This is probably a big reason as to why Netanyahu said this. It makes you understand why he wouldn't negotiate with Hamas.

The Failure of Al-Qaeda is purely because of the war on terror. In regards to Hamas, Israel's hands are tied behind its back because it get criticized heavily and gets sent multiple UN resolutions whenever it responds to Hamas. I would argue that AL-Qaeda is pretty successful in that it made the United States enter a pretty big war.

Al-Qaeda is global because it is much harder for them to attack the US at home then it is abroad, in their territory. Hamas is regional because they just so happen to reside next door, and within, Israel. There is no need to go much more global.

just a few thoughts.

Though I agree with your analysis of the two organizations, Bibi's comparison of Hamas to Al Qaeda has little to do with actual facts, and should be understood within context of other events of the week, especially his and Obama's speeches to AIPAC. The nature of the U.S.-Israel alliance, as described by both Obama and Natanyahu, is dependent upon the supposition that America and Israel face the same enemies, and represent the same ideals.

America provides defense assistance, military contracts, and intelligence aid to Israel, and not within a vacuum; Bibi was tying the moral right of America to defend itself from Al Qaeda to his country's own policies, by extension comparing 9/11 to the missile attacks on southern Israeli cities and the kidnap of soldier Gilad Shalit. Congress made sure to leave no impression of contradiction.

Bibi was not actually asserting that Al Qaeda and Hamas are similar in mission, leadership, or tactics, but rather that they play the same role in the formulation of America's and Israel's respective anti-terrorist policies. Detailing the obvious differences between the organization isn't addressing the real intention of the speech, and ignores the more important aspects of the international dynamic exposed by reading between the lines.

According to Israeli peace activist and journalist Gershon Baskin, Hamas is only favored by around 15 percent of Palestinians. While that is certainly significant, and a problem, I wouldn't call it a "large portion."
Hamas did well in elections in 2006 because it saw the intricacies of the voting system in use, and took full advantage of them, while Fatah did not. For instance, in many constituencies, the Hamas candidate won simply because Fatah candidates split the vote. Not to mention that Hamas didn't take full control of Gaza until seizing power in a coup the next year. Not exactly democratic.

“Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves ... politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves ... The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country.” -David Ben Gurion, quoted on pp 91-2 of Chomsky’s 'Fateful Triangle', which appears in Simha Flapan’s Zionism and the Palestinians pp 141-2 citing a 1938 speech.

“We must expel Arabs and take their places.” -David Ben Gurion, 1937, 'Ben Gurion and the Palestine Arabs', Oxford University Press, 1985.

“We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population.” -David Ben-Gurion, May 1948, to the General Staff. From 'Ben-Gurion, A Biography', by Michael Ben-Zohar, Delacorte, New York 1978.

“Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist. Not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either. Nahlal arose in the place of Mahlul; Kibbutz Gvat in the place of Jibta; Kibbutz Sarid in the place of Huneifis; and Kefar Yehushua in the place of Tal al-Shuman. There is not a single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population.” -David Ben Gurion, quoted in 'The Jewish Paradox', by Nahum Goldmann, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1978, p. 99.

“There is no such thing as a Palestinian people ... It is not as if we came and threw them out and took their country. They didn’t exist.” -Golda Meir, statement to The Sunday Times, 15 June, 1969.

“(The Palestinians) should be crushed like grasshoppers ... heads smashed against the boulders and walls.” -Yitzhak Shamir, in a speech as Israeli Prime Minister to Jewish settlers, New York Times April 1, 1988

That's the real face of Israel, they don't want any peace so that they can increase the area they are living on by invading other countries, killing their children, raping their women and killing their men.

Wake up people...

=======

Medo from homemade hydroponic systems

Israeli school bus.

This wasn't one of those so-called home-made rockets that HAMAS has been launching on a daily basis for years, but a high-tech laser guided weapon aimed at a transport vehicle designed to carry several dozen children.

HAMAS aimed specifically at the bus and pulled the trigger. At that point, how much time this organization devotes to education, health care, and social services gets tossed out the window.

