In The Guardian‘s print edition, Hamas spinmeister Musa Abu Marzook disses President Obama’s recent while plugging the Palestinian unity coalition.
Hamas is on the UK list of proscribed terror organizations. While quoting such groups is necessary and relevant for news coverage, it’s worth reminding ourselves that elevating Hamas views to the op-ed section — with the legitimacy of a byline — is much more questionable.
A few years ago, Shurat HaDin‘s director, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, told HonestReporting:
Legally speaking, it would seem that there is not much difference between outlaw regimes like Iran and Syria, which illegally provide material support and resources to terrorist organizations, and liberal media outlets which provide millions of dollars in free advertising and access to groups like Hamas when they publish their leaders’ dangerous messages.
In the US, a Supreme Court ruling banning “peaceful aid” to State Department-designated terror organizations suggests that similar op-eds could be considered facilitating terror as well. Something to ponder next time Hamas honchos get op-ed space in respectable US papers like the NY Times, Washington Post and LA Times.
