International Holocaust Cynicism Day (On the HuffPo)

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the Huffington Post observed it accordingly with many blog posts on the subject (and one article). You know what that means! Let the parade of Holocaust cynicism and minimization begin! Original links are included so that you may read them in context.

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Opinions the HP Doesn't Publish: Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania is a Palestinian American who is also a Huffington Post blogger. Like Bradley Burston, he writes what he thinks, not what the "side" he's subscribed to wants him to write. But the Huffington Post picks and chooses which of his essays they publish, so it's no surprise they didn't publish this latest one, titled Palestinians' Worst Enemies Are Themselves.

If the Israelis wanted to defeat the Palestinians, Israel would immediately recognize a Palestinian State in Gaza, the West Bank and even east Jerusalem rather than embrace policies that push Palestinians to unite. If they did that, all the Israelis would have to do is sit back and watch as the Palestinians tear themselves apart.

Yes, the tragedy of the Palestinians isn’t that they are victims of injustice at the hands of the Israelis. It is their own tendency to destroy themselves from within.

The most powerful factor keeping Palestinians together as a people is the anger they share in response to injustices by Israel. But that’s a pathetic reason for unity. Worse, anger easily turns into hatred and hatred easily turns into violence, terrorism and killings. And violence undermines even the most just of causes.

Palestinians hate Israelis but they hate themselves even more.

Palestinian activists spend as much time bashing their own people as they do bashing Israel. The truth is that for the Palestinians, bashing Israel results in nothing but more defeats and losses. Bashing other Palestinians makes them feel better, and serves to distract their community from their inherent leadership failures.

Yes, it’s true. The Palestinian leadership is a failure, and the activists who lead the hatred, for example against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate Palestinian like myself, and against anyone who dares to challenge their fanaticism, are the primary cause.

Let’s define failure. In nearly 100 years of battling Jewish immigrants and then the Israeli people, the Palestinians have failed to establish sovereignty over one inch of historic Palestine.

Menachem Rosensaft Remembers the Holocaust, HPers Upset

HP blogger Menachem Rosensaft has written an article about remembering the Holocaust and railing against the lethargy of countries today towards stopping modern genocides such as the ones in Rwanda and Darfur. Naturally, because Jews were part of the article, the HP published some of the following comments.

And there were a couple that I didn't get to in time:

But I'll leave them to your imagination about how bad they must have been if the ones above were allowed to remain.

But remember, everyone, Jews and the Holocaust have nothing to do with Israel or criticism of Israel's policies.

When in Doubt, Spin Spin Spin

It's becoming clear to me that the Huffington Post has a mission to criticize the Palestinians as little as possible in favor of blaming everything on Israel. Fortunately, or perhaps not so fortunately, we have a perfect example of that today. There was a new article in the "World" section and here is the basic gist:

"RAMALLAH/JERUSALEM, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Israel has presented Palestinians with its ideas for the borders and security arrangements of a future Palestinian state, in a bid to keep exploratory talks alive, Palestinian and Israeli sources said on Friday. 

However, Palestinian officials said the verbal presentation by Israeli negotiator Yitzhak Molcho at a meeting on Wednesday was a non-starter, envisaging a fenced-off territory of cantons that would preserve most Jewish settlements."

In other words, Israel presented a peace plan (just like always) and the Palestinians rejected it (just like always). Now how do you think the Huffington Post would have spun it were the Israelis rejecting and the Palestinians proposing? Perhaps "Israel rejects Palestinian border plan?" But since they didn't, we are left with this:

Maybe I am being unreasonable since they just copied and pasted the headline from the Reuters article, along with the text. But let's not forget the clearly biased picture of Netanyahu looking angry. In the end, it's the typical Huffington Post bias: Palestinians "stand firm," while Israel "rejects peace."

Comment of the Day

Back to the usual drivel:

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Hamas: Wishful Thinking No Basis for Policy Making

[Your token pro-Israel article from the Huffington Post by Lorna Fitzsimons.]

"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair." C.S. Lewis

Is the Palestinian Islamist organisation Hamas about to give up its strategy of armed resistance? Hopes were raised when Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told Al Jazeera on 26 December 2011 that "all forms of resistance, especially armed resistance [i.e. the path of terrorism], are our right, but now, during the Arab Spring, we prefer the popular resistance and to focus instead on a unified strategy of popular resistance."

I would be the first to dance a jig if there was a genuine rethink on the part of Hamas. A 'new Hamas' would indeed bring comfort. It would open the way to Palestinian unity and the extension of the West Bank nation-building strategy to Gaza. And it would boost the search for a two state solution, as well as encouraging other Islamist movements to give up violence. These are all glittering prizes, to be sure.

But it's all 'a bit previous'. And in the Middle East, as in life, it's all about the timing. If European politicians get the timing wrong and drop the 'no-contact' policy too soon they could put back the clock on progress, inflict tremendous damage on the peace process and the undermine moderate politics throughout the region.

