NEW YORK – A senior aide to Yasir Arafat who helped mastermind the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre —in which 11 athletes, including an American citizen, where murdered— has claimed that Israelis carried out the recent suicide bombing-massacre of 15 Israelis in the city of Rishon L’Tzion.
The accusation was made by Amin Al-Hindi, chief of the Palestinian Authority Intelligence Service (New York Times, May 13, 2002). Al-Hindi was publicly identified by the government of the late Yitzhak Rabin as one of the masterminds of the Munich massacre. (New York Times, Oct. 14, 1993)
Al-Hindi’s accusation is the latest in a long series of attempts by Arafat and his aides to deflect blame from Palestinian Arab terrorists by accusing Israel of murdering its own citizens in order to blame Arabs. For example, Arafat has repeatedly claimed that former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak is “one of the big bosses” of a secret underground Israeli terrorist group called “OAS” which massacres Israelis. (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 27, 1996)
A just-released report by the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has documented these and other bizarre conspiracy theories circulated Arafat and other Palestinian Arab officials. For a free copy of the ZOA report, Arafat’s Legacy of Lies, call the ZOA at 212-481-1500, or log on to www.zoa.org
Earlier example of Arafat and other PA officials accusing Israel of murdering its own citizens:
* Arafat said that Israel’s Mossad (external intelligence service) murdered Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi. (Israel Television interview with Arafat, Dec. 7-9, 2001)
* A PA security official said the Palestinian Arab suicide bombing at Kibbutz Shluchot, killing one Israeli, was actually “an operation of the Israeli Army.” (Yediot Ahronot, Oct. 7, 2001)
* Arafat said the person who drove the suicide bomber to the May 2001 Tel Aviv attack in which 21 youths were slaughtered was an Israeli intelligence agent. (New York Times, July 7, 2001)
* On April 2, 2001, the PA’s Voice of Palestine Radio said concerning the Jewish infant Shalhevet Pass, who was murdered by a Palestinian Arab sniper in Hebron: “This baby was retarded and it was her mother who killed her in order to get rid of her.” (Translation courtesy of IMRA.)
* Arafat said that the Palestinian Arab terrorists shooting at the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo were actually “Palestinians collaborating with Israel.” (Ha’aretz , Dec. 19, 2000)
* Arafat said that the Palestinian Arab terrorist bombings in Netanya in 1999, which injured 37 Israelis, were the work of “the Israeli Mafia.” (United Press International, Nov. 9, 1999)
* After a Palestinian Arab terrorist attack in Hebron on August 3, 1999, when two Israelis were seriously injured, PA Radio reported “the attack was staged by the Israelis.” (Jerusalem Post, August 5, 1999)
* An editorial in the PA newspaper Al Hayat Al Jadidah on November 18, 1997 accused Israel and the U.S. of being involved in the massacre of 70 Japanese tourists in Egypt.
* Arafat claimed that the Arab bombers who murdered 5 Jews and injured 192 on Ben-Yehuda Street in Jerusalem “were assisted by Israeli extremist elements.” (Yediot Ahronot, September 7, 1997)
* Arafat has repeatedly claimed that the tens of thousands of weapons in the hands of Hamas terrorists “could be obtained only from high authorities with great influence on the Israeli side.” (Jerusalem Post, March 22, 1996) and that the arming of Hamas “is part of a wicked plan” by Israel. (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 18 & Feb. 19, 1994)
* Arafat has repeatedly said that the 1995 Arab terrorist attack in Beit Lid, in which 22 Israelis were killed, was committed by “some elements on the Israeli side.” (Washington Post, May 2, 1995; Ha’aretz, June 15, 2001)