Letting Hamas govern would expose its limits and open space for a secular left.

Evidence

Additionally, the left should uphold basic democratic rights and support Hamas’s right to take political power after having been elected by the Palestinian people in free and fair elections. Consequently, we should stand opposed to US and Israeli efforts to isolate Hamas and to collectively punish the people of Gaza. Part of the equation is also the consideration that allowing Hamas to rule unhindered would show that it, like other Islamist parties in power, does not really have a solution to the problems faced by the Palestinian people. This vacuum could then potentially be filled by a secular left committed to more effective strategies for liberation that could link the Palestinian struggle with those of Arab workers and the oppressed throughout the region, regardless of religious affiliation. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 364

Categorization

• SEED: A causal argument connecting the Palestine question to the regional left — directly relevant to the reader’s inquiry linking imperialism to Zionism.
• XREF: connects to: Israel licensed Hamas’s predecessor because Islamists opposed the secular left — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 399; Israel licensed Islamist Hamas precursors to weaken the Palestinian left — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 459

Broader Connections

• Israel licensed Hamas’s predecessor because Islamists opposed the secular left #complicates (0.55) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 399