Hamas executes former B'tselem field worker

[Behind the Aegis]

A Palestinian human rights activist and journalist who used to work for the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem has been executed by Hamas on charges of "collaboration" with Israel, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip said over the weekend.

They pointed out that Ghanem, who was a field researcher for B'Tselem, had been sentenced to death by a Palestinian Authority court in 2002 after being found guilty of passing on information to Israel that later resulted in the elimination of Fatah gunmen.

Ghanem, according to the Palestinians, was among dozens of suspected "collaborators" who were executed by Hamas during Operation Cast Lead.

Fatah officials in Ramallah claimed that many of the alleged collaborators were in fact Fatah members who had been rounded up by Hamas militiamen during the war. They said that Ghanem was executed on January 7 in Rafah.

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[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Going to be interesting where PM and the other anyone but Abbas bubbas do on this one

[Alamuti Lotus]

2. Old habits appear to die hard

pun not intended.

[Idealism]

3. They are so frightened of spies, they are carrying out PA orders apparently

Interesting, if true, although I like to reserve judgment till after reading more than JPost.

[pelsar]

4. reminds me of khomenni and iran...

first thing khomenni did was hang the "democratic liberals/progressives"...... I think hamas is simply "showing their spots". From their inception they're a religious movement and they usually have little tolerance for "the other", especially those that threaten their version of god, nor have they hidden it.

I would think it would put the thinking "progressive" into quite a spin: how does one push to remove the israeli occupation knowing full well that once hamas, like iran or worse the taliban, get full control they will make the lives of the avg Palestinian "not very free". (to put it mildly)

i have come to learn the racist viewpoint, that there is a principle that its far better to be governed badly by someone of ones own gene pool than have more freedom by a someone else, but i think thats a very limited viewpoint (i used to believe it came from the "right", where civil rights was of less importance, i have since learned the same exact mentality exists on the left).

(ask a "progressive about iran-the answer is always interesting.....)

[shira]

5. does B'tselem even mention this in their reports, or on their website

Maybe this guy pissed off B'tselem so they didn't mention it? How nice, huh?

Or maybe he was too critical of Hamas and B'tselem doesn't want word to leak out that Hamas is pretty nasty WRT human rights workers.

You can bet if Israel killed this guy, even accidentally, B'tselem would have been all over this and the media would have had a field day.

Hamas does it, no biggie.

[Vegasaurus]

6. Its almost like the want to say that Hamas can't help it

that they are excused from murder, mayhem and poor treatment of their people for "cultural"reasons, or because "the West" made them do it.