Say, remember when the New York Times published an op-ed from Ismail Haniyeh’s political advisor, stating that the world didn’t need to be worried that Hamas would turn Gaza into a Taliban-style dictatorship?
Our stated aim when we won the election was to effect reform, end corruption and bring economic prosperity to our people. Our sole focus is Palestinian rights and good governance. We now hope to create a climate of peace and tranquillity within our community that will pave the way for an end to internal strife…
And
Palestinians want, on their terms, the same thing Western societies want: self-determination, modernity, access to markets and their own economic power, and freedom for civil society to evolve. Those who warn of “failed states” and “Hamastan” as a breeding ground for terrorism forget where blame for failure belongs — at the feet of the American administration, which has chosen to isolate, rather than deal with, the elected government.
Good times, good times. Of course, now, Hamas doesn’t have to pretend anymore that they don’t want an Islamic state “from the river to the sea“.
Those who thought that Hamas would ever establish a modern and liberal regime in the Gaza Strip received another reminder this week of how the radical Islamist movement is pursuing its effort to create a Taliban-style entity in the territory that has been under its control since 2007.
The reminder came in the form of a decision taken by the Al-Aqsa University administration in the Gaza Strip to force female students to dress in accordance with Islamic teachings.
This means that all female students would be required to wear the hijab or niqab which cover their heads and faces.
This latest measure is part of a Hamas campaign aimed at “inculcating [Islamic] values and virtues” in the Gaza Strip, Hamas officials explained.
As part of this campaign, Hamas last week imposed a ban on low-waist trousers, Western-style haircuts and tight gowns.
The decision to ban low-waist trousers and Western-style haircuts is directed against young Palestinian men in the Gaza Strip, who have apparently been exposed to Western fashions thanks to television and the Internet.
What? But they wrote in the Times and the Washington Post that all they wanted was peace and freedom! I don’t understand.
The Hamas official said that the campaign to enforce Islamic values and virtues was especially designed to “highlight the negative impact of the growing phenomenon of women who dress immodestly in order to highlight their charms.”
Totally moderate ideas. Also this:
Just last week, arsonists torched three restaurants in the West Bank town of Bir Zeit, a traditional stronghold of secular Palestinians, after accusing the owners of selling alcohol and allowing young men and women to sit together.
I don’t want to say “I told you so.” Oh, wait. Of course I do. Only a moron would have taken those PR agency-written op-eds as sincere. And you know, it doesn’t even need to be labeled “taqiyaa”. Note that Mohammed Morsi outright lied to the media that his calling Jews “sons of apes and pigs” was taken out of context, and they totally covered for him. So yes, we told you so. We’re telling you now. But you, the media, insist on whitewashing Islamists and terrorists and demonizing Israel. It’s not like you’re going to listen to us.
First require hijab and niqab, and soon women will be banned from higher education altogether.
Restaurants were torched because they were “…allowing young men and women to sit together.” It must be a deadly dull society that prohibits men and women from socializing with each other. And in Bir Zeit at that, the home of Jihad University.