Gullible journalists duped into believing Hamas moderation claims

The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas executed a propaganda coup in the run-up to the release of its highly touted political document of “General Principles and Policies” Monday evening. The U.S.-designated terrorist organization convinced major publications that the group would indeed “moderate” its ways, leading to numerous press reports praising the jihadi outfit.

On the same day that Israel celebrates its 69th Independence Day, it was Hamas — a group that continues its hell-bent insistence on eliminating the state of Israel and creating a Judenrein (“free of Jews”) Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea — that received a myriad of positive coverage.

Reuters reported that the Hamas document was going to “soften” its stance on Israel, and falsely reported that the document would distance the group from the Muslim Brotherhood (there is no mention of the Muslim Brotherhood in the new political document).

“Hamas moderates talk on Israel,” reads part of the headline from The New York Times.

The Wall Street Journal falsely reported that Hamas would “drop the call for Israel’s destruction.”

The aforementioned news outlets, and countless more, failed to report accurately on the new document (which was released publicly in English on the Hamas website). The Hamas text does not drop the call for Israel’s destruction. In fact, it explicitly endorsed “armed resistance” in efforts for the “liberation of Palestine.” It has become quite clear that nothing has changed when it comes to the goals of Hamas.

Moreover, countless news outlets, such as CNN, The Guardian, and the Los Angeles Times, falsely reported that the new Hamas document would replace its founding charter.

As blogger Elder of Ziyon (who is pro-Israel) points out, Hamas explicitly noted that this new “political document” is not a replacement of its founding charter

Palestinian outlet Felesteen reported: "Hamas denied that the document is an alternative to the Charter of the movement, which was released to coincide with its founding, at the end of the 1980s, stressing that it is a 'political vision and ideology of the movement.'”

To showcase the media’s soft bigotry of low expectations for Hamas, several publications claimed that Hamas had made progress, because the group did not mention its charter’s explicit call for Muslims to exterminate every Jew they see.

The charter explains how holy war against the Jews is the duty of Hamas followers:

"The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised. To do this requires the diffusion of Islamic consciousness among the masses, both on the regional, Arab and Islamic levels. It is necessary to instill the spirit of Jihad in the heart of the nation so that they would confront the enemies and join the ranks of the fighters."

Israeli officials, for their part, blasted the new Hamas document as a “smoke screen.”

"Hamas' document is smoke screen. We see Hamas continuing to invest all of its resources not just in preparing for war with Israel, but also in educating the children of Gaza to want to destroy Israel," read a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The day Hamas stops digging tunnels and diverts its resources to civilian infrastructure and stop educating children to hate Israelis, that would be real change.”

Hamas continues to be an anti-Semitic, annihilationist organization that continues to seek the destruction of Israel. Contrary to countless establishment media reports in the West, unfortunately, nothing has changed when it comes to the extremism of Hamas.

Palestinians have had countless opportunities to achieve a state of their own and to come to a peaceful understanding with the people of Israel. Instead, they have chosen to wage a decades-long kinetic and propaganda war against Israel’s legitimacy and its people. As Israel celebrates its 69th year as an independent state, the Palestinians’ all-or-nothing approach continues to fail to garner results. Until the Palestinian mindset toward peace changes, they can expect more of the same for decades to come.