Palestinian Elections

Everyone has been talking on the news about the democratic elections of the Palestinians. Apparently the ruling party stayed in power, but Hamas gained about 40% of the vote. I heard the newsmen discuss the entrance of Hamas into the democratic process, I listened to them discuss the vote of no confidence sent to the ruling party, and I even heard discussions about how America should respond to Hamas ministers in the Palestinians. All of these are legitimate aspects of the story, but in my opinion they are not the real story.

The real story is the debunking of the Moderate Islamic myth. For years people have been claiming the Palestinians want peace, they want their own land, and Hamas is just a small group of radical terrorists. Now we see that easily 40% of the Palestinians support the terrorists. They are not some radical splinter cell, they are a popularly supported group of hate-mongering murderers. Hamas offered no political ideas; they ran on the platform of “kill Israel” and their record of suicide bombings. Thus, the 40% cannot be seen as voting for new ideas, only for terrorists. Before we believe the political line about Islam being a religion of peace, maybe we should examine some of these election results, new state constitutions, and ruling party platforms. So far all the democratic reformers in the Middle East have been able to produce are two oppressively Islamic Constitutions and a government that is fully half-terrorist. Not exactly an endorsement for the religion of peace. Yet, that story will never lead news broadcasts.