PA condemns Arab member of Israeli Parliament for calling terrorists “terrorists”
Israeli Arab MP Mansour Abbas to Israeli TV:
“Whoever published that I visited the prison and met with terrorists and embraced them – that never happened.”
PLO prisoners’ affairs official responded:
“Qadri Abu Bakr condemned the statements… [Mansour Abbas] described the Palestinian prisoners as ‘terrorists.’”
“The path to liberating Jerusalem is paved only by the sacrifices of our pure-hearted Martyrs, the years of the lives of our brave prisoners”
Official PA daily op-ed:
Israeli Arab MP Mansour has “crossed all the national red lines”
An Arab member of the Israeli Parliament, Mansour Abbas, has been “condemned” by the PA for having made “embarrassing and shameful statements” about Palestinian terrorist prisoners, who – according to the PA – are not terrorists, but are “heroic.”
In a recent interview to Israeli TV Channel 12, Mansour Abbas said: “Placing me as a terror supporter or embracer of terrorists – that never was. Whoever published that I visited the prison and met with terrorists and embraced them – that never happened.” [Feb. 4, 2021]
Following this interview, Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Qadri Abu Bakr condemned Mansour Abbas, stressing that Palestinian terrorist prisoners – among them murderers – “are nothing but symbols of honor, heroism, and pride.” Abu Bakr further emphasized that terrorism is the way to “liberate Jerusalem”:
“Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Qadri Abu Bakr condemned the statements made by Israeli Arab Parliament Member Mansour Abbas, who described the Palestinian prisoners as ‘terrorists.’
Abu Bakr said that the statements that Mansour Abbas made… regarding our heroic prisoners in the occupation’s prison were embarrassing and shameful statements that represent him alone… Abu Bakr added: ‘Mansour should be ashamed of himself and this statement. He must examine history and know well that the path to liberating Jerusalem is paved only by the sacrifices of our pure-hearted Martyrs, the years of the lives of our brave prisoners, the pains of our heroic wounded… They are nothing but symbols of honor, heroism, and pride.’”[Donia Al-Watan, independent Palestinian news agency, Feb. 5, 2021]
Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Abu Bakr is just as supportive of imprisoned (and released) terrorists and murderers as was his predecessor Issa Karake. Abu Bakr is at the forefront of the PA’s defense and justification of paying financial rewards to terrorists, be they imprisoned or released.
A regular columnist of the official PA daily added that Mansour Abbas “crossed all the national red lines” and “stabbed a knife in the back of the Palestinian national struggle” by telling it like it is and saying that terrorists are “terrorists.”
“In his statements… Mansour Abbas crossed all the national red lines; his usage of the Israeli term to describe the prisoners constitutes stabbing a knife in the back of the Palestinian national struggle against the occupation and racism, and more precisely in the back of the sacrifices that the members of his people – the heroic prisoners – have made.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 8, 2021]
The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above:
Headline: “Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs: Mansour Abbas’ statements on the prisoners are embarrassing and shameful”
“Today, Friday [Feb. 5, 2021], Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs Qadri Abu Bakr condemned the statements made by Israeli Arab Parliament Member Mansour Abbas, who described the Palestinian prisoners as ‘terrorists’ (see note below -Ed.).
Abu Bakr said that the statements that Mansour Abbas made yesterday, Thursday, during an interview with Israeli [TV] Channel 12 regarding our heroic prisoners in the occupation’s prison were embarrassing and shameful statements that represent him alone.
In a statement, a copy of which reached [the independent Palestinian news agency] Donia Al-Watan, Abu Bakr added: ‘Mansour should be ashamed of himself and this statement. He must examine history and know well that the path to liberating Jerusalem is paved only by the sacrifices of our pure-hearted Martyrs, the years of the lives of our brave prisoners, the pains of our heroic wounded, and the suffering of the uprooted and expelled in the refugee camps and in the diaspora. They are nothing but symbols of honor, heroism, and pride.’”
[Donia Al-Watan, independent Palestinian news agency, Feb. 5, 2021]
Headline: “Is Mansour Abbas acting against the opinion of the Islamic Movement?”
“In his statements to an Israeli TV channel, in which he described the Palestinian prisoners as ‘terrorists’ (see note below -Ed.), [Israeli Arab Parliament Member] Mansour Abbas crossed all the national red lines; his usage of the Israeli term to describe the prisoners constitutes stabbing a knife in the back of the Palestinian national struggle against the occupation and racism, and more precisely in the back of the sacrifices that the members of his people – the heroic prisoners – have made.
In recent months Mansour Abbas created a large problem in [the political party] the Joint Arab List, when he began to open channels by moving closer to right-wing and corrupt Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu.”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 8, 2021]