Hamas Propaganda in the WaPo

Apparently, the Washington Post’s latest pet project is being a mouthpiece for terrorists. A column “written” by Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader currently running the PA, appears in today’s Washington Post.

He hit all the lefty talking points, using all the in-fashion lefty phrases: “fair and free elections,” “democratically elected government, “collective punishment,” “resisting the illegal, ongoing occupation,” “root causes,” “fail to address the underlying conflict,” “world’s largest prison camps,” etc., etc., yadda yadda yadda, blahblahblah.

Hit all those talking points, he did. Who know that Haniyeh was such a gifted writer?

I have several questions for the WaPo that I do not expect to get answers to:

• Did Haniyeh’s original draft include “Zionist Entity” every time Israel was mentioned?
• Who really wrote the column?
• Did the Carter Center have anything to do with it?
• Did Jimmy Carter write Haniyeh’s column, by any chance?

I find it difficult to believe that he didn’t have some kind of Western help, what with the language in the column being completely, well, Westernized. Yes, yes, yes, newspapers have styles that you are expected to follow, but I would lay odds that Haniyeh didn’t write a quarter of what we see in the op-ed pages. I would love to see the drafts that went back and forth on this one.

But enough on that. Let us look at some of the lies Haniyeh makes, and the Washington Post passes along:

They think, doubtless, of the hostage soldier, taken in battle — yet thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of women and children, remain in Israeli jails for resisting the illegal, ongoing occupation that is condemned by international law.

The hundreds of women and “children” (funny how a 19-year-old palestinian is a “youth” or “child,” but a 19-year-old Israeli is a “soldier”) are in jail because they took part in terror attacks. You know, that “resistance” thing Haniyeh talks about? It includes knives, bombs, molotov cocktails, and generally killing Israelis. As for the “battle” that took the soldier? It was a sneak attack, a shoot-from-behind operation made by terrorists dressed as close to Israeli soldiers as possible.

Israel’s unilateral movements of the past year will not lead to peace. These acts — the temporary withdrawal of forces from Gaza, the walling off of the West Bank — are not strides toward resolution but empty, symbolic acts that fail to address the underlying conflict. Israel’s nearly complete control over the lives of Palestinians is never in doubt, as confirmed by the humanitarian and economic suffering of the Palestinians since the January elections. Israel’s ongoing policies of expansion, military control and assassination mock any notion of sovereignty or bilateralism. Its “separation barrier,” running across our land, is hardly a good-faith gesture toward future coexistence.

Hamas does not want “future coexistence.” They want nothing less than the destruction of Israel. Their charter, which calls explicitly for the end of Israel, remains unchanged. They have stated many, many times, that they will never recognize Israel. Hamas has re-issued the infamous “Three No’s of Khartoum”: No recognition of Israel, no negotiations, and no peace with Israel.

At this point I must ask those who insist that Israel can negotiate with Hamas: What part of “no” don’t you understand?

This is the biggest lie, and the biggest howler, of all:

However, we do not want to live on international welfare and American handouts. We want what Americans enjoy — democratic rights, economic sovereignty and justice.

Let me quote just a tiny portion of the Hamas charter:

Article 1: The Islamic Resistance Movement: The Movement’s programme is Islam. From it, it draws its ideas, ways of thinking and understanding of the universe, life and man. It resorts to it for judgement in all its conduct, and it is inspired by it for guidance of its steps.

Article 5: 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 13: 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.

Sure. That’s absolutely exactly like what Americans want and enjoy—except that it’s not. Hamas doesn’t want “democratic rights.” Hamas wants an Islamic Caliphate established where Israel stands today.

Was Israel defending itself when it killed eight family members on a Gaza beach last month or three members of the Hajjaj family on Saturday, among them 6-year-old Rawan? I refuse to believe that such inhumanity sits well with the American public.

Hamas justifies suicide attacks on Israel as “self-defense,” as recently as April. They also caused the Gaza beach explosion themselves.

None of these facts, of course, will enter the minds of the average WaPo reader. They’ll just tsk-tsk and remember the Hamas talking points during their next dinnertime debate about Israel.

For my final thoughts, I quote again from the Hamas charter:

Article 30: 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.

Way to go, WaPo. You just helped Hamas continue its Jihad against Israel.