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Source: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-tories-hamas-ban-isn-t-all-it-seems
UK Hamas Ban Doesn't Go Far Enough
(Spectator-UK) Stephen Daisley - The decision to add Hamas to the UK Home Office list of terrorist organizations corrects a 20-year-old error. The Board of Deputies of British Jews said it was "immensely grateful" to the government for "end[ing] the dangerous loophole" which allowed Hamas to "spread its extremist poison here and raise funds and support in the UK." The flare-up between Israel and Gaza earlier this year occasioned disturbing scenes of Hamas-sympathizing and anti-Israel incitement on Britain's streets and this is likely to make it easier for police to crack down on similar conduct in the future. The last time Palestinians were given the chance to vote on the matter, they chose Hamas. Denying the nature of Palestinian extremism heavily informs British attitudes to the conflict. While Hamas is a gang of thugs, there is the rote insistence in Britain that the Palestinian Authority is a legitimate authority. This is an outfit that incites against Israelis and pays stipends to the families of those who are imprisoned, killed or injured carrying out attacks on Israel. Yet Labour and Tory governments alike scold Israel to make peace with the PA, even as every Israeli offer of peace and statehood is rebuffed and proposed peace talks are rejected out of hand.