What Happened
One Senator Obama's Middle East policy advisers, Robert Malley, admitted to The Times yesterday that he had been holding meetings with Hamas.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, is listed by the US State Department as a
terrorist organisation. "Such talks, he stressed, were related to his work
for a conflict resolution think-tank and had no connection with his position
on Mr Obama's Middle East advisory council," The Times reports.
Senator Obama just spoke on Thursday at a Washington reception celebrating Israel's 60th birthday, promising that his commitment to the country's security would be
"unshakeable".
However, Mr McCain has high-lighted the Democrat's pledge to negotiate directly with nations such as Iran - whose leaders talk of wiping Israel off the map - and a statement from Hamas saying that it hoped that Mr Obama would win the presidency.
This was denounced as an offensive smear by Mr Obama, who repeated earlier statements saying that Hamas was "a terrorist organisation [and] we should not negotiate with them unless they recognize Israel, renounce violence".
Mr. Malley, a respected commentator on Middle Eastern issues said to reporters, "I've never hidden the fact that in my job with the International Crisis Group I meet all kinds of people," said Mr. Malley.
My thoughts
There wouldn't be a problem with me if Mr. Malley had indeed met with such people. I say this because I know that "politics" is basically a synonym for "dirt" and sometimes you have to speak directly to the enemy to get in on their details and therefore figure out a way to negotiate with them, or defeat them, etc. The problem I have is that Mr. Malley resigned the second it was found that he was linked to Obama. It is such a martyr thing to do. And it only causes more questions to errupt. It's like someone running out of a room when asked gently if they had lied. I also fear that the Fox Trotters of Backwater Country; the give-the-terrorists-what-they-want-by-fearing-them GOP will be all over this one.

Rena Silverman