Abbas unable to defend Fatah when presented with PMW report of Fatah leader praising murder
Abbas unable to defend Fatah
when presented with PMW report
of Fatah leader praising murder
when presented with PMW report
of Fatah leader praising murder
Abbas’ answer: “We the Palestinians are not perfect”
On a tour to Europe, Palestinian Authority Chairman Abbas was confronted with Palestinian Media Watch’s report documenting that one of Abbas’ fellow Fatah officials glorified the murder of two parents in front of their four children, calling it “a national duty.”
Abbas’ only response, as reported in the Jerusalem Post was:
“We the Palestinians are not perfect,” Abbas replied, “but these things need to be discussed as a whole.” [The Jerusalem Post, Nov. 4, 2015]
The following is a longer excerpt of the report in the Jerusalem Post:
Headline: On Europe trip, Abbas gets red carpet – and some hard questions
by Cnaan Liphshiz, Nov. 4, 2015
The Hague, Netherlands – On his way to several meetings with Dutch parliamentarians last week, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his entourage passed 300 demonstrators flying Israeli flags.
Like the Israeli government, the protesters, who convened outside at the urging of Dutch Jewish and Christian pro-Israel groups, accuse Abbas and his government of supporting deadly attacks against Jews.
Incitement by Abbas and others, they charge, is a major catalyst for the recent wave of Palestinian terrorism in which 11 Jewish-Israelis have been killed and more than 50 Palestinians have died, including dozens identified by Israel as assailants, in Israel’s attempt to stem the violence.
Their argument echoes one Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his European envoys have been making regularly since September when the latest round of unrest began…
“We welcome every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem,” Abbas said on Palestinian television in September… [Exposed in PMW bulletin, “Abbas: We won't allow Jews' ‘filthy feet,’” Sept. 17, 2015]
At the CIDI meeting [the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel, the Dutch Jewish community’s main pro-Israel lobby and watchdog on anti-Semitism], the delegation patiently listened to Abbas’s complaints about Netanyahu. When he was finished, Joep de Geus, the 22-year-old chairman of CIDI’s youth department, read to him a quote [exposed by PMW] from Fatah Central Committee member Jamal Muhaisen who, on October 7, said the murder of a settler couple the previous week in front of their children was a case of “one fulfilling his national duty voluntarily, as best as one can.” [PMW bulletin, “Fatah officials: Killing ‘settlers’ is legal and ‘national duty,’” Oct. 8, 2015]
Looking at Abbas, de Geus asked: “Your excellency, do we really need a trilateral committee to tell us whether this is incitement?”
“We the Palestinians are not perfect,” Abbas replied, “but these things need to be discussed as a whole.”
[http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/On-Europe-trip-Abbas-gets-red-carpet-and-some-hard-questions-431952]