Abbas' libel: Israel brings "cannabis and drugs" to Palestinians - they "don't want us to have a future"
“The Israeli occupation’s security forces are interested in there being drug needles in the hands of the children, youth, and young people instead of books, pens, or work tools, because drug needles kill the soul and lead the users to a stage of helplessness” - op-ed in official PA daily
At a recent conference against corruption organized by the Palestinian Authority, Chairman Abbas repeated the PA libel that Israel actively supplies drugs to Palestinians in order to ruin their future.
Abbas: “The occupation plants corruption among us… If we don't have it, it brings us corrupt people and corrupters. Therefore, we see substances like cannabis and drugs etc., and also spoiled goods which are always accepted in our land, from them, because they want to fight our existence… They don't want us to have a future.”
[Official PA TV, Dec. 10, 2019]
The same libel was disseminated by Fatah official and regular columnist of the official PA daily, Muwaffaq Matar, who said that Israeli security forces allegedly prefer that Palestinian children hold “drug needles” rather than “books, pens, or work tools”:
“The Israeli occupation’s security forces are interested in there being drug needles in the hands of the children, youth, and young people instead of books, pens, or work tools, because drug needles kill the soul and lead the users to a stage of helplessness.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 12, 2019]
The op-ed in the PA daily further purported that Israel “turns a blind eye” to dealers selling drugs at Palestinian school gates, noting that the drug dealers are Israel's “pawns” sent to make young Palestinians “fall into the clutches of the Israeli intelligence forces”:
“The Israeli occupation forces are digging everywhere in the [Shuafat] refugee camp [in Jerusalem] searching for young fighters, but they turn a blind eye to the drug dealers who sell their poisons in the gates of the schools in the camp, knowing that the occupation authorities’ police are secretly securing them and protecting them…
The drug dealers are the occupation’s pawns, whose goal is to make our young men and women fall into the clutches of the Israeli intelligence forces. This means that they are more dangerous to society, values, and law than any spy or agent whose mission leads to the killing of civilians or the endangering of the national interests.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 12, 2019]
Palestinian Media Watch has exposed that this is an ongoing Palestinian Authority libel. For example, a PLO official claimed that Israel tries to "flood the Palestinian street with drugs" and Head of the PA Preventive Security Forces alleged that Israel deliberately advances drug use among Palestinians.
The following is a longer excerpt of the op-ed in the official PA daily:
Excerpt of an op-ed by Muwaffaq Matar, Fatah Revolutionary Council member and regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “Drugs – Israel’s destructive weapon”
“The terror system in Tel Aviv has brought all the types of lethal weapons [into play] against the Palestinian people, and does not shy away from using the most lethal weapons, not only against young people but also against children…
It is very dangerous, and we are certain that this is liable to reach a point of existential danger if we do not all hurry to defend our people in Jerusalem with all that we have from the scourge of drugs…
The Israeli occupation’s security forces are interested in there being drug needles in the hands of the children, youth, and young people instead of books, pens, or work tools, because drug needles kill the soul and lead the users to a stage of helplessness…
The Israeli occupation forces are digging everywhere in the [Shuafat] refugee camp [in Jerusalem] searching for young fighters, but they turn a blind eye to the drug dealers who sell their poisons in the gates of the schools in the camp, knowing that the occupation authorities’ police are secretly securing them and protecting them…
The drug dealers are the occupation’s pawns, whose goal is to make our young men and women fall into the clutches of the Israeli intelligence forces. This means that they are more dangerous to society, values, and law than any spy or agent whose mission leads to the killing of civilians or the endangering of the national interests.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 12, 2019]