Sixteen weeks after BBC correspondent Alan Johnston’s car was found abandoned in Gaza City he has finally been freed, apparently, by Hamas. Boston Maggie’s right: Alan Johnson may be a Brit but this is still pretty sweet news for the 4th of July (give or take a couple hours, lol):

The journalist was handed over to officials of the Hamas administration in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Gunmen from the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement overran Gaza last month, expelling their rivals from the Fatah faction.

Hamas’ military wing had said it would spare no effort to secure the BBC reporter’s release.

A previously little-known militant group, the Army of Islam, claimed it was holding Mr Johnston and had released videos demanding the release of Muslim prisoners in British custody.

The group had said it would kill its captive if its demands were not met.

[...]

Speaking over the telephone from the house of Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, Mr Johnston thanked everyone who had worked towards his release.

“It is the most fantastic thing to be free,” he said.

Little Green Footballs has the CNN video clip of this story here. Check it out.

As glad as I am to see that Hamas has managed to secure the freedom of Mr. Johnson this “bid to curry favor with the West”, as the Associated Press put it, is unlikely to change many minds. Hamas is still the same government violent terrorist organization it was before Johnson’s release and while this may be a minor PR boost for them people won’t forget who they still are.

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in the hours and days ahead.

***

Crossposted at Blue Collar Heresy

Other blogger reactions (Thanks in part to MemeOrandum): brownie (Harry’s Place); Allahphundit (Hot Air); Holly in Cincinnati (The Moderate Voice)

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