John Kerry, Keith Ellison Visit Terrorist Stronghold

Nothing like having a U.S. Senator traipsing around Gaza. Has anyone told this idiot he's not Secretary of State?

U.S. Sen. John Kerry is in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip as part of a rare visit by American politicians to the area.

The former Democratic presidential nominee says he is in Gaza to see the aftermath of Israel's military offensive there last month. He is not meeting with anyone from Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group.

To no surprise, one of those Democrats was Muslim Keith Ellison.

US congressmen Brian Baird and Keith Ellison, both Democrats, were in Gaza on Thursday, the first such visit since the Islamist Hamas seized power in the Palestinian territory in June 2007.

The pair visited Izzbet Abed Rabbo, a community in northern Gaza devastated during the deadly 22-day Israeli offensive that ended on January 18.

They also planned to visit a factory and a hospital damaged during the war, Palestinian officials said.

An estimated 14,000 to 20,000 homes and other buildings were damaged or destroyed during the military offensive in which more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed.

The visit is the first by US lawmakers since Hamas, an Islamist movement Washington blacklists as a terrorist organisation, seized control of the Palestinian enclave in June 2007.

Must be great for Hamas having some useful idiots from the United States there for a photo op.