This is the equivalent of telling some ill-behaved little brat - one whom you've indulged for years - that he has to clean up his room. The result: petulant sulking in anticipation of a hysterical temper tantrum:

Hamas bears full responsibility for the war in Gaza, a top EU official said Monday in the Strip, calling the group "a terrorist movement." "At this time we have to also recall the overwhelming responsibility of Hamas," Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, told reporters... The report also quoted Michel as saying that, "When you kill innocents, it is not resistance. It is terrorism." A Hamas official, Mushir al-Masri, was quoted by Reuters as saying his group was "shocked" at Michel's comments. He lambasted the official for "giving cover to massacres and terrorism committed by the Zionist enemy against the Palestinian people... Palestinian resistance is as legitimate as the resistance of European countries that fought against foreign occupiers."

You know where Michel's statements are going to be particularly unpopular? Europe:

While it is true that the Israeli-Arab war has been a very passionate issue, the so-called peaceful demonstrations in Europe have unfortunately turned more than often into pure Jew-bashing. And like in 2003-2004, Europe is importing the Middle East war once again... Lots of demonstrations in Europe have turned quite violent physically and verbally. While it is totally acceptable to criticize Israel and deplore the Palestinian civilian victims, cries of "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas" that erupted during demonstrations throughout Europe are unacceptable and show the extent of the problem Europe is once again facing. Also most of the demonstrators consider Hamas, a legitimate resistance movement that they compare to the French resistance during WWII. That disturbing comparison totally whitewashes a movement that is viewed by the large majority of European countries as terrorist. Interestingly the WWII comparisons do not stop at Hamas, but are mostly targeted at Israel, described as the "new Nazi state" committing a "holocaust."

And right on cue, the LRB provides its readers with an article called "Israel's Lies," explaining how the Gaza War was actually caused by Israeli warmongering. That's shameless historical revisionism, ignoring Hamas's own boasts about unilateral truce violations and their dares to the IDF to invade Gaza. But it has statements like "everyone seems to have forgotten that Hamas declared an end to suicide bombings and rocket fire when it decided to join the Palestinian political process, and largely stuck to it for more than a year." Sophisticated! Demonstrably false as a matter of fact and shamelessly dishonest in its implication. But sophisticated!

References and previously after the jump...