I already blogged about Muammar Qaddafi’s op-ed in the NYT, but Yaacov Lozowick emphasizes a point that’s well worth remembering:
The editors of the paper will trot out the standard boilerplate about giving a platform to all opinions including the ones they really don’t like, so that their readers can judge for themselves etc. etc. None of which can change the fact that the most important newspaper in the United States has published an article calling for the destruction of the Jewish State.
It is all too common among the foreign policy sophist-icate-s to consider the legitimacy of Israel a debatable proposition. The degree to which this aids Israel’s enemies is disturbing. Any member of Hamas (or Fatah) can trot out some deep thinker who supports their views of Israel’s illegitimacy. Of course the Hamas enablers couch it in terms of freedom and self-determination and allow Hamas (or Fatah) to appropriate such admirable terms when, in fact, they are advocating the destruction of the Jewish state.
So it should come as little shock that an op-ed in this week’s Washington Post, finds Hamas to be perfectly legitimate. Yousef Munayyer of the Arab American pro-discrimination against Israel Committee wrote in A new Mideast Approach:
Rather than seeking to bolster the moderates in this conflict, the Obama administration should focus on moderating the extremists. The idea of eliminating Hamas could not be seriously proposed by anyone with any knowledge of domestic Palestinian politics. The notion that Hamas is a primarily militant organization based in Gaza ignores the movement’s vast support in the West Bank and elsewhere.
Dealing with Hamas and groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Islamic Jihad in arenas of legitimacy, such as elections, negates the possibility that outside parties will spoil peace negotiations.
Those who would resolve the conflict must understand that such parties and groups, often labeled rejectionist, are not primarily ideologically based and are not monolithic. They, like most political parties, are beholden to a constituency.
What constituencies is Hamas beholden too? Despite denials by Hamas (or, for that matter, the UN), Hamas has made extensive use of civilian facilities in order to wage its war against Israel.
The IDF’s spokeperson’s office has issued photographs illustrating the way that Hamas used civilian structures. A number of them are all collected here. (.pdf) These illustrate a terrorist organization acting with no regard for its constituency. So that claim is bogus.
So the Washington Post not only allowed Munayyer to question Israel’s legitimacy, they allowed him to propagandize for Hamas. While they’ve done so in the past, I still find the spectacle of purportedly respectable publications allowing their pages to be used for shilling for terrorists to be unsettling.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
