23-Apr-14: On the road to... what?

Zahar, rifle and unkissed baby:
Powerful combination in theirvalue system

Now that Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah/PLO/PA and Hamas have decided to spend the next five weeks pursuing "unity" and exploring how to do good things collaboratively, we feel there's value in going back for a short refresher of the views of that senior figure in Hamas who appeared in a post of ours yesterday ["22-Apr-14: Not quite your average foreign minister or baby-kissing politician"]. The brief excerpt below is from an interview published this week in the web magazine, Al-Monitor.

Interviewer:  Has Hamas truly abandoned armed resistance while other parties insist upon continuing it? 

Mahmoud al-Zahar:  Anyone who claims so must be drunk. How has Hamas abandoned the resistance effort? What are the manifestations of it doing so? Where have we prevented the launching of rockets? The last time three men were martyred as they fired rockets, did we stop them..?  

Interviewer:  What about the re-emergence of the armed Qassam Brigades in the West Bank? 

Mahmoud al-Zahar:  An occupied community has the right to defend itself. I do not want to go into the details, yet negotiations did not yield any results until now. Now in Gaza we kicked the occupation out and the people should opt for another choice. We [publicly] declare this choice and we are not ashamed of it. The project of resistance has to be adopted with all its tools to end Israeli occupation.

Knowing what this man says and possibly believes, thinking that an outcome that is somehow good and conceivably includes something close to peace might result means a person (a) thinks Zahar is lying when he makes statements like these; (b) believes Zahar, thinks he means 'resistance' when he says 'resistance' but hopes it will all work it alright in the end somehow; or (c) is convinced Zahar and the other ideological zealots of Hamas will be outsmarted and out-outmaneuvered by the efficient pragmatists of Fatah who, in turn, seriously want peaceful relations with Israel.

Optimistic we're not.

22-Apr-14: Not quite your average foreign minister or baby-kissing politician

The man holding the semi-automatic weapon in his right hand and someone's baby in his left is not your run of the mill sicko.

His name is Mahmoud al-Zahar. If the Hamas terrorist group were a legitimate government, his role in it would be foreign minister.

His ethical and political stand can be assessed from this widely-publicized 2009 news report: "Hamas terror: every Jewish child now a target" (via The Australian and Wikipedia). A British writer, who pens Intifada-friendly columns, requoted it this week. Hamas and its adherents want us to know how very seriously devoted to their values they are.

The photo at right [h/tip: DB] was evidently taken in Gaza in the past few days. When Zahar declares children to be part of his war, basic caution and good sense say he (and his Hamas cohort) ought to be taken literally.

22-Jan-12: Islamism and the Palestinian Arab "Spring"

Islamic Jihad: Their sense of what children are good far
makes them an excellent partner for Hamas

Hamas: Their sense of what children are good far
makes them an excellent partner for Islamic Jihad

If you have taken a look at our comment from a little earlier today about the emergence of radical Islamists in the new Egyptian political landscape, you will not need much persuading that Islamism is now riding a wave of unprecedented acceptance in the Arab world.

Hence, not so surprising to find that what binds Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad is more important than what (hitherto) has divided them. The report is Iranian, and given the extreme closeness of the Iranian regime to the Islamicist groups across the Middle East, we're persuaded they ought to be believed. Besides, it's almost always a mistake to dismiss the seriousness of threats when they're made by terrorists.

Palestinian Leader Calls Merger of Hamas, Islamic Jihad "Necessity"   Saturday, 21 January 2012 |  A senior Hamas official stressed on Saturday that merging Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the main Palestinian Islamic resistance movements, is a political and religious must. Mahmoud Al Zahar stated "Religion, politics and political developments in our surrounding necessitate closeness of Islamic movements". He said that integration of the two Palestinian movements in a single organizational structure can resolve many problems, including those related to elections since both groups can now take part in the elections in a single framework. In a recent a meeting with top officials from Islamic Jihad, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya called for rapid measures to merge the two movements. Islamic Jihad also confirmed that the merger talks were already underway. Spokesman Daud Shihab told AFP "An in-depth dialogue has actually begun, both internally and externally, with the aim of uniting".

Odd that among the "many problems" to be solved by the merger of two of the most active terrorist entities in the world, there's no mention here of their ongoing war against Israel, the Jews and the whole spectrum of non-Moslems. Clearly there has been no change of heart: when it comes to hatred of the adherents of other religions in general, and to Jews in particular, both of these entities are populated by the genuine article. They are violent, racist, mysogynist barbarians capable of the most cold-blooded acts of cruelty against their perceived enemies (us) no less than against their own brothers and sisters.

If already we're speaking of lethal Islamist threats against "the whole spectrum of non-Moslems", let's put actual words in actual people's actual mouths.

One of this week's most prominent news personalities, in view of the election results in Egypt, is Mohammad Badie - a name worth remembering. In September 2010, this Badie - a man who bears the exalted title General Guide (and in some sources Supreme Guide) of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood - delivered a how-to-do-it sermon under the title “How Islam Confronts the Oppression and Tyranny”. (It was posted the same month on his party's website.) He exhorted his audience to have faith in the Koran's promise that, even if they are temporarily weak, their god will deliver the infidels into their hands. Three highlights:

• "Moslems desperately need a mentality of honor and means of power to confront global Zionism [which] knows nothing but the language of force. [Moslems] must meet iron with iron, and winds with storms." 
• "Resistance" is the only solution against the Zionist-American arrogance and tyranny. All we need is for the Arab and Muslim peoples to stand behind it and support it.
• “The U.S. is now experiencing the beginning of its end. It is heading towards its demise.”

Presumably intending to prove that last point, Madie is pictured below. The beaming woman next to him [source] is Anne W. Patterson, ambassador of the United States to Egypt.

While she gripped the hand of the Supreme Guide (to give Badie the title accorded to him in this Egyptian source), Ms Patterson, a career diplomat, was quoted saying that "US administrations have committed some mistakes" but "called for overcoming them and to learn from them to avoid their recurrence in the future. She pointed out that democracy always brings stable partners."

They are words worthy of being engraved in stone.