Hamas Sees Rise Of ‘New Mood’ In Middle East
The rise of Islamic parties in the Egyptian parliamentary elections constitutes the “new mood” in the Middle East, Hamas’s senior political adviser in the Gaza Strip told “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio” on New York’s WABC Radio.
“This is the new mood in the Middle East – that the people now count on the Islamists to help to fix the situation in the Middle East after all these decades of corruption,” stated Ahmed Yousef, chief political adviser to Hamas’s de facto prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh.
Commenting on the Islamic gains in Egypt, Yousef said his Hamas group also “is part of the change in the region.”
“That’s why you heard from the meeting of [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas with [Hamas political chief] Khaled Meshaal that in the future we are willing to have a power sharing system,” Yousef said.
Asked about recent Israeli news media speculation that any future Palestinian government will be located in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Yousef said, “Since the presidency is in Ramallah and the parliament is also in Ramallah, I think Gaza should have one of these three very important offices in the Palestinian Authority. That’s why we are talking about the prime minister should be from Gaza, or at least he should reside in Gaza.”
The Hamas political consultant also confirmed reports his group is looking to move the headquarters of its top leadership from Syria, revealing that Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Qatar are among the possibilities.
Gingrich Flip Flops… On Climate Change
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has recently offered seemingly contradictory views on climate change, claiming to oppose climate taxation while partnering with a group that promotes such legislation.
The former House speaker last week called his partnering with Nancy Pelosi on an environmental mission a “mistake.” However, last year he not only defended the move but said he would have done it again.
In a Fox News interview with Bill O’Reilly last week, Gingrich was asked about a 2008 commercial starring himself and Pelosi in which the duo urged “action” to address climate change. Gingrich called the 31-second spot “one of the dumbest things I’ve done in recent years.”
However, in a video interview with Human Events magazine in May 2010, the former speaker not only defended his commercial with Pelosi but said he would do it again even after the 2009 e-mail hacking scandal raised serious questions about the science behind global warming. He said he would even film a commercial with Al Gore on the topic.
The Pelosi commercial was for a Gore initiative. It promoted the Gore-founded website and project, WeCanSolveIt.org.
In both his Human Events and O’Reilly interviews, Gingrich stated he was against climate change legislation. However, Gore’s We Can Solve It project that Gingrich promoted hawked carbon taxation and other U.S. and global climate legislation.
We Can Solve It is now known as The Climate Reality Project, a group still directed by Gore. The group states on its website that it seeks to oppose “manmade climate change.”
Just like We Can Solve It, Gore’s Reality Project is partnered with EarthDay.org, which promotes climate-change legislation. It boasts how it helped create the environment for the passage of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many other environmental laws.
Gingrich’s own writings and activism, meanwhile, evidence environmental activism. At a 2007 debate with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Gingrich dubbed himself a “green conservative,” saying Republicans shouldn’t argue that global warming is a myth but should offer market-based solutions to the problem. Gingrich also co-authored the 2008 book A Contract with the Earth in which he argued that conservative views are compatible with environmentalism.
Gingrich Flip Flops… On Fairness Doctrine
Gingrich was one of the sponsors of the Fairness in Broadcasting Act of 1987, which would have turned the controversial so-called Fairness Doctrine into law. Gingrich, however, currently states on his official campaign website that he opposes the doctrine.
A section of Newt.org entitled “Answering the attacks,” states: “Newt does not support the Fairness Doctrine, and he has been vocally critical of the left’s efforts to reinstate the doctrine over the past decade, including supporting Mike Pence’s bill that prohibited government censorship in radio in 2007.”
In 1987, Gingrich was singing a different tune. At the time, a national debate was raging about whether to abolish the Doctrine. In June 1987, Gingrich was one of 71 co-sponsors of the Fairness in Broadcasting Act of 1987, which would have codified the Fairness Doctrine in federal law, as Pajamas Media noted last April, before Gingrich joined the 2012 presidential race.
President Reagan vetoed the congressional bill. In August 1987, the FCC officially eliminated the Fairness Doctrine.
Newt.org does note that in 1987 “many of America’s most influential conservative activists, including the American Conservative Union and Phyllis Schlafly, supported the Fairness Doctrine.” Gingrich’s site, though, does not mention he sponsored the Act to legalize the doctrine.
The Fairness Doctrine was a policy of the Federal Communications Commission that required the holders of broadcast licenses to cover issues of public importance in a manner that was, in the Commission’s view, honest, equitable and balanced.
Critics have attacked the doctrine as an attempt to regulate news and talk radio and an attack on First Amendment rights.
Aaron Klein is Jerusalem bureau chief and senior reporter for WorldNetDaily.com. He is also host of an investigative radio program on New York’s 770-WABC Radio, the largest talk radio station in the U.S., every Sunday between 2-4 p.m. His website is KleinOnline.com.