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Defenders of Hamas Practice the Bigotry of Low Expectations
(Wall Street Journal) David Feith - Diplomats consistently ignore the violent and anti-Semitic statements that Palestinian leaders make to their own people in Arabic, as long as those leaders speak soothingly in English to foreign audiences. Veterans of the "peace process" seek to legitimize Hamas with invitations to the international bargaining table, despite the group's clearly stated mission of eliminating Israel and Jews. Such Western enablers overlook that Palestinian leaders rejected Israeli offers of statehood in 2000 and 2008. Their idea of progressivism means admiring the Palestinian "resistance" - and remaining silent about the illiberal horrors facing Palestinian women, religious minorities, gays and political dissidents. This approach isn't simply a whitewash. Rather it portrays Palestinian leaders in purposefully limited fashion, as victims and pawns forever being acted upon, and not as decision makers choosing how to act toward Israel and their own people. This treats Palestinians as if they have no responsibility for tyrannizing other Palestinians or terrorizing Israelis.