Hamas Not So Bad Compared to 'Ultraconservative' Salafists--AP

Hamas, the jihadi terrorist outfit backed by the Ayatollah, has it's hands full these days trying to fend off a group of rival jihadi associated with Al Qaeda. Scanning the scene, an AP scribbler tries to portray this as "reasonable" Hamas, a highly localized organization and the "good guys" in the contretemps, being threatened by way more "extreme" jihadis who have global ambitions. The result: an article that, with one or two minor revisions, could have been penned by a Hamas flak. I have taken the liberty of highlighting some of the piece's more risible assertions:

RAFAH, GAZA STRIP–They preach global jihad, or holy war, adhere to an ultraconservative form of Islam and are becoming a headache even for Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza.

Jihadi Salafis, as they are known, have organized into small, armed groups that have clashed with Hamas and fired rockets at Israel in defiance of Hamas' informal truce.

Perhaps even more worrisome for Hamas, they claim a growing appeal among Gazans in the territory's pressure cooker of isolation and poverty, raising fears they could serve as a bridgehead for their ideological twin, Al Qaeda.

Hamas insists it dismantled the groups after a mosque shootout last summer that left 26 dead. But Jihadi Salafis have been firing rockets at Israel and blew up the car of a Hamas chief. He was not inside it.

"We will not stop targeting the figures of this perverted, crooked government (Hamas), breaking their bones and cleansing the pure land of the Gaza Strip of these abominations," said the group, the Soldiers of the Monotheism Brigades. "What will come next will be harder and more horrible."

Going by names like "Rolling Thunder" and "Army of God," they oppose Hamas for refraining from imposing Islamic law since seizing power in Gaza in 2007 and largely sticking to a tactical truce with Israel since the latter's devastating offensive last year.

Gaza's Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, acknowledges some in Gaza have been swept up by Jihadi Salafi ideologies.

"If this is a phenomenon among some young men in Gaza, they will be treated with discussions and meetings," said Haniyeh in a sermon to mosque worshippers. However, he rejected any suggestion of an Al Qaeda presence in Gaza and repudiated the call to global jihad.

Still, Hamas may inadvertently have helped create a climate for Salafi growth with its own gradual push to make Gaza more Islamic, including a "virtue campaign" that urges women to cover up, but stopping short of a Taliban-style assault on secularism.

The Salafi movement has grown across the Middle East, preaching an ultraconservative Islam that strictly segregating the sexes and interpreting religious texts literally.

Salafis tend to be non-political, but a minority jihadist stream embraces the Al Qaeda call for holy war against the West and the moderate Arab leaders in its camp...

To be clear: Hamas is waging jihad. Hamas is extremist. Hamas adheres to an ultraconservative form of Islam. Hamas has imposed sharia law in Gaza, hassling chicks and executing homosexuals as sharia requires. Hamas has a Charter calling for a genocide of Israel's Jews. But Hamas has managed to finagle its way into the hearts of squishy lefties who despise Israel and who ooze concern for impoverished, "occupied" Gazans--hence Hamas's P.R. coup in getting AP scribblers to pen ridiculous articles like  this one.