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Source: https://link.cfr.org/public/47095717
Is the U.S. Legitimizing Hamas?
(National Review) Elliott Abrams - During his recent trip to the Middle East, U.S. envoy Jared Kushner met with the head of Hamas, Khalil al-Hayya. That Kushner met with this terrorist leader guarantees legitimizing Hamas. What political leader or diplomat, what foreign minister or special envoy, visiting the region henceforth will want to skip such a meeting? Legitimizing and therefore strengthening terrorist groups is never the path to peace. Kushner could have delegated the meeting to a lower-ranking official. Or he could have made some tough demands up front and said al-Hayya would have to earn a meeting with the American representative. Al-Hayya is an old-timer and up to his neck in blood. He will never abandon Hamas's goal of destroying Israel nor its commitment to violence to get there. He has already won the negotiation, because the real news is the fact of the meeting. A refusal to meet with the leader of Hamas would be acknowledging the reality that Hamas is a murderous terror organization that has committed bestial massacres - and then celebrated them. Hamas will use the Kushner meeting to demand a larger role as a diplomatic and political presence in the Middle East. This is exactly what the U.S. should be against and should be preventing. The writer, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, served as White House deputy national security advisor, where he supervised U.S. policy in the Middle East.