Arab media blames Hamas, not Israel

Dec. 31, 2008

Or shall I say, some Arab media and leaders, such as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, blame Hamas rather than Israel for the violence. Hat Tip to The Israel Project for the research.

Abbas and Mubarak, among others, said maintaining the truce could have helped the Palestinians avoid the Israeli raids and that Hamas is fully responsible for the situation.

A Palestinian girl in Gaza whose family members died in Gaza Dec. 28 in an Israeli air attack held Hamas responsible. "I say Hamas is the cause, in the first place, of all wars,” the girl told Palestinian TV. [4]

A Palestinian journalist in Gaza said members of the Palestinian media are ‘directing’ civilians to cry and telling them what to say in interviews: "A mother of one of the martyrs stood by the door of the intensive care unit while crying... relatives and those around her were telling her what she should say to the television cameras: 'Say your son [before he died] prayed and went out.' Another tells her: 'Curse the Arab leaders'... The journalists [in the hospitals] are going overboard in their insensitivity and taking advantage of the [difficult] moments, with the explanation that they are showing this to the world. One cameraman told a mourning mother: 'Hit your face, cry, do some action.'" [5]

Abbas also blamed Hamas for disrupting national unity talks that could have paved the way for general and presidential elections. While visiting Cairo to discuss Egyptian and Arab League efforts to put an end to the violence in Gaza, Abbas said: “We have warned of this grave danger.” [6]

Nimr Hammad, an advisor to Abbas, said: “The one responsible for the massacre is Hamas […].” He called upon Hamas's leaders to stop carrying out “operations, which reflect recklessness, such as the firing of missiles.” [7]

Hafez Al-Barghouthi, editor of the PLO daily al-Hayat al-Jadida criticized Hamas for not prolonging the 'tahdiah' - Arabic for 'calm': “Prolonging the tahdiah was a supreme national interest. Why hasn’t [Hamas] prevented the aggression and the massacre? How many times have we written and Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) has declared that these missiles [that Hamas is firing at Israel] as ineffective and contrary to the supreme national interest […].” [8]

Of course, these Palestinian leaders criticizing Hamas are political rivals and destroying Hamas is in their best interests. We might not expect the same response in future conflicts. Its okay for Fatah terrorists to launch rockets and suicide attacks but the double standard applies when a Hamas terrorist does so.