Title: Hamas: Government or Terrorist Organization? : NPR
Headings: Hamas: Government or Terrorist Organization?
Intelligence Squared U.S.
Opinion
Hamas: Government or Terrorist Organization?
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For the Motion
Against the Motion
Motion: A Democratically Elected Hamas Is Still a Terrorist Organization
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Content: The group has conducted violent action against Israeli military and civilian targets, including suicide bombings. Hamas has been named a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. It is supported by the governments of Syria and Iran and many wealthy private individuals in Saudi Arabia, among others in the Arab world. Produced for broadcast by WNYC, New York. For the Motion
Steven Cook (from left), John O'Sullivan and Daniel Ayalon argued in support of the motion, "A democratically elected Hamas is still a terrorist organization." Marc Dimov/Patrickmcmullan.com hide caption
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Marc Dimov/Patrickmcmullan.com
Daniel Ayalon, Israel's former ambassador to the United States, says of Hamas, "They send terrorists strapped in explosives into markets, into pizzerias, into coffee shops, and into school buses and kindergartens. This is what they do. Are they a terrorist organization? If this is the definition of terror, they definitely are a terror organization." Steven Cook, a Mideast expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, says, "For Hamas to no longer be considered a terrorist organization it must change its charter, it must renounce its violence and it must lay down its arms.