Hamas and the narcissism of the progressive left

A prominent member of Hamas’s political bureau has been causing something of a stir on the internet in recent days. In an interview with the Lebanese television channel LBC, Ghazi Hamad vowed that given the chance, his group would repeat the October 7 massacre until Israel ceased to exist. It went viral.

To many people, the habits of bears in woods might spring to mind. But the context made the clip fly. In recent weeks, the public debate in the West has descended into an appalling maelstrom in which gullible westerners insist on projecting their own values onto Hamas, while increasingly small ranks of the sane try to snap them out of it.

One prank video showed Americans clamouring to sign a petition in support of the terror group, until they were read the terms and conditions, which included ‘you want a terrorist group that beheads babies and rapes girls to replace the only democracy in the Middle East’ and ‘you endorse making homosexuality punishable by jail or death’.