Boston Globe Article, or Hamas Campaign Literature?

January 18th, 2006 5:59 AM

The piece begins by painting the poignant image of a Palestinian killed by Israelis and his bereaved family member who "choked back tears and wiped his red, swollen eyes." It ends with this slogan: ''When you have no hope, you vote Hamas."

"So what?", you ask. Palestinians are permitted to distribute campaign literature in preparation for their legislative elections on Jan. 25th. What's the big deal? Well, true. Except this wasn't a Hamas campaign flyer. It was an article in this morning's Boston Globe: A Death Hardens Support for Hamas.

One wonders whether the author, Thanassis Cambanis, wasn't smoking cannabis when composing his one-sided piece. The image he paints is of repressive Israelis hounding the innocent Hamas. But in fact, the dead man in question was the leader of a Hamas terrorist cell, according to the Israeli Defense Forces,. who was killed in a shootout with Israel forces during a raid in which Israel arrested 18 suspected "militants."

The author laments that Hamas is forbidden from campaigning in East Jerusalem, because it is "deemed" a terrorist group. "Deemed"? A group that has proudly claimed responsibility for innumerable suicide bombings aimed at killing the maximum number of innocent civilians?

Cambanis also reports that "Palestinian candidates say Israeli police rip down their signs." No word from him, though, about Israeli women and children ripped to shreds by Palestinian suicide bombs filled with ball bearings.