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The Only Democracy? » Entries tagged with "Hamas"

Let’s Stop Bibi Netanyahu’s Sickening “Wag the Dog” Ploy

Part of expatriate life is worrying for the health of elderly overseas parents. My father-in-law’s health is bad enough to worry about, even without this recent crap. My wife’s parents live in Moshav Shahar, Israel, some 15km from the Gaza Strip as the missile flies. Their home has nothing even remotely resembling a shelter; some government functionaries going from house to house told them the best place in case of a missile alert, is to crouch under the staircase. Fortunately for them, they live a rural area and not much of a target. Thursday, morning, however, found them going to my dad-in-law’s doctor’s appointment in Ashkelon – the largest town in the Strip’s vicinity, and one of the missile launchers’ favorite targets. The appointment was disrupted four times by missile alerts. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Featured

U-N-I-T-Y of Palestinian factions.

Now the attention of the world is distracted by the OBL extrajudicial assassination, but it is still worth keeping an eye on the Fatah-Hamas unity agreement scheduled to be signed on Wednesday. Update: Hamas condemns killing of Osama Bin Laden, presumably to shore itself up with Salafist sympathizers or possible hosts. Ali Abunimah has some critical questions, while Mitchell Plitnick has a slightly more optimistic view. Here’s +972’s take from Palestinian activist Aziz Abu Sara. Here is Saree Makdisi on Democracy Now! And because I do think this is generally a good thing, here’s Queen Latifah with the title cut. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Victories for Democracy

Interview with Hamas spokesman about Egypt revolution

By Jesse Bacon Ashley Bates continues her excellent reporting by interviewing Hamas spokesman Ahmed Youssef. The story is an interesting variant of the “Is it good for Israel?” that we have been subjected to such a barrage of. While obviously I don’t support Hamas’s views or their actions, I think that too often they are ignored and that leads to US policy based on ignorance. It is interesting to read them during revolution in Egypt, one where the American reaction has been so dominated by fears of the Muslim Brotherhood, which Hamas is in some ways a descendant. (Though unlike Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood does not have an armed wing.) Youssef believes that the Egyptian revolution will help Hamas. Shut out of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Hamas … Read entire article »

Filed under: Victories for Democracy

Hamas detains British journalist

Hamas detains British journalist

One of the stories that inspired this blog was the detention of Jared Maslin, a Jewish-American journalist for Ma’an News Agency, covered here on our sisterblog Muzzlewatch. Well, unfortunately Hamas seems to be learning from its adversary with its own detention of freelance filmmaker and journalist Paul Martin. Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman Ehab Ghussein said in a statement that Martin is suspected of breaking Palestinian law, but did not elaborate. He said Martin … Read entire article »

Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs