Hamas officials have said the meetings with Carter have given the group legitimacy.
Hamas official Mushir Masri, in a fiery speech Friday to thousands of Hamas supporters in Gaza, said the meetings with Carter were proof that Hamas was not a terrorist group, but a national liberation movement.
He said countries and groups are beginning to understand that Hamas is a power to reckon with and the region will not have calm or stability without engaging the group.
“It confirms the failure of the U.S. and European policies of ignoring Hamas,” he told the crowd. “It confirms that all the countries that assume Hamas is a terrorist group should reconsider.”
Yep.
HAMAS is no more a national liberation movement than the Taliban were in Afghanistan.
In fact, HAMAS is just part of an international Islamist movement.