PMW findings brought international attention to the issue of PA incitement

SAN DIEGO (Press Release)– Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) presented his most recent findings at San Diego State University this week. Nirit Revzin, president of Aztecs for Israel and the marketing intern for StandWithUs-San Diego facilitated his campus visit. Marcus was in the United States from his home-base in Israel to speak once again, at StandWithUs’ annual “Israel in Focus” conference. 130 students from the US and Canada including San Diego, heard from renowned speakers and learned the facts and skills needed to better educate about Israel on their campuses.

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) is one of the foremost authorities on Palestinian ideology and policy. Since it’s founding in 1996, PMW has studied Palestinian society by monitoring and analyzing its media and schoolbooks. PMW’s focus is on the messages Palestinian leaders – Palestinian Authority, Hamas and Fatah – send to the population through the institutions and infrastructures they control. Itamar’s 2011 book Deception which chronicles incitement against Israel in Palestinian media was utilized by the Israeli delegation in their negotiations with the Palestinian Authority in Jordan.

PMW’s most significant audience is Israel’s Prime Minister’s office which utilizes PMW materials. Marcus has presented his finding to members of the U.S. Congress and Senate; the Canadian, British, French, German, Norwegian, Swiss, Italian, and Australian Parliaments. His reports on how foreign aid is misused by the PA for hate and terror promotion have led to changes in U.S. legislation and U.S. funding procedures. http://palwatch.org/

An audience of various denominations greeted Marcus at SDSU. Utilizing a PowerPoint, he showed specific examples of incitement against Israel. He remarked that the students, “listened intently and asked relevant questions and ones important for their course work in Middle Eastern studies. One asked how could all this be happening and the American media is ignoring it? I answered that this is our challenge – us at PMW and yours - to get our material, educate yourselves and then, distribute it widely. The argument changes perceptions about the conflict once you see the actual evidence. It was obvious to me that it changed the perceptions of these students. Its all about education.”

Marcus counts among his accomplishments that the world is now much more aware about Palestinian incitement and the detriment this is to the peace process. A recent success has been in Norway, one of the largest funders of the Palestinian Authority in Europe. PMW exposed in Parliament the way the PA is using foreign donor money including Norway’s, for hatred and salaries to terrorists and including ones in Israeli jails. This led to major debates in Parliament and in September the opposition parties PMW has worked with for four years, won the election! Norway now has a government that is led by parties who vocally support Israel. Some members of Parliament have openly said they won’t support the PA anymore. Says Marcus, “We hope to turn Europe around, country by country.”

The long-term goal is to get so much exposure in the world that the PA is forced through political isolation to change their ideology, promote co-existence, and real peace between Palestinians and Israel. Hatred will never stop from the PA unless it is exposed, condemned and change is forced on them and the international community must be made aware of how their funding is being used. That is PMW’s ultimate goal – real change towards peace.

Marcus explained that PMW is documenting the general direction that the Palestinian Authority leadership is bringing the people. For example, the PA’s head of sports education sponsored a Ping Pong tournament last month that was named after and glorified the terrorist Dalal Mughrabi who led a bus hijacking in which 37 people were murdered. Through events, the PA presents a world without Israel; just this past month, young girls sang about “Palestine” and its wonderful cities of Jaffa and Haifa.

PMW monitors two PA TV channels and Hamas TV completely, in addition to PA newspapers, schoolbooks, official Facebook pages of Fatah and many of their leaders. It is finding some of the most shocking hate promotion and terror glorification on Facebook – often messages that they wouldn’t put on PA TV. These are significant because they are the messages being sent to Palestinian youth.

PMW also exposed educational magazines that are funded by the PA. One magazine glorifies Hitler. PMW publicized an essay by a 15-year-old girl who dreamt she was being greeted by four heroes - three Muslims, and the fourth was Hitler. Here is the conversation:
“I turned to the next door; there Hitler awaited me.
I said, ‘You’re the one who killed the Jews?’
He [Hitler] said: ‘Yes. I killed them so you would all know that they are a nation which spreads destruction all over the world. And what I ask of you is to be resilient and patient, concerning the suffering that Palestine is experiencing at their hands.’
I said [to Hitler]: ‘Thanks for the advice.’”

PMW monitors Hamas, but even though their leadership’s rhetoric is as bad or worse, PMW does not publicize them because Hamas is categorized around the world as a terror organization. But, Itamar warns, the PA is as great a danger as Hamas, because it is involved in the great deception. The Fatah and PA teachings are more hidden and therefore, in the long term, are as great or a greater threat to Israel.

Concerned individuals can access PMW’s materials by writing to [email protected] and in the subject line put “subscribe.,” They will receive regualr bulletins that will help them defend Israel against spurious charges.

PMW is privately funded. Learn more at: http://www.palwatch.org.