So this news is kind of amusing in a tragic sort of way:
Gaza's Hamas rulers have banned women from smoking water pipes in cafes, calling it a practice that destroys marriages and sullies the image of the Palestinian people.
The ban marks the Islamist militant group's latest effort to impose their harsh Muslim lifestyle in the seaside strip on an often resistant public.
While Muslim law does not technically ban women from smoking the traditional tobacco-infused pipes, tradition frowns upon the habit.
The sullied image of the Palestinian people is a concern of Hamas? Who knew?
If so, I have to say that women smoking water pipes is way down there on the long list of things that sully the image of the Palestinians.
As for Islam not technically banning that practice, that's the way it usually is with a lot of the bizarre practices that jihadis claim is true Islam. Westerners like to remind us that "true" Islam doesn't include a lot of things the jihadis like, but it is irrelevant as long as the jihadis are allowed to define what "true" Islam means in ordinary every day life without enough push back from the rest of Islam. The willingness of the jihadis to kill to maintain their erroneous view of Islam helps them in that debate a great deal.
Still, who am I to question Hamas in this image quest? Their priorities haven't harmed the image of the Palestinians amongst Europeans and the American Left very much, have they? If a single-minded focus on killing Jews hasn't sullied the image of the Palestinians, what would?
Perhaps the scolds of the Left will even celebrate the progressive impulses of protecting at least women from the harmful effects of tobacco, and just add to the allure of resisting the darned Jews.
Image is a funny thing.