As for their 'world view', let's remember this is the Palestinian group that broadcast their show "Farfur the Mouse" teaching Palestinian children how to become suicide bombers, with a graduation goal of acheiving martyrdom.

It's amazing how people will try to delude themselves into what 'moderation' such organizations will take. HAMAS doesn't compromise, and like the Taliban, set fire to institutions such as bars and restaurants it found serving alcohol, even to non-Muslims. It's members also shot other Palestinians that they thought were breaching social tradition by appearing in public when they shot to death a couple in Gaza who were engaged to be married.

Before Palestinian "unity" Bibi couldn't negotiate because they were splintered, now he can't negotiate because they are united.
Could it be that Bibi does not want to negotiate period? Surprise. Not.

Eventually the 400 million (?) arabs will get their shit together. What will happen to Bibi (or his descendants) then? He should quit while he's ahead.

After reading this incredible passage -

Hamas ... devotes much of its attention to education, health care, and social services. Like it or not, by caring for the poor and teaching the next generation of Muslims about its view of the world, Hamas is fundamentally reshaping Palestinian society.

- I fell in love with Hamas.

So called murder (maybe properly called an act of resistance?) of the schoolboy has already helped me to move away from my position of neutral observer of the brave Islamic Resistance Movement to a staunch supporter of its health care and educational efforts.
Hamas influence is already fundamentally changing our own American society and our basic world views on the educational services and medical procedures administered to the Jewish (and potentially Evangelical?) youth.

I welcome this article as a fresh and bold contribution to our ongoing discussion about the future of our own financially stressed Medicare and other Social Services. While the Jews do not constitute very large percentage of the US population, we can still save a sizable chunk of taxpayer's money by reducing their ranks. We can expect more gains from the final solution of the Evangelical problem.

As I said, we should not shy away from considering new and unorthodox roads to lasting Middle East peace. By learning from other cultures - like Hamas - we shall also strengthen our own American Socialist Foundations. - Thank you, Byman, for opening the door for such a great discussion!

What netanyahu had to tell the body had no surprises, and little sign that he really wants peace and fair-sharing on any realistic terms whatever.

The real and disgusting surprise was the way Congresspersons turned the event into a physical ordeal of cheerleading (some) and cheergrovelling (most). Netanyahu is supposed to have been interrupted by applause 59 times,, which means the proud parliamentarians were stuck with 59 Jack&Jill-in-the-box impressions of people who understood what he was saying, and approved of it enthusiastically. But looking at how many of these lovefests were assembled showed that few of those participating had their attention focussed on the speaker. They were looking at the first leapers among whom they sat, and not caring to seem outloved (to Jewish viotersd) by those athletic trailblazers.

I suspect that when they'd cooled down and washed their faces, none took the trouble to read the speech through. But assuming some did -- a generous act -- I suggest quite a few would have been somewhat embarrassed by their beagle hound acceptance of it.

Many Israelis clearly remember that Adolf Hitler announced his exact intentions and future program of action in 1923 in "Mein Kampf", but most at the time dismissed it as Munich beer-hall maunderings, and few people outside Germany took it all that seriously even after 1933, when many still thought that it was merely rhetorical, and "largely pandering to his [political] base" (to paraphrase Byman). One of the meanings of "Never Again" is that the Israelis are determined never to treat lightly the bloodthirsty genocidal threats of their self-proclaimed enemies -- if a group proclaims that its goal is to throw the Jews into the sea, then Israel proceeds under the assumption that its goal is to throw the Jews into the sea. That's part of what the endless wrangling over the wording of the PLO charter was about in the 1990's, and it's a large part of why Israel has refused to directly engage with Hamas for the past 10 years. Words have consequences, whether you like it or not.

“We must expel Arabs and take their places.” -David Ben Gurion, 1937, 'Ben Gurion and the Palestine Arabs', Oxford University Press, 1985 bestwaystoearnmoneyonline.A group proclaims that its goal is to throw the Jews into the sea, then Israel proceeds under the assumption that its goal is to throw the Jews into the sea.