Hamas baldly arrested a dozen men with “immodest” hair styles, cut their hair in a “humiliating manner” and even beat some of them. Here’s a snip of the hairy situation described by the Jerusalem Post:
The men were released only after they signed a document pledging not to appear in Western-style haircuts or wear low-waist pants.
Criticism from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights showed non-governmental organizations can sometimes part ways with Hamas, but they’re conditioned not to upbraid the Islamists too much.
Hamas put it’s own spin pin into the story: Sky News quoted deputy Prime Minister Ziad al Zaza describing the hair-raising conduct as “isolated behaviour of the police and is not going to continue” — a spike in activity we don’t need to scratch our heads over. Or was he trying sweep it all under the rug?
Fortunately, AP, UPI, and Xinhua — certainly no fringe news services — gave the story the full treatment. There was some buzz on Twitter too, but methinks this will quickly blowout and fade.