Israel Matzav

Hamas endorses Obama

In a radio interview in New York on Sunday, Ahmad Yousef, chief political adviser to the 'Prime Minister' of Hamas, announced that his organization supports the candidacy of Barack Hussein Obama for President of the United States.

Yousef said, "We like Mr. Obama and we hope he will win the election." Why? "He has a vision to change America." Maybe Yousef has some insight into what Obama means by all these vague references to "change."

...

Yousef was asked about Obama's condemnation of Carter's visit with Hamas, but didn't seem troubled by it. Hamas, he says, understands American politics; this is the election season, and everyone wants to sound like a friend of Israel. Nevertheless, he hopes that the Democrats will change American policies when they take office.

You can listen to the interview with John Batchelor and Aaron Klein here. Somehow, I doubt that this is an endorsement that even Obama will be touting too widely.

UPDATE 8:10 AM

Here's more from the Yousef interview:

During an interview on WABC radio Sunday, top Hamas political adviser Ahmed Yousef said the terrorist group supports Obama’s foreign policy vision.

“We don’t mind–actually we like Mr. Obama. We hope he will (win) the election and I do believe he is like John Kennedy, great man with great principle, and he has a vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community but not with domination and arrogance,” Yousef said in response to a question about the group’s willingness to meet with either of the Democratic presidential candidates.

Heh.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:59 AM