By Daniel Chejfec

Yes, you read correctly. According to Younis Al-Astal, a Hamas leader in Gaza, teaching about the Holocaust to Palestinian children is a "war crime" as well as "marketing a lie and spreading it" according to an AP cable of August 31st. So how did this come about - believe it or not, because the United Nations was trying to do the right thing...

It all started when the UNRWA decided to change the curriculum in the schools they still, after more than 60 years, run for about 200,000 Palestinian children in Gaza at the expense of the international community. They decided to include mention of the Holocaust in the history of World War II. Which goes to prove that no good deed goes unpunished, and if you feed a snake, you can be bitten.

Of course, if we put it in perspective everything becomes clear. Hamas said clearly upon expelling the PLO and the Palestinian Authority from Gaza that they would not make Shari'a (Muslim religious law) the law of the State, and they proved their intentions by expelling from school all girls who did not comply with Islamic dress code. They also signed cease fires with Israel - right before stepping up the firing of Qassam misiles to Israeli cities. They also demanded financial help to fix the sewers in Gaza and after getting it they faithfully use it to build more misiles, sewers being of no consequence in their quest for Islamic Justice.

So you see, we should not be surprised that Hamas considers teaching the truth and letting their people know the facts to be dangerous, because when you deal in lies, you fear the truth; when you don't care about your own people, you don't want them to learn that others do care. Extremism of all shapes and colors are all the same, Hitler made a pact with Stalin, the Grand Mufti supported the Nazis and so-called "religious leaders" deny the truth in the name of "religion" (quotation marks intended).

Peace and Justice can only be possible based on the truth and in respect for others.