Palestinian Prime Minister Mourns Osama Bin Laden

This is why the United States must declare that we will veto any unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state at the UN.

From Ha’aretz:

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Monday condemned the killing by U.S. forces of Osama bin Laden and mourned him as an “Arab holy warrior.”

“We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood,” Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, told reporters.

Though he noted doctrinal differences between bin Laden’s al-Qaida and Hamas, Haniyeh said: “We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs.”

Haniyeh’s statements recall the grotesque celebrations that erupted spontaneously among Palestinians on 9/11.

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In the wake of that embarrassment, then-Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat made a highly publicized blood donation–which turned out to be fake.

And though another Palestinian Authority spokesman welcomed bin Laden’s death, the fact is that the Palestinian leadership as a whole now owns Haniyeh’s statements, thanks to last week’s Hamas-Fatah unity government agreement.

Congress should follow Sen. Marco Rubio’s suggestion, and act immediately to cut off funds to the Palestinian Authority:

Participation in a Palestinian government of any organization, such as Hamas, that fails to renounce their calls for the destruction of Israel and the use of violence should prompt the withdrawal of our assistance. No American taxpayer money should fund a government that includes a terrorist organization dedicated to the murder of innocent civilians.

Furthermore, the administration should ignore the likes of J Street, which supports negotiations with Hamas (not just after Hamas drops violence, as if that were possible, but even today, as long as talks are “unofficial” and “indirect”).

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