The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), which criticized the Obama Administration this week for its refusal to condemn or penalize Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority (PA) for its alliance with the terrorist organization Hamas, has pointed to a troubling, long-term pattern of the Obama Administration refusing to condemn PA pro-terror, anti-peace acts.
- March 2011: Five members of the Fogel family, including three children, were murdered in their beds, their throats slit. The very next day, members of Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas’ own Fatah party conducted a grotesque and obscene ceremony naming a square near Ramallah in honor of Fatah Jew-killer, Dalal Mughrabi. Pleas by major American Jewish leaders, including the ZOA’s Mort Klein, urging President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to condemn the Fatah honoring of Mughrabi were fruitless. Only four days later did a minor State Department official, the acting deputy spokesman, Mark Toner, condemned the commemoration and urged PA officials to “address it” – but didn’t condemn Abbas or his ruling Fatah party, under whose auspices this ceremony occurred. (Shockingly, Mr. Toner added that “all parties have an obligation to end any form of incitement” – falsely implying that similar incitement comes from the Israeli side as well).
- March 2010: When the PA named another square in honor of the terrorist Mughrabi, the Obama Administration said nothing for days before Secretary Clinton falsely claimed that a Hamas-controlled municipality was behind the naming.
- January 2010: When terrorists from Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a recognized terrorist group, murdered an Israeli, Rabbi Meir Chai, in a drive-by shooting, the PA did not condemn the murder but did condemn the subsequent killing of the terrorists by Israel. Abbas himself sent condolences to the families of the three terrorists; PA prime minister Salam Fayyad visited the terrorists’ families; and Mahmoud Al-Aloul, member of the Fatah Central Committee, also praised the dead terrorists as heroes. But the Obama Administration said nothing, even when specifically informed of these events by the Israeli government.
- November 2009: When pressed by former Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) to investigate the extremist, pro-terror Fatah platform adopted at its August 2009 Bethlehem conference, the Obama Administration pretended that Fatah had done nothing of the kind. Secretary Clinton said falsely in her response to Sen. Specter that the Conference had shown “a broad consensus supporting President Abbas, negotiations with Israel, and the two-state solution.”
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “President Obama’s refusal to condemn and penalize Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority (PA) for its alliance with the terrorist organization Hamas is simply the latest in a deeply troubling pattern of Obama Administration indulgence and neglect of PA pro-terror, anti-peace acts.
“The ZOA is deeply concerned that a horrible message is being sent to Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular that the United States doesn’t care about the PA’s alliance with genocidal terrorists, or incitement to hatred and murder and glorification of Jew-murderers. The message is that there will be no consequences for these vile acts.
“Not only is this in itself direct and troubling evidence of bias against Israel, but we find that, in contrast, when Israel approved construction of twenty apartments for Jews in eastern Jerusalem, both President Obama and Secretary Clinton personally and forcefully condemned Israel. Had Israel named a public square after a Jew who had murdered innocent Arabs, does anyone imagine that they would have remained silent? Of course not. Both President Obama and Secretary Clinton have repeatedly condemned and criticized Israeli actions with which they disagree.
“This deafening silence tells us that the Obama Administration does not regard Palestinian anti-peace, pro-terror acts as being important. The Congress, American Jewish and pro-Israel organizations should start demanding to know why this is the case. This question demands an answer.”