PA Foreign Ministry: Netanyahu tweets on Palestinian origins are anti-Semitic and racist; Israel is a “foreign colonialist” committing “ethnic cleansing”
Headline: "The [PA] Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Netanyahu's statements regarding the Palestinians’ ethnic origins are Antisemitism and racism par excellence"
"The [PA] Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's tweet on social media (refers to tweets on research proving the ancient Philistines hailed from Europe, showing the Palestinians have no genetic connection to them; see note below –Ed.) is a continuation of Netanyahu's deception campaigns, whose goal is to deny the Palestinian people’s national and human existence in its homeland Palestine, and also the continuation of his attempts to establish colonialism in the territories of the State of Palestine…
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs added in a statement yesterday [July 8, 2019]: 'This time Netanyahu is trying to stir up anthropological discussions that express only his delusions and dreams, and absolutely contradict the historical and geographical facts and UN resolutions. A stench of repulsive racism towards the Palestinian people wafts from his tweet, and more significantly – the essence of this tweet is Antisemitism, in the full sense of the word.'
[The ministry] emphasized that the roots of our people’s national and human existence on the land of Palestine are deeply rooted in history, and that [this existence] does not await false proofs regarding its roots from colonialist Netanyahu.
The ministry emphasized that the struggle in Palestine is with a foreign colonialist that has occupied our land, uprooted our people by force, is committing the ugliest kind of ethnic cleansing against our people, and is attempting to settle foreign settlers in their place. It called on the international community, the [UN] Human Rights Council, and the relevant international bodies to condemn this Antisemitism and racism."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted three tweets on July 7, 2019, two of them linking to articles on DNA research proving the ancient Philistines were not native to the Middle East, and therefore the Palestinians have no genetic connection to them.
Tweet 1: "A new study of DNA recovered from an ancient Philistine site in the Israeli city of Ashkelon confirms what we know from the Bible – that the origin of the Philistines is in southern Europe."
The article it links to: "Biblical Philistines – archenemies of ancient Israelites – hailed from Europe, DNA reveals"
Tweet 2: "The Bible mentions a place called Caphtor, which is probably modern-day Crete. There's no connection between the ancient Philistines and & the modern Palestinians, whose ancestors came from the Arabian Peninsula to the Land of Israel thousands of years later."
The article it links to: "Ancient DNA may reveal origin of the Philistines"
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/07/ancient-dna-reveal-philistine-origins/
Tweet 3: "The Palestinians' connection to the Land of Israel is nothing compared to the 4,000 year connection that the Jewish people have with the land."