A narrative is being promulgated online that Israel created Hamas, and so it bears the blame for Hamas’ attack a week ago. But senior editor at The Federalist, David Harsanyi, writes:
Israel, instead, was largely indifferent to Hamas — one of many theocratic groups appearing at the time. When created, Hamas was best known for building medical centers and offering welfare services. Most of Hamas’ funding came from foreign sources. Jordan, probably the group’s biggest patron in the subsequent years, saw Hamas as a way to influence the politics of the “West Bank.” And Israel also largely looked the other way, hoping to create a political counterbalance to the terrorist PLO. (Israel’s only known direct funding to the group came, according to U.S. intelligence officials, to fund agents who were spying on the organization.)
Wouldn’t any civilized country prefer a religious organization providing social services in power than one engaged in hijackings, suicide bombings, and knife attacks on civilians? Hamas, in the 1970s and early ’80s, was not violent. As soon as the group began to participate in attacks, as they did around the first Intifada, Israel began cracking down on the organization and assassinating its terror leaders.
You can read the rest of his piece here.
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