Obama and Hamas? -- A Commentary

From Commentary Magazine:

The Guardian is reporting that the incoming Obama administration is “prepared to talk to Hamas.” According to unnamed sources, these contacts will likely be low-level: Obama might use secret envoys, or engage Hamas multilaterally through “six-party talks.” In addition, much like U.S.-P.L.O. contacts during the 1970s, these contacts will probably be secretive.

First, if true, this news is hardly surprising. After all, Obama ran on a foreign policy platform of talking to every rogue leader under the sun, and specifically Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Fidel Castro, and Hugo Chavez. For this reason, his campaign promise to boycott Hamas always seemed absurdly inconsistent. Moreover, from the earliest days of his presidential run, Obama surrounded himself with advisers known for their Hamas soft spots, including Robert Malley and Zbigniew Brzezinski. In short, if Obama’s late rollout of Dennis Ross and Daniel Kurtzer as campaign advisers - both of whom oppose engaging Hamas - won your vote, then it probably says “gullible” on your ceiling (look up!).
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