerstone of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ plan to tame the group, and the Palestinian Authority believes it will be the main loser in the Israel-Hamas showdown.

By the way, someone find me the objectivity in this article, because I’m thinking it should have been labeled “opinion.”

So let’s take a quick look at some of these candidates for office. Let’s see how the “political wing” of Hamas fares when we do a quick check of the Hamas covenant, which, if they are members of Hamas, they adhere to:

Article Eight:

Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Koran its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.

Hm. Not very politic of them, is it? But wait, let’s see what the covenant says about Israel:

Article Eleven:

The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that. Palestine is an Islamic Waqf land consecrated for Moslem generations until Judgement Day.

Still not looking good for those politicians. But they don’t really call for the destruction of Israel, do they? After all, let’s listen to what the AP and Hamas have to say:

Israel arrested 82 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants overnight Tuesday, in addition to 297 militants taken into custody in the previous two days, the military said. All the arrests took place in the West Bank, which Israel still occupies.

Hamas said that among the detainees were dozens of candidates for parliament and local councils, as well as campaign volunteers and sitting council members, including nine of 11 Hamas representatives in the village of Shuqbeh.

Many were taken from their homes, a sign they did not expect arrest. Those with ties to militants tend to stay in hiding or switch apartments and cars.

Hassan Yousef and Mohammed Ghazal, considered leading Hamas parliament candidates in the Ramallah and Nablus districts, also were arrested. Both are considered relative moderates because they have not ruled out negotiations with Israel.

Israel “is using every possible means to block Hamas and push it aside,” said Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri. “Those arrested are leaders … of the first and second level,” he said, adding that Israel aims to “weaken Hamas, particularly before the legislative elections.”

Oh, they’re village leaders and candidates. They’re moderates. They say that they can negotiate with Israel. Let’s see what the charter says about that:

Article Thirteen:

There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.

Article Fifteen:
The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised. To do this requires the diffusion of Islamic consciousness among the masses, both on the regional, Arab and Islamic levels. It is necessary to instill the spirit of Jihad in the heart of the nation so that they would confront the enemies and join the ranks of the fighters.

It is necessary that scientists, educators and teachers, information and media people, as well as the educated masses, especially the youth and sheikhs of the Islamic movements, should take part in the operation of awakening (the masses). It is important that basic changes be made in the school curriculum, to cleanse it of the traces of ideological invasion that affected it as a result of the orientalists and missionaries who infiltrated the region following the defeat of the Crusaders at the hands of Salah el-Din (Saladin).

Oh, come on. Surely there must be some scrap of hope in the charter. After all, didn’t a Hamas representative just say they might put aside the Hamas charter? That it isn’t the Koran?

Article Five:

Time extent of the Islamic Resistance Movement: By adopting Islam as its way of life, the Movement goes back to the time of the birth of the Islamic message, of the righteous ancestor, for Allah is its target, the Prophet is its example and the Koran is its constitution.

Article 28:
Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people.

Hm. Perhaps that Hamas rep was, you know, lying?

Article Thirty:

Writers, intellectuals, media people, orators, educaters and teachers, and all the various sectors in the Arab and Islamic world – all of them are called upon to perform their role, and to fulfill their duty, because of the ferocity of the Zionist offensive and the Zionist influence in many countries exercised through financial and media control, as well as the consequences that all this lead to in the greater part of the world.

Jihad is not confined to the carrying of arms and the confrontation of the enemy. The effective word, the good article, the useful book, support and solidarity – together with the presence of sincere purpose for the hoisting of Allah’s banner higher and higher – all these are elements of the Jihad for Allah’s sake.

Sure. Let the members of this organization run in the election. Because, hey, they’re not actively killing Jews, so they must be moderates, right?

Wrong.

By most nations’ laws, if you are a member of an organization that raises money to fund the murder of innocents, you are as guilty of that murder as if you killed them yourselves. If you give aid, support, and comfort to an organization that is sworn to the destruction of a state, then you are, by association, also sworn to the destruction of that state. If nothing else, every member of Hamas is an accessory to murder–just as every member of the IRA was, and just as the Americans who contributed money to support the IRA have blood on their hands.

Hamas is a terrorist organization sworn to the destruction of Israel. Even the AP admits this. But they don’t let it bother them much.

I’m funny that way. I do.