[Note from Robert Spencer: I am pleased to announce that we have added another News Editor at Jihad Watch, Patrick Devenny. Patrick comes to us with a deep familiarity with jihad-related issues, as will be demonstrated by the postings he will make here from time to time.]
Get ready for the new battle cry from the anti-Israel bloc, both in this country and without, “Israel: Cooperate with Palestinian Elections!” Now any failures or chaos that surrounds the January ballot can, and will, be blamed on Israel. Thanks to the Washington Post for the following:
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 16 — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Friday that his government will refuse to assist the Palestinian Authority in holding legislative elections in January if the militant group popularly known as Hamas is allowed to participate.
“We will never agree that this terrorist organization, this armed terrorist organization, will participate in the elections,” Sharon told a group of U.S. journalists during a nearly 1 1/2 -hour session, referring to Hamas, which is formally called the Islamic Resistance Movement. He said that if Hamas is allowed to participate, then Israel will not lift roadblocks on the West Bank or take other measures to smooth the way for Palestinian elections.
“I don’t see how they can have elections without our help,” Sharon said. “We will make every effort not to help them in their elections.”
Sharon added that he had no control over voting in Gaza, which Israel vacated last month after 38 years of occupation. He said Israel would tolerate Hamas’s participation only if it gives up its arms and renounces its goal of destroying the Jewish state. “An armed organization doesn’t become democratic once they participate in the election,” Sharon said, calling the Hamas charter “one of most terrible documents that exists.”
Why Israel should cooperate in the elevation of an organization which consistently calls for the Jewish state’s destruction is beyond most people, but such logical reasoning won’t matter to the hate Israel lynch mob. Unfortunately, the American reaction seems to be hopelessly muddled:
“Hamas is a terrorist organization that should disarm and renounce violence,” said National Security Council spokesman Frederick L. Jones II, adding that U.S. officials will never talk to elected officials who belong to terrorist groups. “A decision as to who can participate in a [Palestinian Legislative Council] election obviously is up to the Palestinian Authority. We do not believe that a democratic state can be built when parties or candidates seek power not through the ballot box but through terrorist activity, as well.”