Hamas embraces Iraqi shoe-thrower

Organization offers journalist financial aid and a Palestinian bride.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
iraqi shoe thrower 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
iraqi shoe thrower 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Hamas offered on Monday to provide financial aid and a Palestinian bride to Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former US President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad in 2008.
Hamas’s offer came after Zaidi complained that Arabs and Muslims have failed to fulfill their promises to help him financially after his release from prison.
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh announced that his government was prepared to cover all the expenses of the journalist’s wedding.
He also offered to help the Iraqi journalist find a bride from the Gaza Strip.
“We are prepared to receive him here in the Gaza Strip and to cover allthe expenses of his wedding,” Haniyeh told the Elaph Web site. “We areeven prepared to find him a bride here. He’s most welcome in the GazaStrip.”
In a recent interview with the British Observernewspaper, Zaidi complained that promises of cars, gold-saddled horses,money, camels and virgin brides were never kept.
He said that his only regret after spending nine months in prison was that he was still a relatively poor man.
“I blame the media because they said I would become rich for doing whatI did, that I would become a multimillionaire,” Zaidi said. “All thepromises about gifts I heard when I was in prison were just empty. Theonly gift I’ve got since my release is from Canadian television, whomade me their man of the year and gave me a pair of golden shoes.”