Hamas Admits 'Israeli Propaganda' Was True All Along

From YnetNews, via Internet Haganah:

The Hamas organization officially announced for the first time that it has received funding and assistance in training from the Lebanese Hizbullah terror group.

A report posted on Hamas' website recently, describes the establishment of the organization's first cell in Ramallah, immediately following the outbreak of the intifada.

Hamas has denied all claims that it received funds from Hizbullah. Other Palestinian terror groups have done the same, charging the reports were "Israeli propaganda" aimed at implicating the Lebanese group with responsibility for the intifada, in a bid to generate international – and mainly American – pressure on Syria and Iran.

Hizballah is on the US State Department's Current List of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations, as is Hamas.

This further complicates the issue of US Foreign Aid to the Palestinian Authority because, as the State Department also notes:

It is unlawful for a person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide "material support or resources" to a designated FTO.

While it might be possible to coerce the State Department into taking Hamas off the FTO list, it's now clear that Hamas and Hizballah are joined at the hip, and it's highly unlikely that both Hamas and Hizballah would be removed.

Also posted at The Jawa Report and Vince Aut Morire.