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The Third World Isn't All Pro-Hamas
(Wall Street Journal) Sadanand Dhume - As Israel's war against Hamas grinds on, some pundits have taken to tut-tutting about the dangers for the U.S. of alienating public opinion in the low per capita income Third World. But developing nations are hardly a monolith. In India, the world's most populous nation, much of the Indian media has rightly framed Israel as a beleaguered democracy defending itself against a barbarous terrorist group. Most developing countries - including those that take public positions hostile to Israel - would benefit from the annihilation of Hamas. Many nations in Asia and Africa face a genuine threat from the bloodthirsty jihadism the group exemplifies. An Israeli defeat would inspire jihadists across the world. It's also a serious risk for Muslim-majority nations struggling with homegrown extremist challenges. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, widely popular in Latin America for crushing organized crime in his country, may have put it best: "As a Salvadoran with Palestinian ancestry, I'm sure the best thing that could happen to the Palestinian people is for Hamas to completely disappear." The writer, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, was formerly the New Delhi bureau chief of the Far Eastern Economic Review.