Don't Be Fooled by Hamas

The Washington Post


Don't Be Fooled by Hamas

By Richard Cohen
Wednesday, February 1, 2006; Page A23

While it is probably true, as everyone says, that Hamas won the
recent Palestinian elections not because it promised to wipe out
Israel but because it promised to pick up the garbage in Gaza City
(all politics is local, etc.), it is also true that the prospect of
increased violence did not deter the average Palestinian from voting
for Hamas. We have seen this sort of thing before, and it is not very
comforting. The rule -- the only rule -- is to take zealots at their
word.

History speaks on this matter. If you asked a random German in, say,
1932 whether by voting for the Nazis he was voting for the murder of
Jews and a destructive European war of unimaginable scope and horror,
he would have said, " Nein !" What he really wanted was an end to the
brawling in the streets, a robust foreign policy and a big thumbs-up
to traditional German culture -- no more of this smutty modern art
and filthy plays: " Willkommen , Bienvenue , Welcome." Not any more.
The cabaret is closed!

I saved for this paragraph any reference to Hitler himself so as to
postpone the reflexive outburst of "Nothing can be compared to the
Nazis!" Normally I agree, and I usually shy from such comparisons.
But I am not likening Hamas or Islamist militancy to Nazism; I am
only likening the mind of one sort of zealot to another. All too
often they mean what they say.

Unfortunately, the men who were supposed to implement one sort of
Nazi program were determined to implement it all. They had made no
bones about it; it was all in their bible, "Mein Kampf," and in their
rallies and speeches. It took some effort to overlook it, but a
considerable number of people managed to do so and later professed
shock at what happened. They looked into the abyss, saw nothing that
concerned them personally -- and emitted a yawn of contentment.

In due course we will be told that what Hamas has been insisting on
for years -- the utter destruction of Israel -- is not really a
serious goal. Hamas should not be taken literally, and anyway it will
be forced to moderate both its platform and its policies by the
reality of governing. When, for instance, it repeats the words of its
charter -- "The solution of the problem [Israel] will only take place
by holy war" -- we will be assured that it is just throwing red meat
to what in America is called "the base." As for its truculent anti-
Semitism -- not to be confused in this case with anti-Zionism -- it,
too, will be dismissed as without consequence. Hamas will have to
deal with reality -- and Israel, in the region, is the mightiest
reality of them all. Yasser Arafat came to understand that.

But Arafat's Fatah movement was secular and nationalistic. In this
sense it was modern -- another secular nationalistic movement, much
like Zionism. Hamas, on the other hand, can be traced back to the
Muslim Brotherhood and its 1928 declaration: "The Koran Is Our
Constitution." It is not modern; it is medieval. It gleefully sends
people off to their death as suicide bombers, spackling the walls of
Tel Aviv restaurants with the flesh of the innocent while assuring
the bombers a place in paradise. This is loathsome. This is
terrifying. That is the whole idea.

The mistake of the Bush administration is to think, based on not much
thinking to begin with, that people are people -- pretty much the
same the world over. This is why the president extols democracy. It
must be what everyone wants because it is what everyone here wants.
To denigrate this kind of talk suggests racism -- You mean we are not
all the same? -- or a musty neocolonialism. But the hard truth is
that culture and religion matter, and we should not expect moderation
just because that's how we would react. Toto knows the truth. The
Middle East is not Kansas.

The leaders of Hamas brim with the word of God and the certainty of
their cause. From here on they will lie about their ultimate aim and
smilingly assure us that what they have always said they no longer
mean. Their intention is clean government, efficient garbage service,
good schools and level soccer fields -- and also to con Europe and
America into continuing to send money to the Palestinians. All over
the world, people will believe them and urge the United States and
Israel to do the same. Take my word for this. Anyone can see the
future. It's all in the past.

cohenr@washpost.com