OMG! An unbiased article from the AP: This is about as even-handed as they ever get on all things Israel. While I still think they need to add a line that says something like “Video shows that the activists attacked IDF soldiers while still rapelling onto the ship,” it’s still pretty fair. Who knew the AP could actually do its job?
But the EU still wants to talk to them: Okay, so you get thousands of news articles every time some religious Jew says something crazy, but you won’t get the same reaction to this story. Hamas is preventing Gaza students from studying abroad for fear they will be polluted with Western ideas. Say, the theocracy that the anti-Israel left always accuses Israel of wanting? It happens to be right next door, in Gaza.
Oh, come on, this is Israel’s fault, too: The fact that Hamas and Fatah have opposing goals in life (theocracy v. kleptocracy, Western lifestyle v. seventh-century Islamism, etc.) aren’t what the AP analysis focuses on. No, it’s the fact that certain Western nations (*cough* America *cough*) don’t want a Hamas-PA government of the mythical land of Palestine. The fact that Abbas is going to get the anti-Israel (they call it “pro-Palestinian) General Assembly to pass a resolution recognizing this fiction, in spite of the fact that there is no unity government and millions of Palestinians living in Gaza will not be part of the mythical statelet of East Palestine (they should just give up and form two little statelets and be done with it)? Doesn’t really come into account. The fact that the mythical statelet of East Palestine is almost wholly reliant on the kindness of strangers (U.S., UN, EU) for its income? Doesn’t come into account. The fact that the mythical statelet of East Palestine hasn’t had free and fair democratic elections in (wait, how many years ago was Abbas’ term supposed to end? Three?) years? Doesn’t come into account. Ah, the Palestinian fantasy. It affects the way the world wants Israel to deal with the Palestinians. Reality? The facts? Don’t bother me, I’m too busy getting upset at more building in Ariel to notice that there is no Palestinian unity, no Palestinian industry, and none of the trappings that make the buildup to an actual state.
You’re too kind to Hamas. It is a “theocratic kleptocracy.”
It’s just the meme that they’re not corrupt so as to justify support. (“Well yes, they’re extreme but they wouldn’t be popular if Fatah wasn’t such a bunch of thieves.”) I’m sure that Haniyeh & co. are just as successful of skimming aid for themselves, their families and BFF’s.