Free At Last? No Way.

I can't believe Hamas let this guy go. Alan Johnston was the last foreign journalist left in Gaza. Journalists all left Gaza because it was too dangerous. I remember listening to Alan Johnston on the BBC reporting on the civil war in Gaza, and he would often read essays on From Our Own Correspondent about life in Gaza. I would think to myself, damn that this guy has got balls, and the BBC can keep him there because the BBC is a famous Israel-hater. He was constantly reporting on foreigners being kidnapped, and then he himself was kidnapped in the Spring. He was kidnapped by some heretofore unknown organization, and there had been no proof offered that he was actually alive in captivity (but I've been out of the loop here in India, and it's possible that since I left the States in May some proof was made). I would listen to the BBC in Pittsburgh, and all the time the news would say, "Still missing. Hamas says he's alive, but no word from him." At one point the group who kidnapped him had announced he had been killed, but this was rescinded. I would always think to myself, he's dead. If he was alive, they'd show proof of this. You can't trust anything these militants say anyway.

So I read this today, and I said holy crap. I can't believe this guy is alive.