The LA Times editorial writers are utterly blind on the subject of Hamas. Please tell me that Michael Kinsley has nothing to do with this drivel:
On Hamas, patience
MAKING THE TRANSITION from critic to participant is always difficult. Leaders of Hamas, after their shocking win in Palestinian elections last month, find themselves undergoing just such a transformation. As they try to assemble a working government, all parties in the Middle East will need to resist the temptation not just of violence but of impatience.
Really? Patience? For what? To wait for Hamas to fully arm their “soldiers” (they did call for an army, don’t forget)? To wait for the first successful suicide bombing in Israel since Hamas was elected? For Hamas to stop lying to the press about negotiating with Israel? Oh, wait, they already have. The press just ignores it.
This is a critical moment. Hamas may govern a short or a long time, but it will never again assume office for the first time. Setting a tone of constructive engagement as it begins to address an array of tough issues offers the best hope. Hamas’ moderate choice for prime minister, Ismail Haniya, has taken conciliatory steps as he tries to put together a coalition of radical and moderate factions, and he deserves encouragement in this perilous task.
WTF? Just because it’s the first time an openly terrorist organization is governing the palestinians, they should be “constructively engaged”? Why? Because they haven’t yet openly sent off suicide bombers? Oh, and that “moderate” Haniya guy? Here’s a quote: “Ismail Haniyeh, a leading Hamas figure from the Gaza Strip, told The Associated Press that recognition of Israel is ‘out of the question.’ ”
Yep. That’s some moderate.
Given Hamas’ history of violence, however, it will need to do more than appoint a few moderates to its new government.
A quick peek at that history of violence: “Since the outbreak of hostilities (September 2000), Hamas carried out over 500 terrorist attacks killing 390 people and injuring 2,100 (mostly civilians).” Just go here for the individual attacks; don’t forget, these are the people who planned and carried out suicide bombings of a disco filled with teenagers, a pizzeria filled with families, a bus filled with civilians, and the Netanya Passover Massacre, which murdered elderly Holocaust survivors, among others.
That is the”history of violence” this editorial glosses over.
The United States has rightly suspended aid to see how Hamas acts in the coming months, while insisting that Hamas take three basic steps: Accept Israel’s right to exist, renounce violence and agree to abide by past agreements with Israel.
So far, Hamas has resisted changing its charter, which calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, but it has signaled its willingness for a long-term truce with Israel. That’s not enough, but it’s a first step.
It’s not a truce. It’s a “calm.” They’re still helping terrorists fire rockets at Israel, one of which landed near a kindergarten recently.
Israel’s decision to withhold a scheduled monthly transfer of $50 million in taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority — nearly half of its monthly operating budget — is a step in the wrong direction. Customs duties and other taxes that rightfully belong to the Palestinian Authority must be transferred in an orderly way.
Yeah, and the palestinians owe Israel over $22 million in unpaid electricity bills. That rightfully belongs to Israel. As for the not giving the PA more money to invest in weapons to destroy Israel, well, if I’m walking in a dangerous neighborhood, I don’t believe that I am compelled to hold out a gun and shout, “Hey, can anyone find a use for this? Anyone?” — even if it’s your gun.
[…] Back in the West Bank, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas asked for patience. Both Hamas and its opponents should heed his call.
If Hamas is given a chance to govern without interference, it will have to provide Palestinians with the clean, efficient government they thought they were voting for. In contrast, if Israel or the international community acts in a hostile manner, Hamas can blame them when things go badly.
Un-be-lievable. These are the same people who said that Israel injected Arafat with AIDS, causing his death. Or that Israel aimed death rays at Arafat, causing his death. Or that Israel regularly poisons palestinian land/wells/children/you-name-it. The palestinian culture is victimology, the national sport is blaming Israel and then the West for all their ills.
For the moment, Hamas has every incentive to avoid attacks on Israel, which would only provoke swift and unrestrained retaliation, derailing Hamas’ chances to consolidate its popularity and establish a domestic policy.
That is the only truth in this entire editorial. But you forgot one very important modifier: “Hamas has every incentive to avoid open attacks on Israel.” The clandestine ones have been ongoing. There is no truce. There is only the blindness of the mainstream media to the ongoing, daily attacks on Israelis.
Much can still go wrong, and in the Middle East, it often does. But for now, there is a chance that restraint can keep the hope of peace alive.
And now, for the finale: Are you freaking nuts? What the hell are you smoking? This is a terrorist organization, responsible for the wounding and deaths of thousands of Israelis. This is an Islamist organization that wants to establish an Islamic state from the Jordan to the Mediteranean. This is a rejectionist group of terrorists who talk about drinking the blood of Jews in the videos they make before they blow themselves up. This is the terrorist organization that put the mother of “martyrs” up for election — the one who is proud that her three sons died killing Jews, and only wishes she could donate one hundred sons to the death cult that is palestinian society.
I’ve known for a long time that the LA Times was a liberal newspaper. I didn’t realize they were blind, stupid, effing idiots beside.
What part of “terrorist” don’t you understand?
I suppose they’d see no problem with Al Qaeda running Iraq, either. Oh, wait. That’s different?
Shyeah. There aren’t any Jews in Iraq.
The Times fired Kinsley a few months ago — for trying to keep them from writing stuff like this, I think. That and trying a Wiki experiment.
Actually, based on the way they have acted, they wouldn’t mind at all (unless they can blame President Bush).