PA libel: Israel uses drugs in war against Palestinians
PA libel: Israel uses drugs in war against Palestinians
Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Discussing the war on drugs in Jerusalem, a Palestinian Authority TV host stated that Israel is deliberately targeting young Palestinians with drugs. The Palestinian coordinator of a UNDP-sponsored campaign against drugs, Isaam Jweihan, endorsed this PA libel, stating that Israel uses drugs as "an unconventional weapon" to "empty Jerusalem of Arabs:"
PA TV host: “Jerusalem is probably the Palestinian district that suffers the most from drugs, [because] the occupation mainly targets young age groups in Jerusalem...”
Coordinator of the Project of the War on Drugs in Jerusalem, Issam Jweihan: “A war is being waged [by Israel] against Jerusalem. This is an unconventional war in which unconventional weapons are being used. The goal of the war is clear - to Judaize the city and empty it of its [Arab] residents. They are using unconventional weapons. The weapon that brings the best results for the Israelis is drugs.”
[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, June 21, 2017]
Palestinian Media Watch has documented this drug libel numerous times, and it is even being voiced by close associates of PA Chairman Abbas. Imad Hamato, who Abbas recently appointed to head a system of Islamic schools and who is also the host of a weekly PA TV program teaching Islam, has similarly taught that “Israel’s... war against the Arabs and Muslims is through sex mania... drugs... to destroy... our children’s values”:
Imad Hamato, appointed by PA Chairman Abbas as dean of Gaza Al-Azhar schools, host of weekly PA TV program on Islam: "What has Israel given to the world in our times, aside from moral corruption and corrupt values, aside from the use of drugs and pills? I said in a previous lesson that the CIA has a unit called the Unit for Creating the Global Mood. They look at a map: ‘‘What is appropriate for Gaza, or Jordan, or Syria? Tramadol pills (i.e., pain killers)? Mood enhancers? Hallucinatory substances?” They are produced in India, sent to Israel, and distributed in Sinai. Afterwards they are spread in the region, in order to destroy what remains of our children’s values."
[Official Palestinian Authority TV, June 12, 2015 and April 14, 2017]
A similar accusation was presented by a Hamas member of PA Parliament:
Hamas member of the PA Parliament Marwan Abu Ras: “Who are the Jews? ... Who are they? The most impure people, the most impure nation, with the lowliest values that mankind has seen... The Jews are currently recruiting from their army... prostitutes in order to entrap Arabs in their net and the net of their intelligence services... What values do they have left? Treachery and betrayal... and war against morals throughout the world... They were the first to spread usury. They were the first to spread lowly filthy porn movies. They were the first to spread porn websites. They are the largest distributors of drugs and alcoholic drinks... The enemy declares that it is sending young women, disguised as tourists, infected with AIDS in order to fornicate with young Muslims... and spread AIDS among the young Muslims.”
[YouTube channel of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, Jan. 6, 2017]
The following are additional examples of the libel that Israel deliberately spreads drugs to destroy Palestinian youth:
PA Security Forces spokesman: Israel is responsible for rise in drug labs in the West Bank, is interested in "destroying Palestinian society socially, morally, and nationally"
Headline: "Adnan Al-Damiri: The security situation in the West Bank is stable and the occupation is trying to undermine it"
"In order to be updated on the security situation in the West Bank and the large challenges it is facing, the Al-Quds [newspaper] interviewed Official Spokesman of the Palestinian [PA] Security Forces in the West Bank [and General Political Commissioner of the PLO Political and National Guidance Authority] Adnan Al-Damiri...
[Q:] ‘In your opinion, what is the reason for the rise in the number of drug labs in the West Bank?’
[Official Spokesman of the PA Security Forces Adnan Al-Damiri:] 'The occupation is interested in destroying Palestinian society socially, morally, and nationally, and in destroying its norms, culture, and way of behaving. Some of the people are still not convinced of this to this day, as if it were a hidden matter. Whoever thinks that the settler government in Israel wants a satisfied Palestinian people is mistaken. At best, the Palestinian Security [Forces] still have no control over the borders, and drugs are goods that can be transferred across the border. Therefore, the one responsible for them being smuggled and brought in is the one who controls the borders, and that is first of all the Israeli occupation... We see, and everyone with intelligence knows and sees, that there are local issues that the occupation is responsible for and which are being carried out with external funding. After all, growing drugs for instance costs hundreds of thousands of [Israeli] shekels as it requires equipment, and there are also types of drugs that require labs, and all of these things are very expensive. An issue like this not only affects individuals, but is also directed against a whole society, first by the enemies, but also by the criminals, law breakers, and those with [private] agendas - and all of them have an interest in destroying Palestinian society.'"
[Falestinona, website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission in Lebanon, Apr. 5, 2017]
Member of PA Supreme Fatwa Council accuses Israel of spreading drugs among Palestinian youth
Headline: “Drugs - the occupation’s weapon in Area C (i.e., areas of the West Bank under full Israeli security and administrative control)”
“President of the Shari’ah Court of Appeals and member of The [PA] Palestinian Supreme Fatwa Council, Judge Ata Al-Muhtasib said that the plague of drugs of all types has crushed whole nations, and threatens existing nations and an active culture. He added that Islam was the first to ban drugs and intoxicating drinks and to warn against them and their dangers...
He continued: ‘It is everyone’s responsibility to fight this dangerous plague in order to build a state whose people and institutions are strong, so that we will rebuild what the Israeli occupation has destroyed, repair what it has ruined, and plant what it has uprooted...’
Al-Muhtasib added: ‘The drugs are a weapon that the occupation has taken advantage of in order to crush our young. This is by drugging them, disabling their efforts, wasting their potential, and firstly destroying their religion and eliminating their future. Despite everything we have mentioned above, several immoral people in our society have stretched out their hands to use [drugs], and worse - in order to help the occupier distribute them.’”
[Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Mar. 4, 2017]
PA Minister of Jerusalem Affairs accuses Israel of “spreading drugs in order to harm the young [generation of Palestinians] and destroy it”
Headline: "The governor of the Jerusalem district briefed a Turkish delegation regarding the suffering of Jerusalem's residents"
“[PA] Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and [Jerusalem] District Governor Adnan Al-Husseini briefed a Turkish Red Crescent delegation regarding the suffering of the [Palestinian] citizens in the holy city and its environs due to the Israeli occupation... In the meeting, measures were reviewed that could be taken to overcome the occupation authorities' attempts and role in spreading drugs in order to harm the young [generation of Palestinians] and destroy it, which will affect all of society."
[Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Apr. 22, 2016]
PA: Israelis target young Palestinian boys and give them drugs, as part of an Israeli policy meant to destroy Palestinian society
Official PA TV program Topic of the Day on the opening of a juvenile court, hosting Chairman of the High Judicial Council Sami Sarsour.
Official PA TV host: "There is another issue for which we hold the Israeli elements responsible, and in which we appreciate the role of the Palestinian Security Forces - chases, solving [crimes], relying on their sources - and that is the drug issue. This is a worldwide issue, and we in Palestine are a part of the world, and may be affected by it. It cannot be said that this phenomenon is different from our situation. No, we are a part of the world. However, marking young boys as a target in this matter is very grave for us. Those who were caught [dealing drugs] have Israeli citizenship, while the planting and production are carried out in the Palestinian territories, and the young boys are marked as targets. True, this method is one of many methods employed by the occupation in order to destroy Palestinian society. It begins with the young generation. It [Israel] wants to build a generation that was raised on drugs and smuggling. The problem here is controlling these things. In my opinion, this is extremely difficult, especially in regard to points along the border between us and the areas under Israeli rule... This policy is one of the methods that Israel uses to destroy Palestinian society, from children to adults. It destroys the children morally."
[Official PA TV, Apr. 6, 2016]
Libel on PA TV: Israel is "drowning our youth in the swamp of [drug] addiction"
PA TV newsreader: "PA TV has exposed that the occupation is using all means to destroy our people and perhaps the most striking one is the drowning of our youth in the swamp of [drug] addiction, after facilitating the entry of all kinds of drugs for our youth."
[Official Palestinian Authority TV, Mar. 1, 2015]