Israel Matzav

Hamas' useful idiots: The American Left, Ban Ki-Moon and the European Union

James Kirchick has pretty much got it right when he summarizes the consequences of the Hamas-Fatah unity pact on the 'peace process' and the Western useful idiots who support it.

Most perverse has been the attempt by the unity agreement's Western backers to conflate it with the democratic movements sweeping the Arab world. As soon as rumor of the agreement broke, the Guardian editorialized that, "The Arab spring has finally had an impact on the core issue of the region, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." Carter deemed the agreement the "Palestinian contribution to the "Arab awakening.'" Earlier this year, on the sidelines of the Al Jazeera Forum, Levy told an interviewer that, "Islamists are going to be part of this democratic tapestry. Deal with it. Put aside your prejudices."

Note that these are the very same people who consider Israel-supporting evangelical Christians apocalyptic extremists, yet applaud the empowerment and legitimization of actual, not imagined, religious fascists.

Hamas is everything that self-professed liberals should be "prejudiced" toward: obscurantist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, warlike and rejectionist.

29 United States Senators - all Democrats - decided on Friday that they would not sit on the sidelines as America's biggest useful idiot supports Hamas. They have sent a letter to President Obama urging him to cut off aid to the 'Palestinian Authority' if it allows Hamas to join.

"The decision of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas to form a unity government with Hamas - a designated terrorist group - threatens to derail the Middle East peace effort for the foreseeable future and to undermine the Palestinian Authority's relationship with the United States," begins the letter, which was spearheaded by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Robert Casey (D-PA).

Menendez is the third ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Casey chairs SFRC's Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs subcommittee. The letter was also signed by Democratic heavyweights Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.

...

"As you are aware, U.S. law prohibits aid from being provided to a Palestinian government that includes Hamas unless the government and all its members have public committed to the Quartet principles," they wrote. "We urge you to conduct a review of the current situation and suspend aid should Hamas refuse to comply with Quartet conditions."

The full letter is below the fold.

It sounds like a similar House letter will not be long in coming.

House Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) agrees. "No taxpayer funds should go, they must not go" to the new Palestinian unity government, she told the Washington Post May 4.

Also over the weekend, Israel turned down a request from another useful idiot for Hamas - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon - to release tax money to the 'Palestinian Authority.'

Israel, as of Saturday night, has refused to agree to a request by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to continue to transfer tax funds to the PA.

The request came during a phone call on Friday between Ban and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to discuss the stalled Middle East peace process and the Fatah- Hamas reconciliation.

...

As of Saturday night, the Prime Minister’s Office had not publicly responded to Ban’s request.

But on Friday, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israel Radio that the government had no intention of handing money over to Hamas.

“It was important to send a clear red warning to the Palestinian Authority and also to the world that we cannot countenance a terrorist government that on one hand talks about peace, and on the other hands continues, with the money that we transfer to it, to buy missiles and to rearm,” Steinitz said.

But don't worry because the useful idiots from the European Union have already made up the shortfall.

The European Commission on Friday approved the transfer of 85 million euros to the PA at the request of its Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

He had made the request for urgent financial assistance before the deal was reached with Hamas.

But the European Commission approved the matter two days after Fatah and Hamas signed their unity agreement.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Friday that the funding decision “renews our commitment to support the most vulnerable among Palestinians, and is part of our support to the Palestinian Authority’s institution-building program, contributing to the salaries and pensions of PA civil servants who work in health and education. It is important that access to essential public services remains uninterrupted and the right to social services is respected.”

She spoke despite statements by leaders from the EU, the US and even Ban that any new PA government would have to conform to the three Quartet principles: renounce terrorism, recognize Israel and abide by past agreements.

Hamas has refused to accept these conditions.

While Europe and the international community continue to send strong messages to the Palestinians about their expectations regarding its new government, in practice they have continued business as usual, including their expectations that Netanyahu continue to take bold moves for peace.

With all these useful idiots in action, what could go wrong?

Here's the Senators' letter: 5-06-11 Menendez-Casey Ltr to Obama on Fatah-Hamas Unity Government

Labels: Barack Obama, Catherine Ashton, European foreign aid, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Palestinian tax transfers, useful idiots

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:35 PM