Arab governments 'worried' over Hamas' popularity
Al-Jazeera reports that 'moderate' Arab governments like those of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are worried about Hamas' popularity.Let's go to the videotape and then we'll discuss why Hamas is gaining popularity and why Arab governments are concerned about it.
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And now the videotape.
I'm sure you can all figure out why Egypt and Jordan are worried about Hamas' popularity. Those governments are concerned about Islamists trying to depose their secular regimes. But Saudi Arabia is an Islamist government (albeit maybe not pure enough for the likes of Hamas). Why Saudi Arabia is worried is another reason that should concern Egypt and Jordan and all of the other governments in the region other than Israel, Iran and Syria.
Saudi Arabia is worried because the 'Palestinian' cause has until now been like a spigot that it could turn on and off as a means of controlling its population. The Saudi regime is not popularly elected and like other Arab governments - including Egypt and Jordan and just about every other government in this region - it uses the 'Palestinian' cause as a means of channeling anger that might otherwise be directed at the government elsewhere. Now the spigot has been hijacked, Hamas is in control, and Hamas has turned the water on full force and is not turning it off.
This doesn't concern Israel because its government is democratic and does not use the 'Palestinian' cause to channel anger. It doesn't concern Iran or Syria because Hamas supports those regimes (and vice versa) and can be trusted not to take any actions that will weaken those regimes.
So yes, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia (and the Gulf Countries) have much to be concerned about from the popularity of Hamas. Too bad they didn't think of that earlier.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:28 PM
2 Comments:
Which is ironically, why they want Israel to defeat Hamas for them. Heh.
These chickens have come home to roost.
They reap what they sow.
Insert your own cliche here.
It looks like this is going to bite them in the behinds.
But what I am hearing is that most people I speak to are now aware of the global and local threats of islamism, and more frightfully for them, they know there is a very low barrier to radicalization for followers of islam.
This is causing a significant backbuilding of distaste for having followers of islam in civilized neighborhoods, communities, states, and countries. For all the whinging that the islamist tools do, they are in fact causing the very thing they claim is happening. But it it happening after they scream and shout.
Many have now noticed the islamists and palis screaming about sending the jews back to the ovens. This hasn't been missed. Any sympathy they may have once engendered is largely gone, and now replaced with a firm realization on the parts of those formerly sypathetic, that they have been had. Sure there are those antisemites on the hard left and right who will refuse to admit any of this. But people know now.
It is only a matter of time IMO before the world collectively says "genug", and does something about this. This conflict moved them closer to the realization that this is not a border dispute, or a national dispute, but a racist intolerant hatred. The oldest hatred.
Keep up the offensive Israel, in the field, in the PR, in the media. Press on harder, and faster on all fronts. Don't overreach. Be very responsive and articulate. Make sure the world continues to see the enemy for exactly what they are, and do not ever let them forget this.
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