People who are used to dealing with neighbors equate rationality with being right. Neighbors share basic values, and a neighbor who acts rationally is generally right. He proceeds from the same axiomatic values as we do, employs the same rational deductive models, and arrives at the same conclusions as ourselves. This attitude is erroneously projected on foreigners. They can be rational, but wrong – from our perspective. Haniyeh is no more brutal than James Brown or Avraham Stern; he rationally defends his people and the land he considers theirs. Haniyeh, however, bases his deductive reasoning on different axioms than Jews do. He considers Palestine to be Arab land; we – Jewish. There is no need to vilify Hamas; it is more honest and determined than the Israeli government. It acts rationally, and does not oppose peace per se but rather peace through capitulation to Jewish enemies. Among neighbors, understanding leads to compassion; not so among nations. We understand Hamas and need not hate them; killing them, however, is a rational thing to do.
