Soccer Dad: Without violence

July 4, 2007

Without violence

Hamas is reaping some significant PR points by gaining the release of BBC reporter Alan Johnston. The NYT reports

Alan Johnston, the BBC Gaza correspondent who was kidnapped March 12, was freed early on Wednesday morning and is now in the hands of Hamas officials.

Mr. Johnston, looking wan and thin and dressed in a pair of blue jeans, his hair grown out over his ears, was released without violence after negotiations between Hamas, which now runs Gaza, and his kidnappers.

(emphasis mine)

Later on though the Times tells us

Hamas has been negotiating with the Dagmoush clan and the Army of Islam, surrounding the Gaza neighborhood, al-Sabra, where the clan lives, and attacking or kidnapping a number of key clan figures in an effort to press for Mr. Johnston�s release.

(emphasis, again, mine)

The Washington Post reports

It remained unclear when the 45-year-old journalist would be turned over to British officials or to representatives of his company, who have been working vigorously for months to win his release.

The hopeful development followed several days of pressure brought on the kidnappers -- a large clan known as the Dagmoush family -- by Hamas forces.

Let's go back a couple of weeks to Avi Issacharoff's Shock, Awe and Dread in Ha'aretz:

Hamas was not using a random hit list. Every Hamas patrol carried with it a laptop containing a list of Fatah operatives in Gaza, and an identity number and a star appeared next to each name. A red star meant the operative was to be executed and a blue one meant he was to be shot in the legs - a special, cruel tactic developed by Hamas, in which the shot is fired from the back of the knee so that the kneecap is shattered when the bullet exits the other side. A black star signaled arrest, and no star meant that the Fatah member was to be beaten and released. Hamas patrols took the list with them to hospitals, where they searched for wounded Fatah officials, some of whom they beat up and some of whom they abducted.
Aside from assassinating Fatah officials, Hamas also killed innocent Palestinians, with the intention of deterring the large clans from confronting the organization. Thus it was that 10 days ago, after an hours-long gun battle that ended with Hamas overpowering the Bakr clan from the Shati refugee camp - known as a large, well-armed and dangerous family that supports Fatah - the Hamas military wing removed all the family members from their compound and lined them up against a wall. Militants selected a 14-year-old girl, two women aged 19 and 75, and two elderly men, and shot them to death in cold blood to send a message to all the armed clans of Gaza.

When I first heard of Johnston's release I suspected that perhaps Hamas had kneecapped or killed some of the Dagmoush family. The words 'kidnappings' and 'pressure' I think are understatements. Something more drastic had to have taken place.

Daled Amos quoting AllahPundit surely has it right.

Take a lesson from people who would know � this is how you deal with jihadist threats.

The release of Johnston give lie to this headline: Haniyeh says hopes Shalit affair will end soon as well

He doesn't need to hope. He needs to do. And he doesn't need anything in return. Consider it a "confidence building measure." (That he only hopes, shows that Hamas will not act to free Gilad Shalit. That won't happen unless Israel brings pressure to bear.)

The celebratory tone in the media - see Elder of Ziyon for his disgusted review of CNN's coverage - though is disturbing for another reason (other than the PR it gives to Hamas): the methods Hamas used to free Johnston would no doubt appall these very same people in any other context. In other words, extremism in the pursuit of freedom for a single journalist is a virtue. But to prevent violence against others, the government must play certain rules. (Please understand, I'm not sympathetic to the Dagmoush family, but it's offensive to sugarcoat the methods of Hamas to enforce order.)

Check out more news and comment at memeorandum.

alan johnston, hamas.