Anxious to honor the zeitgeist of the New Middle East, Hamas has changed the name of Gaza's Mubarak Childrens' Hospital in Khan Yunis to "Tahrir Hospital," the Associated Press reported on Monday. The hospital, one of the largest in Gaza, was originally named for former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak due to his close ties with the Palestinian Authority, from whom Hamas violently seized the Gaza Strip in June of 2007.
"The Mubarak hospital for children in Khan Yunis is to be renamed Tahrir hospital in honor of the Egyptian revolution in Tahrir Square," Yussef al-Mudallah, director general of the Hamas-run health ministry, stated. Tahrir Square - which means Liberation Square in English - was the epicenter of mass protests that ultimately led to Mubarak's resignation in the face of opposition from Egypt's military leaders.
Gaza's Hamas rulers, who sent terrorist fighters to aid the Muslim Brotherhood in stirring up unrest in Egypt during the protests, have praised Mubarak's exit. Hamas is the Muslim Brotherhood's ideological doppelganger, and has been actively Islamicizing Gaza. There is no free speech, freedom of the press or of religion in Gaza.
Hamas has called for the spread of the populist Islamic spirit sweeping the Arab world to those areas administered by the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria. Internecine violence between Hamas and the PA is common.
The newly renamed Tahrir hospital was built in the 1990s by Egyptian financiers. Al-Mudallah cited requests from Gaza's residents as the impetus for the hospital's name change.