From Hamas, With Love

In the appropriately entitled "Danger Room," Wired has the story:

Creeped out by blind dates? Sick of the bar scene? Craigslist hook-ups a little too impersonal? Maybe you’re looking for this kind of matchmaking only an Islamist terror organization can provide. Why not try the latest dating service that’s sweeping the Gaza strip, and let Hamas find that special someone just for you?

As Diaa Hadid of the Associated Press reports, Hamas, in the form of the “Tayseer Association for Marriage and Development,” has been providing matchmaking services to the men and women of Gaza since 2007. 40 marriages have already been arranged; the applications of 287 single women are currently on file

And the Wired article has this eyeopener:

Sensitive singles should be warned, though. Hard as it may be to believe, Hamas can be somewhat shallow, tactless and kinda racist in its selection process, particularly for those not “pretty by Gaza standards.”

“If we see a girl that appears to match (a man), but she’s not physically what he wants, I’ll call him and say, ‘Well, she’s pretty, but she’s dark.’ Or ’she’s short, but she’s white.’ We encourage them to be a bit more realistic,” [Tayseer matchmaker Nisrin] Khalil said.

Read the whole thing.

Yes, Hamas is nothing if not realistic.

The article also notes that this is one of the many social services that Hamas makes available to Gazans, the kinds of services that "makes people close to Hamas and makes Hamas close to the people."

Of course, among such services is the wonderful programming that Hamas provides for the children--teaching them important values such as hating and killing Jews.

Actually, if childrens' programming can be perverted in such a way by the terrorist organization, it is likely that Hamas sees their dating service along the same lines--a way to create more families and more children, the better to increase their membership and number of soldiers.

Technorati Tag: Hamas and Tayseer.