Hamas Applauds Goldstone

Hamas Applauds Goldstone

The Goldstone Report did contain some criticism of Hamas, even if limited and muted. You can see why the Fatah-controlled PA wished the UN to discuss it and act on it, since it bashed both Israel and Hamas - a win-win situation for the PA. Alas, realpolitk intervened, and the PA realised there's a downside, too, so last week they pulled their support for continued UN deliberations on the report.

Lots of Palestinains didn't like the decision, and Abbas is apparently being harshly criticised for it. Among the most vocal critics are... Hamas:

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas prime minister in the Gaza Strip, on Monday accused
Abbas of betraying the Palestinian people and of being an accomplice in the
Israeli plot to neutralize the Goldstone report. At a specially convened press
conference in Gaza, Haniyeh went on to call Abbas' actions "unprecedented."

When a group that was purportedly even-handedly criticised by a report, castigises the fellow who managed to have further discussion quashed, it says something about how they understand the criticism. It seems to me that Haniyeh is saying, loud and clear, that the report was never even-handed, it was anti-Israel, even if there was a small fig-leaf of criticism against his side, too.

Originally posted by Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations