The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has pointed to numerous vicious, anti/Semitic, anti-peace, pro-terror acts committed by Palestinian Authority (PA) dictator Mahmoud Abbas since President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital earlier this month. This conduct is being widely ignored by foreign leaders, government officials and the international media.
In a December 13 speech to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, Turkey, Abbas said that Jews “are really excellent in faking and counterfeiting history … If they would like to fake this history, they are really masters in this and it is mentioned in the holy Quran they fabricate truth and they try to do that, and they believe in that — but we have been there in this location for thousands of years.”
Abbas also said that Jews had no historical connection to Jerusalem –– something that PA officials have been stating for years. Yet, Abbas and the PA continue to be called “moderate” in the international media, the Washington Post merely cited an Associated Press dispatch that omitted any mention of Abbas’ anti-Semitic statements and which merely said, “The Palestinians are committed to a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Abbas said.” The same dispatch noted that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Lebanese President Michel Aoun attended, but omitted their roles in supporting terror groups, such as Hezballah, that attack Jews and the Jewish state.
Nor is it widely reported that the OIC includes some of the world’s most repressive states, like Sudan, whose President, Omar al–Bashir, is wanted for genocide conducted against non-Arab minorities in Darfur.
According to the Algemeiner, “Nearly every major US news outlet failed to report Abbas’ screed…. The media also failed to note that Palestinian leaders have rejected several US and Israeli offers for statehood in exchange for peace, on numerous occasions, including 2000 at Camp David, 2001 at Tabaand 2008 after the Annapolis Conference. This, and the fact that a US-funded ‘peace partner’ has refused to quit paying salaries to terrorists — the PA has doled out more than one billion to terrorists and their families in the last four years alone — are pertinent, and omitted, facts.” (Sean Durns, ‘World Media Silent as Mahmoud Abbas — Israel’s “Peace Partner” — Undermines Talks,’ Algemeiner, December 17, 2017).
Also widely ignored by governments and the media is that Abbas received in his Ramallah office on Christmas eve Rafat Jawabra, a former senior commander of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah’s terrorist militia, who was recently released from prison for plotting a suicide bombing attack against Israel 16 years ago. Photos of the meeting were openly posted on Fatah’s official Facebook page. In another Facebook post, Jawabra is seen speaking at a rally with armed and masked gunmen, honoring him upon his release from prison (‘Abbas spends Christmas Eve meeting with Fatah terrorist,’ Jerusalem Post, December 26, 2017). Few outlets also reported that Abbas also praised the family of a Palestinian girl, 16-year-old Ahed Tamimi, who was jailed after walking up to an IDF soldier and slapping him.
Abbas refused last week to meet with Vice-President Mike Pence, who was to have been touring the Middle East, in part, to meet with parties with regard to Israeli/Palestinian Arab peace talks (the trip was subsequently cancelled for domestic political reasons). Additionally, Abbas pointedly refused to receive any US proposals for peace talks, saying that the US was no longer an acceptable mediator and that the PA would be searching for a new one. And, if this isn’t enough, Abbas’ PA continues to engage in incitement to hatred and murder against Israelis. Only last week, Abbas’ ruling Fatah Party issued advice on its Twitter account for Palestinians on throwing rocks at Israelis personnel and civilians.
Fatah also issues tweets attacking and mocking President Trump. On December 14, Fatah posted on Twitter photographs of Hitler and President Trump next to each other, stating that it does not see any difference between them. On December 20, Fatah tweeted a picture of Trump with the caption, ‘Trump is an irrelevant clown’ as well as a poster showing President Trump and Vice-President Pence surrounded by shoes (shoes being a sign of disrespect in the Arab world) with the words in English and Arabic, “Peace upon Jerusalem, the Mother of all Capitals / To Trump and Pence and their puppet, beware! / Jerusalem is not one of your Casinos / Jerusalem is the most sacred city to Muslims and Christians / Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine / Jerusalem is a Red Line!!” And on December 22, on official PA TV, a senior Abbas’ adviser on Religious & Islamic Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, condemned Trump’s Jerusalem declaration, asserted it would have no impact, saying, “the rubbish of the American president isn’t worth –– I say again –– isn’t worth the urine of one Jerusalem child.”
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “This latest sequence of events underscores the extremely biased and jaundiced approach that so much of the world’s governments as well as the media, both in the US and abroad, take towards Israel.
“With regard to the media, anything, however, true, important and factually-based, that shows Palestinian Arabs and their leaders in a bad light is minimized, covered up or embellished in euphemism.
“The dominant point of view in official circles across the world and in the media, which is by a large a leftist media, is that Palestinian Arabs are victims, the Israelis are their tormentors and any news item that fails to confirm this ‘fact’ is not really fit to be publicized. Stories must be selected and emphasis must be distributed with this in mind. This is why Israel receives such consistently bad press in some quarters and why errors, sloppiness and instances of bias almost invariably favor Israel’s enemies, not Israel.
“Without this intellectual framework, foreign governments and the international media could not continue to depict Israelis as villains and Palestinian Arabs as guiltless victims while their leaders refuse peace talks, reject peace proposals, refuse to arrest terrorists, disband terrorist groups, publically glorify blood-soaked terrorists, pays salaries to jailed terrorists and stipends to the families of dead ones and incite their public to hatred and murder.
“We are therefore very concerned that this climate of ignoring Palestinian pro-terror, anti-peace actions is leading people, including US government officials, to similarly ignore the conduct of Abbas and the PA and that, as a result, they are not being held accountable for their words and deeds.
“Now consider the following for a moment: if the Israeli Prime Minister said or did comparable things with regard to the Palestinian Arabs or the US, the international community would be in uproar for days, if not weeks. It would be right to do so: such things are outrageous and unacceptable.
“We can no longer continue as we have been doing for years, ignoring, rationalizing and excusing Abbas’ behavior. It is time he was held accountable by the world, especially the US.
“The US props up Abbas’ corrupt and vicious regime to the tune of $450 million per year. It is high time to cut funds to Abbas’ PA until and unless it ceases its pro-terror, anti-peace acts and starts inculcating the priority of peace-making among Palestinian Arabs.
“To do otherwise is to telegraph Abbas the message that he can continue to be promote hatred and terrorism without cost or adverse consequence.”