Am I the only one that finds it humorously ironic that Hamas is proclaiming the latest suicide bombing (by a member of Islamic Jihad) as "self-defense"? How can blowing yourself up be a form of selfdefense? Last time I checked - self-defense was defending yourself form harm ...

Anyways - While it wasn't Hamas that performed the action, by declaring it an act of self-defense (instead of condemning the action), the Palestinian leadership shows support for the continued murder of innocent people. Justifying someone else's action (without any condemnation), shows a measure of acceptance for that action. That acceptance can (and is by myself and many others) as approval for the actions in the absence of any statements condemning the actions.

And everyone wonders why so many people (and nation-states) want to distance themselves from Palestine and their Hamas leadership.

Comments
on Apr 17, 2006
Hamas is a petulent child that has grabbed power and now is feeling its oats.  What it does not realize is that holding power is not the same as being the opposition party.  If they do not learn that and quick, they will find out what it is like to lose power as well.