28-Jun-06: A government of kidnappers

As we've noted before, kidnapping is one of many terror tactics the Palestinians have never hesitated to use. But to judge from the way the mainstream media are covering the snatching of Corporal Gilad Shalit from the Kerem Shalom army post, and of the yeshiva student Eliyahu Asheri, the penny hasn't dropped yet. They're failing to see, or at least to report, how deeply Hamas - as the duly elected government of the Palestinian Arabs - is complicit in these acts of terror and in endless others.

Here's an example to make the point, courtesy of Palestine Media Watch, of the published words of Saed Siam (see picture above), a member of the Palestinian parliament, the PA's Interior Minister and Minister of Civil Affairs, the Hamas government's designated person responsible for locating the kidnapped Israeli soldier, and a man evidently capable of smirking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time:

In the past Hamas succeeded in kidnapping many Zionist soldiers. There are thousands of prisoners of our forces, they have to think how to free these prisoners. And I believe that it is inevitable to kidnap soldiers to exchange for them. In the past Hamas kidnapped 10 soldiers. There is nothing the resistance cannot do. And when there is a goal and a good plan, the goal can be achieved, especially about the prisoner issue, [which] is top priority. During the PA administration, Hamas succeeded in kidnapping and hiding bodies, but unfortunately, two bodies were handed over for nothing. When there is a kidnapping, and it is secured, each case in its own time, has its own negotiations."

PMW have helpfully provided streaming video of Interior Minister Siam speaking these words.

The thugs of Hamas have gotten a free ride from too many people for too long. And the many foreign politicians who extend the customary diplomatic respectfulness to them are being played for fools.