Some of the, shall we say, less well-grounded members of the Internet community have been trying to make a mountain out of this particular molehill, although Khaled Meshal himself has emphasized that nothing has changed in Hamas' determination to destroy Israel. And of course that's true: all Meshal has said is that Israel exists, which is something Hamas has always admitted: it would be silly to declare your intention to destroy something that doesn't exist. The Hamas Charter quotes Hassan Al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood: "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
"PM dismisses Meshal comments that Israel's existence is a reality," by Avi Issacharoff in Haaretz:
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday shrugged off comments by Hamas' Damascus-based political chief Khaled Meshal, in which he acknowledged the existence of Israel.Meshal, whose Hamas movement leads the Palestinian government, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday that Israel is a "matter of fact," apparently softening a previous refusal to accept that Israel's existence.
Olmert, asked by reporters accompanying him on a visit to China about Meshal's acceptance of Israel as a state that will endure, said: "Does that mean we weren't until now?"
"Should I be expected to check what he said? Should I be expected to read what he said?" Olmert added, shrugging as he toured Beijing's Forbidden City.
Hamas for its part denied Wednesday that Meshal told Reuters in an interview that his group would consider recognizing Israel once a Palestinian state is established. (Click here for the full interview)
One hour after the Reuters interview was published, the Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad told Haaretz that Meshal said, "Israel exists - and that's a fact."
However, Hamad maintained that Meshal did not say anything about recognizing Israel. "There was no change in our stance that Hamas does not recognize Israel," he said.
This is getting real stupid. Do the "Palestinian people" even exist also? I heard their all just immigrants.
This is too stupid to even COMMENT on (guess I couldn't help myself).
After the Holocaust, do Jews really have to lay this game anymore? "Oh please, please tell us we exist! Go on, PLEASE just write it on a piece of paper even if you don't really mean it!"
I am this bizarre anachronism. I love my friends and I hate my sworn enemies. I hate those who would destroy me. I want to seem them crushed and annihilated and thrown in the dustbin of history with Hitler Stalin and the rest.
For those who read entire articles Haaretz seems to have conceded that Rueters took Hamas' statement out of context.
Well, that's perfectly clear. So as not to appear illiterate (or just plain stupid), Hamas bellows the freakin obvious. This oughta free up the liberals hand wringing ("See, they do say they accept Israel!")
From the article
accept:
3. to consent or agree to.
4. to understand; to have a particular idea of.
[snippets from Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary]
While they may "accept" Israel's existence in terms of understanding that Israel exists, their holy Qur'an forbids them from "accept"ing Israel's existence in terms of consenting or agreeing to it.
Just more meaningless and deceitful dialogue.
The point being missed is what is comrade Olmert doing in Peking? Selling American technology to the Chicoms which Bill Clinton didn't already sell to them while his nation and people are murdered by rockets he will not allow the IDF to take out?
Olmert goes on tour again when the Judean state requires a leader to secure it.
I sincerely hope the Olmert cabal of European puppetry who betrayed the Sharon peace plan and screwed up President Bush's "green light to take out Hezbollah soon falls apart so Benjamin Netanyahu can form a government of fiscal responsibility and is responsible to the safety of the Judean majority, Ashkenazi Jew minority and the rights of Israeli Arabs.
Olmert is the Jimmy Carter disaster of his nation.
Just listened to Brigitte Gabriel's talk (podcast) at the Heritage Foundation. What an eye-opener. Instant cure for any "Palestinian sympathy".
Posted by: Lame Cherry at January 15, 2007 12:36 AM
Israel is going to get back ups in case they will strike Iran. What's wrong for visiting China?
There is no such country as the 'State of Palestine' and there NEVER gas been. So how a non-existant state can recognise a legitimate state such as Isreal is beyond stupid. Also Mohammedans are stuck with a thought process that recognises THEIR right of ownership via conquest but declares it ILLIGITIMATE for anyone else to have such a right. Hypocrisy writ large. If there was no right of conquest them Mohammedans belong back in 7th Century Arabia, thats where their mindset is anyway.Witness the following;-
It is permissible for a Muslim to have slaves. Muhammad himself had slaves. It was the Muslims that were greatest slave traders of all times. Muslims cities like Zanzibar, Massawa, Timbouktu were world's greatest slave trading centres. Islamic economy was based mostly on exploitation of slaves, especially in Africa and Arabian Peninsula. There were entire Muslim states whose main source of incomes or even entire sense of existence came from capturing and selling slaves. For example - Crimean Khanate (slaves from Poland, Ukraine, Russia; estimated 3 million victims), "empire" of Tippu Tip in Kongo, sultanate of Adal in Somalia etc etc. There were dozens of such bandit states. White men were buying slaves from Muslims, on Muslim slave markets.
The Koran is just a book wot Mohammed wrote (apologies to Ernie Wise) and Allah is just old Mo's 'secret invisible friend'
To paraphrase Jesus 'Forgive them Father for they know not what they do, worshipping Satan instead of you.'
There is and NEVER has been any such country as 'The State of Palestine'
A real breakthrough would be, if Hamas admits that a "moderate" Islam really exists.
Doggone it, moderate Islam does exist. Except in the minds of Laura Ingraham, Hugh Hewitt, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, and Rosie, that is.
That's great for the high growth opinion celebrity industry. Trouble is, they ain't no moderate Moslems. Got some infants and old ladies, and a whole bunch a inactive Moslems, but no moderate ideology.
Khaled Meshal will say something favorable about Israel such as it exists? That's some high level tea leaf reading going on here. Next week he'll say Israel needs to be destroyed by all Muslims. There is no logical consistency or truth from Muslim terrorists. They'll say whatever happens to roll off the tip of their tongue. Truth and logic are irrelevant when Jihad conquest is the imperative.
Even Muslims who are moderate have severe problems with truth logic and consistent thinking. Their Muslim Koranic culture is poetic, not prosaic. Same applies to the "secular" Muslims. They are overwhelmed by the illogic of the Koranic world they are born into
Even Satan believes in Jesus.
Unfortunately, Olmert is a useless carbunkle on the body politic of a great country - turn him over, he's done, get someone decent in there.
Netanyahu
Bibi...... and I am not even Israeli or Jewish!
"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
...............................
How desperate (or stupid) does one have to be to consider the above a "recognition" of Israel?
The West (and most of the rest of the world) didn't recognize the Taliban as a legitimate government in Afghanistan, with good reason. This is a *political* statement based on the perceived legitimacy of the government.
In no way did it mean that we thought the Taliban as a group did not exist, or that Kabul ceased to be a real place, or that we started marking our maps with "here there be dragons" north of the Khyber Pass.
Hamas only recognizes the "Zionist Entity" in that it wishes to destroy it. This expressed aim is not even in another part of the speech--it is in the *same sentence* as the "recognition".
Even Olmert understands the absurdity of the above.