Syrian forces attacked a Palestinian refugee camp in Latakia this week, causing up to 10,000 residents to flee. UNRWA, the UN agency in charge of Palestinian refugees, said it has no idea where they went, how many were killed, or whether wounded and elderly people might still be trapped in the camp; it deemed the situation “very, very worrying.” A senior Palestinian Authority official, Yasser Abed Rabbo, went even further, terming the attack “a crime against humanity.” But one Palestinian organization had not a word to say about this assault on its brethren: Hamas.
Hamas, of course, is deeply beholden to Bashar Assad’s regime: It’s headquartered in Damascus and receives extensive military and financial aid from Assad’s patron, Iran. For the same reason, smaller Palestinian terror organizations based in Syria also kept quiet about the assault. But unlike these smaller groups, Hamas aspires to lead the Palestinians; it even won the last Palestinian election. That’s precisely why many Westerners advocate engaging with this terrorist organization: They say it authentically represents many Palestinians, and therefore can’t be ignored.
