Maybe the New York Times is getting religion (no pun intended) in the face of the financial ruin or perhaps the timing is mere coincidence.

Today, in a shocker, the Gray Lady reveals (a few decades too late) that the Palestinians are running a vicious propaganda campaign against—surprise!—the Jews (all of them, everywhere):

Hamas’s Insults to Jews Complicate Peace Effort

Ya think?

Such incitement against Israel and Jews was supposed to be banned under the 1993 Oslo accords and the 2003 “road map” peace plan. While the Palestinian Authority under Fatah has made significant, if imperfect efforts to end incitement, Hamas, no party to those agreements, feels no such restraint.

Since Hamas took over Gaza last June, routing Fatah, Hamas sermons and media reports preaching violence and hatred have become more pervasive, extreme and sophisticated, on the model of Hezbollah and its television station Al Manar, in Lebanon.

In case any of the NYT’s readers thinks that Hamas’s complaints are legitimate, and that its charter, a “deeply anti-Semitic document” [you get extra points for that, NYT!  ---ed.]  is just politics [e.a.]:

Mark Regev, spokesman for Mr. Olmert, called on “Arab leaders who are moderate and believe in peace to speak out more strongly against extremist elements.” He called the “incitement to hatred and violence standard Hamas operating procedure,” adding, “In Hamas education and broadcasting they turn the suicide bomber who murders the innocent into a positive role model, and they portray Jews in the most negative terms, that too often reminds us of language used in Europe in the first half of the 20th century.”

The “serious question,” he said, “is what ethos are they promoting?”

Why, they’re promoting “resistance” against the eternally evil Jew, dontcha know?  And there are lots of Americans who want the eternally evil Jews of Israel to negotiate with those who look forward to a second holocaust.

Everyone (except Hamas) is trying desperately to keep things under control between Hamas and Israel.

The Israelis are openly debating their horrifying dilemma about how to deal with rocket fire launched from heavily populated civilian areas in Gaza:

The defense establishment hopes to settle one of the most divisive questions concerning urban warfare. In a special meeting convened by Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday evening, the country’s leading jurists deliberated the legality of allowing the army to strike populated areas used by terror groups to launch rocket attacks against Israel.

Meanwhile, Condi Rice will reportedly tell the Israelis to watch their step—as if they didn’t know that the world is watching.

The trouble is this: the biens-pensants of the world are only watching the Israelis, to make sure they don’t misbehave, as if the bad actors in the region weren’t stirring the pot with their murderous machinations.

Hamastan: another great democracy project from the people who brought you Iraq.