New York — Palestinian news organizations have praised a terrorist attack over the weekend which killed two Israelis and wounded several others. The Voice of Palestine radio and Palestinian state television described the weekend murder of Dov and Rahel Kol and the wounding of several more civilians by Palestinian terrorists as acts of resistance and martyrdom. The killers, who were killed by Israeli forces, were dubbed “heroic martyrs” and their act of murder a resistance operation. Palestinian radio news also described the terrorists as “two citizens martyred in an armed clash near Kissufim junction.”
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein said, “This latest description in the Palestinian Authority (PA) controlled media of the deliberate murder of Israeli civilians as ‘resistance’ and the perpetrators as ‘heroic martyrs’ is only the latest example of this praise for terrorism that the Bush Administration is ignoring.
“Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has just been to the region, praising Mahmoud Abbas for taking steps to fight terrorism, yet Abbas has done nothing to end the incitement to murder and glorification of terrorism that is the staple of the Palestinian media. With the latest murders, Abbas took fourteen hours to make a statement about it and his condemnation was limited entirely to saying that attacks like these harm the Palestinian cause. Abbas stated, ‘These attacks threaten our national security and undermine our credibility on the international arena.’ Even while he said these totally inadequate words, the Palestinian media continued praising the terrorists.
“This culture of hatred and terrorism is not only supported by the PA-controlled media, but also by the PA-appointed and salaried clerics who deliver sermons in mosques. For example, in May, Sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiris delivered a sermon which the Palestinian media broadcast, that included describing Israel as a cancer and Jews as a virus resembling AIDS. Mudeiris also said that the day would come when the world under Islam would be ‘relieved of the Jews.’
“The ZOA calls upon the Bush Administration to stop turning a blind eye to the plain fact that terrorism and incitement to murder continue to be institutionally encouraged and promoted by the Palestinian Authority. We call for the cessation of financial aid to the PA until it takes verifiable and comprehensive steps to once and for all end terrorism and incitement to murder, as it has pledged to do under several signed agreements, and also in accordance with its obligations under the Roadmap peace plan.”