After Hamas was elected in Palestine as the new government the US cut off funding and decried it as a terrorist organization (a move which I supported, by the way) and some people criticized us for reacting that way.
News came from the Gaza Strip today that Hamas gunmen sprayed the car carrying the three children of a rival Palestinian faction while they were on their way to school. The children were ten, eight, and six.
I recognize that the actions of a few don't necessarily represent the movement as a whole, and I also will not sit here and glibly claim that it's because the actors involved were Muslim that they acted this way. There's plenty of hatred and violence in all sects that drives people to act in despicable ways.
But I know these actions are not beyond the normal MO of Hamas, or Fatah for that matter, and while Hamas now claims it had no responsibility for the crime, they're most certainly the perpetrators.
The fact that they will not turn the person over to a civilized criminal court, but instead perpetuate the cycle of violence does not bode well for the future of Palestine or our relations with them.
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