An Apologist for Hamas in the Telegraph

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Chris Doyle portrays kidnapping-supporting Hamas as a key to a peace that Israel is trying to destroy.

By Simon Plosker July 02, 2014

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, director of the Council for Advancing Arab-British Relations, Chris Doyle engages in the well-worn ploy of describing recent events in Israel as part of a “cycle of violence and revenge.”

More that that, while he pays lip-service to condemning the murder of the three Israeli teens by Hamas, a closer reading confirms that Doyle is nothing more than an apologist for the terrorist organization.

Israeli authorities believe this was a Hamas operation though the group has denied it. If so, it was most likely from elements within Hamas who reject April’s deal between Fatah and Hamas and want to weaken Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. As ever spoilers on either side have plenty of scope to knock back any steps forward.

Why would “elements within Hamas” advocate a kidnapping to weaken the PA? As recently as April 16, 2014, in the midst of the formation of a Fatah-Hamas unity government, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh declared:

The kidnapping of Israeli soldiers is part of the agenda of the Palestinian resistance and of the Hamas movement, and will continue as long as there are Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli prisons.

While the three teens weren’t IDF soldiers, the leadership of  Hamas and not elements within it clearly has no problem advocating kidnapping as a policy. But according to Doyle, Hamas isn’t the obstacle to peace:

Politically, Netanyahu has every intention of ending all chances of the Fatah-Hamas deal reaching fruition. Sadly for peace, he may succeed given the frailty of ties between the two Palestinian groups.

So, in Doyle’s mind, it’s a Fatah-Hamas union where Hamas openly advocates kidnapping, that is the key to peace and one that Netanyahu is hellbent on wrecking.

It just goes to show that in Doyle’s Orwellian world, anything can be twisted to blame Israel.

[sc:bottomsignup ]

© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025

Simon Plosker

Simon Plosker

With over two decades of experience in various non-governmental organizations in the UK and Israel, Simon Plosker returned to HonestReporting in October 2022 as Editorial Director having previously been part of the organization’s management team from 2005 to 2020.

Prior to his first spell at HonestReporting, Simon worked in Israel for NGO Monitor, BICOM, and served for a short period in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. He was Managing Editor of the Geneva-based NGO United Nations Watch for two years before moving back to the frontline defending Israel from media bias.

Simon has a BSoc.Sc in International Studies and Political Science from the University of Birmingham and an MSc in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics. He immigrated to Israel in 2001 from London.

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