For four reasons, now is not to time bringing Hamas in from the cold.

First, Hamas is more likely responding tactically to short-term pressures not rethinking its basic strategy

The Arab Spring has created both threats and opportunities for Hamas. The uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime has undermined a key patron of Hamas which hosts its political bureau in Damascus.

Hamas is caught between its loyalty to Assad and its affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood, whose spiritual leader, Sheikh Yussuf Al Qaradawi, has openly backed the uprising against Assad. Hamas chose its spiritual leader (which casts an interesting sidelight in itself) and lost its patron and its headquarters. It seeks a new home in places - Cairo, Amman, Qatar - that do not want to hear talk of armed resistance.

The conflict in Syria is widely seen in the Arab world as a sectarian confrontation - a majority Sunni population being suppressed by a non-Sunni, Alawite minority. Hamas's failure to identify with Assad has led Iran - which has a strategic alliance with the Assad regime - to reportedly cut back its financial support to Hamas. This has contributed to financial strain on Hamas, which was already suffering from a decline in revenue from smuggling after Israel relaxed many of its restrictions on imports to Gaza.

The Arab Spring has also re-energised Palestinian society to demand political unity between the Hamas regime in Gaza and the Fatah-dominated PA in the West Bank. This has prompted Hamas to sound more conciliatory on the issue of Palestinian unity, to be more ready to accept Egyptian intervention in Palestinian affairs and to seek ways to improve its standing in Palestinian public opinion. These factors partly explain the sudden conclusion of the deal to free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit last October. It may also explain Meshaal's talk of a new non-violent Hamas.

Second, Hamas is not speaking with one voice

Not all the Hamas leadership in Gaza is in agreement with the Damascus-based Meshaal. Addressing a crowd in Gaza on 14 December, Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniyeh said, "Today, we say, in a clear and unambiguous fashion: the armed resistance and armed struggle are our strategic choice and our path to liberate the Palestinian land, from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River, and to drive the usurping invaders out of the blessed land of Palestine." He added, "The fact that Hamas, at one stage or another, accepts the goal of gradual liberation - of Gaza, of the West Bank, or of Jerusalem - is not at the expense of our strategic vision with regard to the land of Palestine."

Hamas's internal leadership was angered at Meshaal's December 26 pronouncement. Senior Gazan Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar has been scornful of the attempts at reconciliation with Fatah and objected in principle to the call for popular resistance, which he said was not relevant in Gaza as it is no longer under occupation. Ahmed Jaabri, leader of the Hamas military wing in Gaza, is also believed to be increasingly independent from Hamas's external leadership, and was a key figure determining the outcome of the Shalit deal.

Perhaps significantly, Meshaal has now announced that he does not wish to stand again for the leadership of Hamas's political bureau.

Third, Hamas-in-Gaza is exploring a reconciliation with Palestinian Islamic Jihad

While the much-hyped 'reconciliation' between the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank is advancing at a snail's pace, there have been merger talks between Hamas's Gaza-based leadership and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

PIJ is a terrorist organisation even more extreme than Hamas, which has avoided participation in PA elections and is closely tied, financially and ideologically, to Iran. It has been growing in military strength over the last year and poses an increasing challenge to Hamas's authority in Gaza.

Fourth, if the West dropped its non-contact policy now that would fatally undermine the moderates

In the Middle East, as in life, timing is all. And for Europe to drop its non-contact policy with Hamas at this time would undermine President Abbas and the regional moderates.

There is no reason for us to fall into despair. Hamas may yet reconcile its Islamist ideology with a permanent renunciation of violence and acceptance of Israel. But there is no place for C.S Lewis' "soft soap and wishful thinking." However much we may wish it to be true, there is currently no evidence that the underlying position of Hamas has changed. It remains focused on securing its ability to rule in Gaza, reversing the clampdown on its activities at the hands of the PA in the West Bank, assuming leadership of the Palestinian national movement and gaining international legitimacy, without giving up on its core ideological principles.

We should monitor Hamas and encourage those who seek to push the organisation in a new direction. As regards to engagement it is not a case of if, but when. But right now there are just too many contradictory messages coming out of this turbulent and hitherto violent organisation to allow any western politician to take any risks. All policy makers should remember that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

News the HP Buries: Abbas Edition

In an unprecedented move for the Huffington Post, it actually covered the news that the Palestinian Authority pulled out of talks with Israel. But of course, it had to put its special spin on the topic:

First, note the headline. "Abbas Says Talks Are Over," not, "Palestinians Pull Out of Negotiations" or "Abbas Walks Away." I'm sure if Israel had been the one to say the talks are over, we could have expected a headline of that caliber.

Second, the tags. This article was only in Israel, not the front page or World section. If you read the World section of the Huffington Post, you'll have to scroll down pretty far to find it. Because the HP doesn't really want you to see it, even though it did cover it.