James S. Robbins on Hamas on National Review Online

James S. Robbins on Hamas on National Review Online: "nominee for prime minister, Haniyeh is widely regarded as a pragmatist, which in the Hamas context means acknowledging that something called Israel does in fact exist, even if it has no right to."

And that is about as far as it will go, how can Hamas do anything against that which brought them to power as Robbins notes; "there is a decided unwillingness to relinquish violence and recognize Israel. And why should they? Intransigence was their passport to power." Makes sense to me. The concern of course is the European diplomats looking to find language acceptable to Hamas that does not imply their "acceptance of Israel's existence," to enable continued aid from European nations.

Robbins points out that the U.S. and Israel "have wisely chosen to cut all aid transfers (except for food and subsistence) until Hamas renounces violence, recognizes Israel, and makes other fundamental reforms." Which "has brought charges of hypocrisy, to whit, that the U.S. seeks to build democracies abroad, but when the elections do not go the way we want, we attempt to reverse them." Robbins answers that the charge misses the point. "Promoting democracy only requires us to approve of the process; we need not be delighted with the results." GOOD POINT!!!

We don't need to pay them to continue their calls for violence and the eradication of Israel.