Let’s say the BNP set up an “armed wing” to express its hateful ideology with violent attacks on civilians. It did this while continuing to run candidates in elections, some of whom win.
What would people make of a politician who had this to say about such a development?
“There is certainly a part of the BNP that I would condemn, as I would condemn any organisation involved in violent military action, but there is also a part of the BNP which appears at least to be fulfilling the democratic mandate they have been given.”
The politician continued:
“In the media … people have said ‘this person supports the BNP and therefore they are intrinsically wrong and evil’: I think we just need to look at that a bit more carefully.”
Who could be so stupid and callous?
Caroline Lucas MP, in the case of Hamas. Swap BNP for Hamas in the quotes above and that is just what she has said about the terrorist group in an interview with The Mancunion.
Too bad Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin is no longer around to set her straight. Referring to politics and violence, he dealt with the alleged “wings” distinction as plainly as possible:
We can not separate the wing from the body. If we do so, the body will not be able to fly. Hamas is one body.
Lucas also whitewashes Hamas UK operative Mohammed Sawalha:
She said she did not believe allegations against BMI’s president, Mohammed Sawalha, that he fled to London from Israel and masterminded military strategy for Hamas:
“That would concern me hugely, but I don’t know how true it is. You know: ‘fled from Israel’; Israel’s foreign policy is hardly a policy of upholding international law and humanitarian values.
Right, since Israel is so awful, one must never believe anything it says. And one certainly must not undertake any investigations of one’s own.
Actually Sawalha has been identified as a fugitive Hamas commander by the BBC as well. He also appears in the US indictment of Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook:
In approximately August 1992, defendant SALAH met and conferred with defendant ABU MARZOOK and co-conspirator Mohammed Qassem Sawalha regarding the need to revitalize Hamas terrorist operations in the West Bank. During the meeting, Sawalha, who had previously been in charge of Hamas terrorist operations within the West Bank, identified specific Hamas members still residing in the West Bank who could be used to revitalize Hamas’s terrorist activities.
…
In approximately December 1992, Co-conspirator B came to Chicago, Illinois, and provided two pictures of co-conspirator Adel Awadallah to defendant SALAH so that defendant SALAH could have a false passport made for Awadallah. Defendant SALAH and co-conspirator Mohammed Qassem Sawalha attempted to have the false passport manufactured.
And here Mr Sawalha is, at the right hand end of the table, at a Viva Palestina rally in Syria last year. Who’s at the microphone? Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook.
Here he is (on the right) at another Viva Palestina rally, this time with Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Al-Zahar in Gaza.
Here he is again in Gaza with fellow Hamas servants Zaher Al-Birawi and Kevin Ovenden.
In this picture they are being rewarded for their efforts for the terrorist group by Ahmad Bahar of Hamas. Bahar revels in racist hatred and violence:
This is Islam, that was ahead of its time with regards to human rights in the treatment of prisoners, but our nation was tested by the cancerous lump, that is the Jews, in the heart of the Arab nation… Be certain that America is on its way to utter destruction, America is wallowing [in blood] today in Iraq and Afghanistan, America is defeated and Israel is defeated, and was defeated in Lebanon and Palestine… Make us victorious over the community of infidels… Allah, take the Jews and their allies, Allah, take the Americans and their allies… Allah, annihilate them completely and do not leave any one of them
Here he is on the Mavi Marmara with Birawi, Bulent Yildirim, the head of IHH, and hate preacher Raed Salah. IHH is a Turkish Islamist charity that is one of the world’s biggest funders and keenest promoters of Hamas.
Sawalha is not shy about expressing his own views. Here he is at a PSC meeting, calling for the end of Israel, to cheers from the audience.
As The Mancunion notes, Sawalha is also a signatory of the pro-Hamas Istanbul declration. It was the issue of an assembly of Hamas officials and fellow extremists in Turkey in 2009 where the BBC reported “speaker after speaker called for jihad against Israel in support of Hamas”. You can read the declaration’s violent language here. A sample:
The obligation of the Islamic Nation to open the crossings — all crossings — in and out of Palestine permanently, in order to allow access to all the needs of the Palestinians — money, clothing, food, medicine, weapons and other essentials, so that they are able to live and perform the jihad in the way of Allah Almighty. The closure of the crossings or the prevention of the entry of weapons through them should be regarded as high treason in the Islamic Nation, and clear support for the Zionist enemy.
Ah well, perhaps one should not expect too much from Lucas. Here’s another line from the Mancunion interview:
In 2008 Ibrahim Moussawi, a senior journalist at a Hezbollah newspaper, spoke at a Stop the War meeting in London. Ms Lucas told The Mancunion she did not want to discuss him because she had “no idea” who he was.
An article in the New Yorker in 2002 claimed that Mr Moussawi had called Jews “a lesion on the forehead of history.”
Moussawi is a prominent figure in Hezbollah. He has been banned from the UK.
It would be nice if, at the very least, Lucas stopped talking about matters she knows so little about.
