Captain's Quarters comments on Egypt's warning to Hamas that it had better recognize Israel.
I like these concluding remarks:
Without significant assistance from Arab nations, Hamas has to be completely reliant on Iran for its funding -- and that might well disappear once economic sanctions are in place. The Quartet can put a stranglehold on that funding by freezing Iranian assets and international transfers, making the Iranians a highly unstable partner. They will go bankrupt very quickly if that happens, and it looks like it could happen at any time.
Where does that leave Hamas? They will control the government, which Fatah shrewdly refuses to join, at the very moment it stops functioning. They will fail to meet payrolls, meaning the services for which they supposedly got elected will disappear. The army they want to raise won't march on promises for long. They will find themselves in charge while their world collapses around them, and their electorate will learn a lesson about electing unrepentant terrorists as a government. Hopefully, this lesson will not be undercut by Western nations stumbling over themselves yet again to save the Palestinians from their own stupid choices.
Captain Ed has it right. Halting funding to Hamas is clearly in our best interests. If there is a more foolish move than sending hundreds of millions of dollars to enemies who have sworn to destroy your allies (like Israel) and who celebrate when your own country is attacked (September 11th), I haven't thought of it.
I also like the thought of Iran being forced to funnel more of its own money to Hamas if it wants to keep Palestinian violence propped up.
Let's tie this together with the State of the Union speech too, and President Bush's call for a great reduction in our dependence on Middle Eastern oil.
If we stop funding Iran by reducing our overdependence on Middle Eastern oil, and if we stop funding Palestinian terror directly and indirectly by providing huge amounts of money to help prop up the Palestinian authority, then the Palestinian campaign of terror may well die on the vine.
It's about time we stopped funding our own enemies.
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