Hamas

An excess of emotion appears to dominate recent discussion of the Israeli blockade of Hamas. Actually, Israel lives in peace with both Jordan and Egypt. There is no active belligerence with any of its other sovereign neighbors. Both portions of the future state of Palestine were parts of other sovereign countries. The West Bank was Jordanian; Gaza was part of Egypt. The recognized administration of Palestine is the Palestinian Authority (PA). This is basically a descendant of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

A museum of journalism in Washington, D.C., the Newseum plans to honor and include in the institution's Journalists' Memorial Mahmoud Al-Kumi and Hussam Salama. Both worked for Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV. Also, Basel Tawfiq Youssef of Syrian State TV and Maya Naser, from Iran's Press TV are set to be honored. They did not fall as reporters attempting to maintain the free flow of news. The honorees died as foot soldiers for regimes that use propaganda to sustain their repression and abuse of a free society and a free press.

In her op-ed, Laila El-Haddad ("Palestinians betrayed by Judge Goldstone," April 18) displays the mind-set of someone who believes that the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, is blameless in its purposeful attacks on Israeli civilians. While Judge Goldstone recently noted "that civilians were not intentionally targeted as a matter of policy by Israel," he cannot say the same for Hamas. He states, "That the crimes allegedly committed by Hamas were intentional goes without saying — its rockets were purposefully and indiscriminately aimed at civilian targets.

In their commentary, Zainab Choudry and Saqib Ali ("Don't let Israel discriminate," April 30) objected to Senate Bill 462 (the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2013) introduced recently in the U.S. Senate that advocates Israel's right to deny entry into its country of certain people. Therefore, according to them, this bill would allow Israel to "discriminate against select groups of Americans, including Americans who expressed criticism of its policies. " Ms. Choudry and Mr. Ali also misguidedly disapproved of U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin for supporting the bill.

Hamas, a terrorist organization that receives money and weapons from Iran, has lately escalated its assaults, which are intended to terrorize and kill civilians ("Israeli strike kills 11 in Gaza," Nov. 19). Palestinians have been firing dozens of rockets every day from Gaza, hitting cities and civilians. Israel finally retaliated to protect its civilians and launched retaliatory airstrikes on Hamas commanders. Article 51 of the UN charter indicates the "inherent right" of self-defense against armed attack, and I hope the Obama administration and the international community provide adequate support to Israel to defend itself.

The Hamas government in Gaza backtracked Saturday on its apology earlier in the week in which it expressed regret for harming Israeli civilians in rocket attacks. The apology had signaled a rare deviation from Hamas' violent ideology, and the subsequent zigzag reflects the Islamic militants' conflicting objectives. Hamas, which seized Gaza by force in 2007, is trying to reach out to the West in hopes of winning recognition and getting Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza. However, Hamas is also reluctant to discard its violent ideology for fear of losing credibility at home.

Amid all the falsehoods and distortions in Laila El Haddad's diatribe against Israel lies a great truth: the situation in Gaza is tragic. It is tragic that after Israel acceded to international demands to "end the occupation" and forcibly evacuated thousands of Jews from their homes in Gaza, the people of Gaza decided not to use the infrastructure abandoned by the Israelis and the billions of dollars of foreign aid poured into the region as...

A Hamas military commander slain in a Dubai hotel room played a key role in smuggling anti-aircraft missiles and other weapons into the Gaza Strip, Israeli and Hamas officials said Sunday. But they disagreed on whether Mahmoud Mabhuh's death would deliver a blow to Palestinian armed groups in the seaside enclave or inspire them to redouble their arms campaign. "This guy was a middleman for smuggling weapons from Iran, not only to Gaza but to Hezbollah" in Lebanon, said an Israeli military official speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issues involved.

The Sun editorial "Mr. Abbas' mission" (Feb. 13) is a triumph of wishful thinking over analysis. Its self-contradictions and omissions include: •Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas "would have to exercise the kind of statesmanship that has been sadly lacking among the Palestinians for generations" to lead a unity government of his Fatah movement and the terrorist Hamas to peace with Israel. "It's too early to say" if he could. It's hardly too early to say the 74-year-old Mr. Abbas can't and won't.

The pundits were wrong; so, too, the exit polls. Palestinians threw out the ruling bums and put the Islamic militant group Hamas in charge of their collective life. Their overwhelming rejection of the Palestinian leadership's decade-old hold on power changes the political landscape in the Middle East, leaving Israel, the United States and their European allies to confront a new government led by a known terrorist group. The upset over Fatah, the faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the late Yasser Arafat, gave the Islamic Resistance Movement, known as Hamas, a clear majority in the 132-seat parliament and control of a new government.

