BBC Reporter Alan Johnston Freed

This is good news.  Alan Johnston, the BBC reporter who has been held hostage for four months by a fringe Palestinian group, has been freed.   According to BBC News, Johnston was released early Wednesday morning and received at the home of deposed Hamas leader Ismail Haniya.  Johnston is "looking forward to being re-united with his family in Scotland."

So does Hamas gain ground by effecting Johnston's release?  Is Hamas less a terrorist group because they've secured the reporter's freedom? 

Tags: Alan Johnston, Hamas, Gaza