If You Stand Up To A Bully You Will Get Threatened

And the purpose of these threats is to scare away those that might be sitting on the fence and allow them to join the group over in the corner cowering in fear.

Canada making enemies, Hamas warns
Palestinian minister shunned by MacKay

MARK MACKINNON

GAZA CITY -- Canada risks making itself an enemy of the Palestinian people and of the broader Islamist movement by boycotting Hamas and openly siding with Israel, Palestinian foreign minister Mahmoud Zahar said yesterday after he was shunned by visiting Foreign Minister Peter MacKay.

During an hour-long interview that he said was a replacement for the meeting Mr. MacKay denied him, Mr. Zahar alternated between saying he was anxious to open a dialogue with Canada and saying he looked forward to the moment that Canadians voted the "extremist" Conservative government out of office.

Had Mr. MacKay travelled to Gaza City to meet with him, Mr. Zahar said, he would have found an open door. However, Mr. Zahar said he would have challenged the minister to explain why Canada led the world in suspending aid to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas won legislative elections a year ago. The United States and the European Union, which like Canada consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization, also stopped giving aid, leaving the already cash-poor government bankrupt and unable to pay full salaries to its 170,000 civil servants for most of the past year.

"I would ask him very simply: What is the moral basis for these sanctions and boycott? " Mr. Zahar said, adding that the sanctions have primarily hurt ordinary Palestinians while leaving the Hamas government standing.

Standing up........