Hamas "Victory" - - The Will Of The People

"Mother of Martyrs" (on left) is going to Palestinian Parliament

Tehila Maoz (on right), 18 year old victim of Hamas suicide bomber at Jerusalem pizza restaurant in 2001.



Hamas, whose stated goal is to "remove Israel from the map" and to establish an Islamic theocracy in the area that is currently Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza strip, has won the first parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories in ten years. Hamas is officially listed as a terrorist group by the European Union, Canada, the United States, and Israel, and its suicide attacks targeting Israeli civilians and other human rights abuses have been condemned by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. It is well-known for suicide bombings against civilians in busy urban areas in Israel for which it has repeatedly claimed responsibility and for which it makes generous payments to the families of suicide bombers.

Since Sept. 2000, Hamas has carried out thousands of terror attacks, killing 425 Israelis and wounding 2,233 others. During the past 12 years, Hamas has been responsible for sending 113 suicide bombers into Israel. Some of Hamas' more recent activities:

June 1, 2001: Hamas suicide bomber blows up outside Tel Aviv disco, killing 21. Most of the victims were teenagers from the former Soviet Union.
Aug. 9, 2001: Hamas suicide bomber blows up Jerusalem restaurant, killing 15, including 18 year old Tehila Maoz (pictured above).
March 27, 2002: Hamas bomber blows up Netanya hotel, killing 29. This was the infamous Passover attack that occured during the traditional meal marking the start of Passover.

These are the folks the Palestinians have just voted into power. Indeed, one of the Hamas members elected to Parliament, Umm Nidal (pictured above), known as the "mother of martyrs," sent three of her six sons on suicide terrorist missions and can be seen on a video advising one son on tactics for attacking a Jewish settlement.

The Hamas Covenant (Article 7) contains the following:
"The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."

The Palestinians are the same people who rejected a two-state solution (one Jewish, one Palestinian) in 1948, 1967, 1973, and 2000. See my previous post on the history of the conflict. In perhaps the most democratic elections ever held in an Arab political entity, the Palestinian people has chosen an unabashed terrorist organization for its government. A government which supports suicide bombers and whose stated goal is the destruction of Israel. Perhaps they are trying to telling us something. You think?

As I write this, the election results are just now coming in. I expect that starting tomorrow we will begin to see editorials and commentaries saying that Hamas does not really mean what is says, that now that it is in power it will have to moderate its ways, that somehow this is really a "good thing" for the "peace process," blah, blah, blah. Already tonight, the U.N. envoy to the Middle East Alvaro de Soto sweeps Hamas' long history of terrorism and unchanged goals under the rug, "Let's judge the participants in the government by what they do, not by what they have said in the past."

My reaction. The previous government of Arafat's Fatah party was corrupt and claimed to be powerless to stop Hamas' terrorist tactics. Now there will be no more excuses. And (if there ever was any doubt before), the goals of the Palestinians - - which have not changed since 1948 - - are manifest.

I have a feeling what Israel's reaction will be. With its own elections upcoming on March 28, it will say: "Ok, we'll see your Hamas and raise you one Netanyahu."

I just hope Israel builds its security wall a little bit higher....
For more on Hamas, click here. For more on the Israeli victims of terror generally, see this Memorial Site. If you do nothing else today, spend a few moments on this unbelievably touching memorial site and click on some of the names of the victims to pay tribute to their lives.