We're promising $500 million in aid to Hamas?
Here’s the lede:
The United States will pledge about $500 million for the moderate-led Palestinian government in the West Bank when Arab, European and other nations meet next week, U.S. officials said.
I’m sorry, did I get sucked through a dimensional fold into a parallel universe? In what twisted reality does Hamas – the currently democratically elected government in Palestine – get classified as “moderate-led?” In spite of wishful thinking to the contrary, the rival Fatah faction is not the duly-elected government. That they’ve managed to isolate themselves in the West Bank while Hamas continues to plummet into the dark ages in Gaza does nothing to mitigate the fact that the current government chosen by the citizens of the Palestinian territories is Hamas.
Besides, Fatah can hardly be called moderate unless you’re engaging in relativism and comparison to such entities as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Taliban.
Show me that the people of Palestine – you know, the ones dancing in the streets because our World Trade Center was collapsing into a burning pile of debris a few years ago – have decided to forgo terrorism against anyone and live in peace beside Israel and the rest of the world. Show me they understand that their votes for Hamas were a blunder of catastrophic proportions and that they denounce such groups. Show me that they will spend every penny of aid given to them to move themselves out of the 7th century and take a place in the modern world with the rest of us. (You know, with sewage systems that actually prevent the street gutters from becoming urinals, trash pickup that actually takes waste away from residences and businesses, and power and communication systems that are capable of providing service 24/7. That sort of thing.) Show me all of that and I would consider sending money to them.
Right now, I consider it a coin toss whether that $500 million will be spent as it should be or whether it’ll go toward outfitting a helluva lot of suicide bomb belts and buying a ton of AK-47 ammo. Given our own national debt, I question whether throwing $500 million down on a gamble that is at best a 50-50 chance is a smart move in any regard.
