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Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22788/hamas-secret-weapon-elections
Hamas's Secret Weapon to Continue Ruling Gaza
(Gatestone Institute) Khaled Abu Toameh - On August 11, Hamas urged Palestinians to register for the Palestinian parliamentary election scheduled for late November. Hamas must not be allowed to participate in the election. The Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group that carried out the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel has no right to exist as a military organization and should have no right to exist as a political organization either. In 2006, Hamas was permitted to participate in the Palestinian parliamentary election without first being required to dismantle its terrorist infrastructure or abandon its 1988 charter, which calls for the elimination of Israel. The result was disastrous. Hamas won 74 of the 132 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council, compared with 45 for Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. One year later, Hamas violently seized control of Gaza, expelled the Palestinian Authority, and established its own regime. Hamas then turned Gaza into a massive terrorist base. It built tunnels, accumulated rockets and missiles, recruited, armed and trained tens of thousands of terrorists, and fought repeated rounds of war against Israel. The lesson could hardly be clearer: allowing terrorists to participate in elections just gives them the legitimacy and institutions they need to consolidate power. Hamas has reason to be optimistic about elections. Despite the catastrophe it brought upon Palestinians in Gaza by launching the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas remains popular among Palestinians. Polling by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research has shown Hamas maintaining a substantial advantage over Fatah in party preference and in a hypothetical parliamentary election. 69% of the Palestinians oppose disarming Hamas. 86% said they did not believe that Hamas committed the atrocities against Israeli civilians depicted in videos from Oct. 7. Hamas may therefore see elections as its next route back to power and international legitimacy. Did the Allies, after World War II, allow the Nazi Party to continue governing Germany?