Hamas Retracts Obama Endorsement
Posted by Enrique on 06.05.2008
Obama’s AIPAC speech rankles Palestinian terror group
Bad news for freshly-minted nominee Barack Obama – he's lost the Hamas terrorist vote. On Wednesday, speaking before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) – "America's Pro-Israel Lobby" – Sen. Barack Obama declared his devotion to the Jewish state, and said that Jerusalem must remain Israel's undivided capital. While this is a fairly unremarkable position for an American presidential candidate, Obama's speech didn't go over so well with the "Free Palestine" constituency.
"Obama's comments have confirmed that there will be no change in the U.S. administration's foreign policy on the Arab-Israeli conflict," Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters in Gaza.
"The Democratic and Republican parties support totally the Israeli occupation at the expense of the interests and rights of Arabs and Palestinians," he said.
"Hamas does not differentiate between the two presidential candidates, Obama and McCain, because their policies regarding the Arab-Israel conflict are the same and are hostile to us, therefore we do have no preference and are not wishing for either of them to win," Zuhri said.
Of course, this represents a change in position for Hamas. In April, Hamas "political advisor" Ahmed Yousef endorsed Obama's candidacy, saying: "We like Mr. Obama. We hope he will (win) the election and I do believe he is like John Kennedy, great man with great principle."
What a disappointing diplomatic failure for not-even-President-yet Obama. How does he expect to successfully negotiate with a state sponsor of terror like Iran if he can't even stay on Hamas' good side? On the upside, Obama critics/skeptics won't be able to use Yousef's remarks to portray him as soft on Islamist terrorists.
Good thinking on Obame's team, having him quickly come out in support of the state of Isreal, foreseeing the McCain and Fox News attacks that would inevitably have followed and repeated for months.
I recall Kerry being hilariously labelled as Kim Jong-iL's guy and it seemingly having effect with the dumbed-down American audiences that watched Fox News.
Posted By: Chungles (Guest) on June 06, 2008 at 07:26 AM
I guess he is a little sad he lost Hamas' endorsement, considering it took him less than 2 days to backtrack on his "Jerusalem will not be divided" promise.
Posted By: Pokey (Guest) on June 06, 2008 at 11:37 AM
You really need to report the WHOLE story.
After Zhuri's statement Barack Obama flip-flopped and said that Isreal and Palistine needed to work Jeruselam out themselves.
Now will this be approved through 411?
Posted By: Jim (Guest) on June 06, 2008 at 02:41 PM
STAY CURRENT