Soccer Dad

Worth reading on the hamas victory

AbbaGav introduces us to some of the new media memes that we are likely to see a lot more of in coming days. See Solomonia below.

Ankle Biting Pundits are hopeful that

In the long run, the election results of yesterday may be a necessary step in convincing the Palestinians that a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority sounded a lot better in theory than it will ever be in reality.

I still think that the main ideology motivating Palestinians is the destruction of Israel.

The Astute Blogger wants to know

WILL HANAN ASHRAWI WEAR A BURQA?

Atlas Shrugs reports that Congress is moving to cut off Hamas funding. (This is good, but I believe that the administration can override actions such as these citing "national security" concerns. Is it in our national security to fund a terror state? No. But administrations have ways of finessing this issue.)

Boker Tov Boulder has an excellent round-up. Plus she exposes Edward Abington and introduces some Hamas jokes.

Brain Terminal thinks that Israel will have fewer constraints in dealing with a Hamas infested PA.

Clarity and Resolve quotes Natan Sharansky whose views seem very similar to those of Daniel Pipes.

Critical Mastiff makes the valuable point that

Hamas's much-touted schools and hospitals are nothing more than recruiting centers for the Jihad, and everything they do is geared towards that goal. Will they do otherwise with the resources of the PA? Doubtful.

Crossing the Rubicon shows us Reality.

Daled Amos rightly worries that

The world has been content to refer to murderous terrorists as "freedom fighters" and to put pressure on Israel to make concessions without requiring reciprocity on the Palestinian Arabs to respond in kind. It has failed to insist on enforcing the Palestinian requirements of the Roadmap--and even the media has glossed over the fact that disarming and ending terror were primary requirements of the PA, independent of any measures taken by Israel.

Deja Vu observes that the MSM is already rushing to introduce us to the cuddly new leader of Hamas (see comments by Shaister below), Khaled Meshaal

Unfortunately, the clueless MSM is already elevating an outsider controlled by Damscus, Khaled Mashal. Both Wolf Blitzer and the octogenarian Mike Wallace hurried to introduce him to their audience as THE Hamas leader and the NYT quotes him and his refusal to negotiate with Israel.

Elder of Ziyon notices the media's (and just about everyone else's) fixation on the long dead "peace process"

There is nothing remotely peaceful about the "peace process." It directly led to more Arab bombs and more terror than before. It emboldened terrorists to kill Jews. It also led to more Palestinian Arab deaths than before this "peace process" started.

Any process that causes thousands of deaths can hardly be called "peaceful." Any objective observer would see immediately that the life in the disputed territories and in Israel proper were much more peaceful in the 12 years before Oslo compared to the 12 years since, including the first intifada - both for the Palestinian Arabs and for the Palestinian/Israeli Jews.

This recalls an op-ed by Charles Krauthammer from March 7, 1996 that began

This is peace? "Israelis Unnerved by Peace That Kills," says a Washington Post headline, March 5. Peace that kills? This is an absurd oxymoron. If peace means anything, it means at its very minimum an absence of violence. After all, "armistice" and "truce" -- lesser forms of peace -- mean cease-fire. Peace must mean at least that.

This Orwellian conjunction of peace and violence demonstrates the state of hypnosis that Americans and Israelis have placed themselves under since the September 1993 Handshake on the White House lawn. What followed has been called a peace process. It has been nothing of the kind. The Palestinian war on Israel has been unrelenting. More Israeli civilians have been massacred since the handshake than at any time in the entire history of the country.

Elie's Expositions fears that

Unfortunately the world powers, including much of the Israeli leadership, are so obsessively addicted to being fooled on this issue, that I fear it won't be long until Hamas too are painted as "peace partners". And the tragic comedy will continue.

Faith in Nathan tells of a disturbing comparison in Ha'aretz. (via Shiloh Musings who has a similar memory.)

The Head Heeb deals with the mistaken polling and entertains many other thoughts on the implication of the Hamas victory.

In Context rightly goes after President Bush for his equivocation in the wake of the Hamas victory, and urges him to follow Daniel Pipes's advice and slow down.

To Israelly Cool! a picture's worth a thousand words.

In words, It's Almost Supernatural shows how enlightened Hamas is.

Jeff Jacoby considers the "Hamas Victory is Good News" I wish I were as confident as he is that this will change minds.

Jewish Current Issues underscores the administration's befuddlement with the Hamas victory.

Life-of-Rubin, like Boker Tov Boulder has an excellent roundup.

Mere Rhetoric mocks the notion that Hamas will moderate, after all who knows Hamas better than its masters in Tehran who say

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that the country welcomes the victory of Hamas in the Palestinian Legislative Council election and hopes the result will strengthen resistance against Israel. The United States and Israel accuse Iran of arming and funding militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. But Iran says it only gives moral support to the Palestinian groups. "Iran ... hopes that the powerful presence of Hamas at the [political] scene brings about great achievements for the Palestinian nation," said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi in a statement faxed to Reuters.

The Muqata prefers an honest, hateful violent enemy to a dishonest, hateful enemy.

Mystery Achievement finds the AP blaming Israel for Hamas's ascendency because it killed "Sarumen".

SerAndEz sums up the problem nicely

The problem isn't Fatah or Hamas, the problem is the people who elected them.

UPDATE: Whoops. This is very embarrassing. An unnamed person didn't realize that SerAndEz had skillfully blended together sentences from several different sources and linke them in the punctuation. He also didn't read the fine print on SerAndEz's post saying that this was the case. Finally, said, unnamed person, didn't realize why he liked the quote so much: it was his own! Unnamed person is very embarrassed.

Shaister wistfully recalls the past and has hopes for the future:

First off, I’d like to say once again what a damn shame it is that the Mossad botched the operation to whack Mash’al back in 1997.

Secondly, all I can say to Mr. Mash’al is “please do.” The absolute best thing Hamas could do for Israel would be to organize their forces as a conventional army.

Solomonia observes that Hamas has been elected by the Palestinians but, to some, the future of the "peace process" depends on ... Israel.

Tel Chai nation observes that Jimmy Carter (America's best ex-President!) supports Hamas. Wuzzadem (via SoxBlog) and Cox and Forkum have pictures.

Treppenwitz weighs in with an excellent "The Palestinians have spoken" laying out his feelings eloquently. (Ach I inadvertantly stole his title. I hope he doesn't sue.)

Yeshayah 62:1 links to Hamas's charter (and a synopsis of the document.)

Meryl Yourish reads the riot act to the AP for covering up the existence of a riot.

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Posted by SoccerDad at January 30, 2006 2:54 AM | TrackBack