Your editorial suggesting that United Nations recognition of Palestine will put pressure on Israel to resume peace talks is a naive repetition of the myth that Palestinians actually want peace with Israel ("Pressure on Israel to negotiate," Nov. 30). The Palestinian charter calls for the destruction of Israel, not "living side by side in peace" with it as you state. The charter of Hamas is even more explicit. How can you negotiate with an entity that has sworn your destruction?

Op-ed contributor G. Jefferson Price recently quoted the "prominent" Israeli journalist Gideon Levy to support his argument that an Israeli invasion of Gaza would be unwise ("For Israel, it's different this time," Nov. 20). Mr. Levy is better described as a vocal, radical journalist who represents a small group of radical Israeli leftists. He views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a very narrow, one-sided, biased prism. For him, the ultimate truth is that Israel is always the aggressor and the Palestinians are always the victims.

Over the strenuous objections of the U.S. and Israel, the United Nations General Assembly voted today to grant nonmember observer status to a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. The U.N. action, which was widely anticipated, was largely a symbolic move that does nothing to change the situation on the ground or lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. But it does raise international pressure on Israel to show it is serious about reaching a negotiated settlement, while allowing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to claim a historic advance in his people's quest for global recognition.

Two of the more common falsehoods that beset much of what passes for "analysis" of the current conflict between Hamas and Israel are exemplified in the Nov. 20 commentaries of Zainab Chaudry ("In Gaza, the powerless multitudes suffer") and G. Jefferson Price III ("For Israel, it's different this time"). Ms. Chaudry's falsehood of choice is moral equivalency. After deviously claiming that Israel is targeting military operatives and infrastructures in Gaza "in response to reports of rocket strikes in its territory" (as if the 900 rockets fired by Hamas into Israel since the beginning of 2012 were unconfirmed rumors that still await verification)

In the film "Groundhog Day," Bill Murray wakes up each morning and relives the previous day. A similar scenario is playing out in the Middle East between Israel and her enemies. The deadly "movie" always goes like this: Israel is shelled or attacked by terrorists groups, often called "militants" by the media, each one with the same goal: Israel's elimination. After demonstrating considerable restraint of the kind that would never be tolerated by any other nation, Israel fires back.

The chameleon is finally showing his true colors. Since taking office in June, Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's not-so-new president, has been equivocating, trying to balance Egypt's longstanding diplomatic and financial relationship with the West with his true self: a Muslim Brotherhood fundamentalist who is contemptuous of the West, hates Israel and wants to turn Egypt into a fully Islamic state. "He speaks of moderation for the West," Perihan Abou-Zeid, a 28-year-old Egyptian officer for a media-production company in Cairo, told me. "But then when Salafists blow up churches, there are no arrest warrants.

The terrorist organization Hamas may in time manage to carry out the reprisals against Israel it has threatened, but it has been dealt severe blows. Israel's progress against the extremist opponent to the PLO-Israel accord owes something to improved cooperation from outside sources that were previously less forthcoming, notably the PLO and the United States.After two suicide bus bombings took 12 lives, Israel broke up the ring that was responsible, captured its two leaders and some 30 others and killed two terrorists in a shootout.

The West's isolation of the Hamas-led Palestinian government better have an end game. Decisions by the U.S. and the European Union to cancel or redirect millions in aid to strictly humanitarian causes are expected to leave the near-destitute Palestinian Authority with even less means to govern. The West wants the Islamists in charge to renounce their anti-Israel platform and support of terrorism. A negotiated settlement of this decades-long conflict must begin with a recognition of Israel's right to exist.

More than seven years after Israel withdrew from Gaza in exchange for peace, we stand today faced with increased rocket fire from Hamas (an organization that is on the U.S. State Department list of foreign terrorist organizations). In the past 12 years, over 12,000 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel. In the past year, over 800 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel. In the past five days, over 150 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel. I propose a simple question with a complex answer: When is it enough?

Hamas, a terrorist organization that receives money and weapons from Iran, has lately escalated its assaults, which are intended to terrorize and kill civilians ("Israeli strike kills 11 in Gaza," Nov. 19). Palestinians have been firing dozens of rockets every day from Gaza, hitting cities and civilians. Israel finally retaliated to protect its civilians and launched retaliatory airstrikes on Hamas commanders. Article 51 of the UN charter indicates the "inherent right" of self-defense against armed attack, and I hope the Obama administration and the international community provide adequate support to Israel to defend itself.