U.S. Does Not Condemn Palestinian Violence

Left: The logo designed for the Palestinian social networks depicting a Palestinian throwing stones.

The White House latest condemnation of the escalating violence in Jerusalem is akin to that issued by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Both are talking from both sides of the mouth.

Last month Abbas encouraged the Palestinians to go the attack, saying: “We bless every drop of blood spilled for Jerusalem. This is clean and pure blood, blood that was spilled for God. It is Allah’s will that every martyr will go to heaven and every wounded [Palestinian attacker] will receive God’s reward.” Today, after a surge in Palestinian stabbing and stoning attacks on Israelis and rioting by Israeli Arabs, Abbas told the Israeli daily Haaretz: “I’m Not Inciting Violence, I Want to Restore Calm,” only to allege Israeli “‘aggression against the Al-Aqsa Mosque.'” However, the aggressors are Palestinian men, women and children and the victims are Israeli Jews.

Those still holding expectations that the Obama administration’s reaction to the horrific killing of Israelis would at best be neutral, soon found out the White House is doing its best to reassure Abbas and the Palestinians that although Obama did not mention them in his recent address to the General Assembly, the former community organizer tacitly supports the latest Palestinian hunting-season of Israelis, which Abbas described as “popular resistance.” 

Such an approval is evident in both the White House and the State Department statements “condemning all acts of violence” and calling “all sides to take affirmative steps to restore calm and avoid escalating the situation.” By “calling on all sides” the administration, according to Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post, intentionally draws a “moral equivalency” between Palestinian aggressors and the Israeli victims, thus deliberatly “misleading the country and the world as to what is occurring.” 

Judge for yourself. Here are a few examples of the Palestinian leadership active promotion of violence against Israel, as published by the Meir Amit Terrorism Intelligence and Information Center:

• Sultan Abu Al-Einein, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee and an advisor to Mahmoud Abbas, used his Facebook page to praise and glorify the Palestinians killed in the current wave of terrorism. He claimed that those who died were “candles lighting the way to the altar of freedom” (Facebook page of Sultan Abu Al-Einein, October 4, 2015).

The Facebook page of Sultan Abu Al-Einein praises and glorifies the Palestinian terrorists killed during the recent wave of terrorism, calling them “candles lighting the way to the altar of freedom” (Facebook page of Sultan Abu Al-Einein, October 4, 2015).

• Fatah’s Twitter account posted calls for anti-Israeli terrorism and violence. One posting encouraged stabbing attacks in Jerusalem and another called for “resistance” actions in the West Bank (Twitter account of Fatah’s office of enlistment and organization, October 3 and 4, 2015). And
• Fatah Central Committee Member Jamal Muhaisen: “It is important that the popular uprising (i.e. individual attacks on Israelis) increases.” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 7, 2015]

• PLO Executive Committee member Mahmoud Ismail: killing of (settlers) such as Naama and Eitam Henkin in their car in front of their four children was not merely legal but was fulfilling Palestinian “national duty.“ [Official PA TV, Oct. 6, 2015]

Left: Notice inciting terrorism in Judea and Samaria. The Arabic reads, “May your hand be blessed, oh fighter…May the hand that struggled be blessed…The heartbeat of the West Bank” (Twitter account of Fatah’s office of enlistment and organization, October 3, 2015). Right: Fatah notice calling for the stabbing of Israelis in Jerusalem (Twitter account of Fatah’s office of enlistment and organization, October 4, 2015).

• The Facebook pages of Hamas, and especially of its affiliated student organizations, issued notices calling for the continuation of “resistance” and “rebellion.” A logo for the attacks was designed for the social networks. Some examples are the following:

Left: Notice disseminated by the Hamas “At your orders, Al-Aqsa” campaign. It shows a masked Palestinian throwing a Molotov cocktail and a burning tire at the tiny IDF soldiers below. The Arabic reads, “My people in the [West] Bank, arise!” “I am coming, I am coming… I will strike with dagger and rock…Grind your enemy into dust…Burn him with fire.” Right: Masked Palestinians, participants in the violence. The Arabic reads, “The taste of gunpowder…Awake, knights of the [West] Bank” (Facebook page of the Islamic Block at Al-Najah University, October 4-5, 2015).

Call to vandalize and disable security cameras (Facebook page of PALDF, October 6, 2015).

Left: Hamas notice issued after the attack near Itamar calling for it to ignite Judea and Samaria. The Arabic reads, “The attack in Nablus” and “The [West] Bank” (Facebook page of PALDF, October 2, 2015). Right: Hamas notice issued after the attack in Nablus praising the activities of the “resistance” in the West Bank for the sake of Al-Aqsa mosque. The Arabic reads, “The attack in Nablus,” “The [West] Bank resists” (PalInfo website, October 5, 2015).*

* For more, see: News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (September 21 – October 7, 2015).