The present outbreak of violence has the political and financial backing of Abu Mazen and the Fatah. This lifeline must be cut.
The Palestinian Authority's Incitement Campaign has reached new heights in recent weeks · Antisemitic caricatures, calls to commit terrorist attacks, blood libels and financial support for murderers and imprisoned terrorists are just some of the means Abu Mazen uses to spur his people to murder Jews · A wake-up call to those who see him as a partner for peace
The wave of terror we've seen in recent weeks is no coincidence. For months, the Palestinian authority and the Fatah movement have been conducting an increasingly shrill incitement campaign which includes direct incitement to commit terror attacks, blood libels, anti-semitic caricatures and clips, spreading lies about Israeli desecration of Islamic holy places and more.
One example of many is a caricature published on the official Fatah facebook page – a "moderate movement", mind you – which shows a car painted in the colors of the Palestinian flag chasing after Jews who flee in fear of them. Indeed, the facebook page of Abu Mazen's Fatah movement is a central part of the incitement campaign. A few days ago, the movement published a caricature featuring the Arabic word for "run over" on a road, with the Dome of the Rock in the background. Another facebook post called for committing terrorist attacks by car: "Run over, run over, dear Palestinian, the foreign settler."
A few days ago, the Palestinian paper al-Hayat al-Jadida, a paper belonging to the Palestinian Authority and whose employees are paid by it, published a caricature encouraging stone throwing. In the picture one sees an adult man with a kaffiyeh sitting on the steps with his son, with a police checkpoint and the Dome of the Rock in the background, and the headline reads "purification before prayer is done with stones."
This is just a small sampling of incitement images from the past few days. To this we can add interviews and declarations of senior PA officials. Abu Mazen's advisor, Sultan Abu El-Einan, wrote the following of the terrorist Muataz Hijazi after the attempted assassination of Yehuda Glick: "I have not managed to meet your mother to kiss her hand and her forehead for giving her to draw courage and bravery from her breast, and thus turned you into a revolutionary who shortened our path to freedom."
The Fatah head in Jerusalem, Adnan Ghaith, also congratulated the attempted murder: "the assassination attempt on Rabbi Glick's life was but a natural response to crimes committed by the occupation against the city and its residents. The shahid Muataz Hijazi, the attempted assassin, is a Fatah member and one of its activists. We in Fatah are not ashamed to take responsibility for the heroic act he committed today, as this is a natural response to the crimes of the occupation against the city of Jerusalem and its holy places."
Congratulations to the terrorist and their families also came from Abu Mazen himself, the man whom the left consistently refers to as the natural partner for peace. Here's a notice published in a PA newspaper:
President Mahmoud Abbas expressed his anger and condemnation at the despicable crime committed against the shahid Muataz Hijazi, who was murdered last Thursday by the murder and terror gangs of the Israeli occupation army.
The shahid Muataz rose to heaven by protecting the rights of his people and the holy places. Futhermore, he condemned this barbaric act, which is added to the injustices of the occupation against our people since the Nakba, as well as the continuation of the historic injustice done against us wherever we are.
It's not just the Fatah and Abu Mazen. Even the Palestinian security forces, those which the left prides itself on their cooperation with Israel, are part of the wave of incitement. On 5 November 2014, these last published a caricature showing a prostitute with her head adorned with the Dome of the Rock locked behind bars, and on the other side a hook-nosed Israeli soldier with his pants down. The caricature bears the slogan: "the al-Aqsa Mosque is raped."
Another caricature on the official facebook page of the Palestinian security forces shows the priorities of what is called the "homeland tax". In first place is a headstone – obviously encouraging martyrdom. In second place is a prison cell for those who are merely arrested. In third place is an injured man whose face is covered by a kaffiyeh and whose fingers hold up the V for victory sign.
Abu Mazen in the Mufti's footsteps
The atmosphere promoted by the Palestinian Authority and its senior officials is one of conflict, constantly repeating the claim that the Jews are defiling Jerusalem, "Judaizing" it and trying to destroy al-Aqsa and rebuild the Temple. This is of course not a new tactic – this is how Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini inflamed the masses, leading to the massacres of 1929, where 129 Jews were brutally murdered and over 300 wounded.
Once again, the examples are innumerable. During the last Rosh Hashanah, Palestinian television aired a documentary program which showed Jews praying at the West Wall, while the narrator describes it as "sin and impurity", adding: "they know for certain that our roots are deeper than their false history. We, from the porches of our homes, look out at the (Islamic) holiness, and on sin and impurity (the Jews praying at the Western Wall – S.W.)."
The incitement against Jews praying at the Western Wall continued also on the facebook page of Abu Mazen's presidential guard. In July 2013, they published a caricature portraying a Palestinian youth making a V sign against the background of the Western Wall. The Wall has a Palestinian flag over it, and the heading reads: "the al-Buraq wall, the Palestinian youth knows its rights."
The dam of incitement broke this October when Abu Mazen gave a speech in which he explicitly called on Palestinians to attack Jews in order to prevent their ascent to the Temple Mount by any means. The speech was edited by official Palestinian TV, creating a clip calling on Palestinians to prevent Jews going to the Temple Mount "by any means". Palestinian TV aired this clip 19 times in 3 days. Here's what Abu Mazen said:
It's not enough to say: there are Ribat people (Ribat = religious struggle to protect Islamic land). We all need to fulfill Ribat in al-Aqsa. It's not enough to say: 'The settlers came [to the Mosque].' They came and do not need to come to the holy site. We need to prevent them from entering the holy site by any means there are. This is our holy site, this is our al-Aqsa and this is our Church [of the Holy Sepulchre]. They have no right to enter them. They have no right to defile them. We need to prevent them. We will face them with exposed bodies to protect our holy places.
When murdering Jews become lucrative
The Palestinian Authority does not suffice with incitement, it is also active in protecting murderers and terrorists. Thus, for instance, the PA pays a salary to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. A prisoner serving a sentence of up to three years gets a monthly salary of 1400 NIS. If he's serving a period of 10-15 years, he receives a "salary" of 6000 NIS. The hardcore prisoners serving for 30 years and above get 12000 NIS.
In addition to the "salaries", the PA Prison Affairs Ministry and the PLO Prison Affairs Authority provide grants of 2000 NIS a month to released prisoners who couldn't find work. Some of the prisoners also receive money from Hamas and organizations like the al-Nur Prisoners' Association. So a terrorist can receive a monthly salary of thousands of shekels just for attacking Jews.
Before we throw our hands up and argue that there's no way to fight a "grassroots war", we need to remember that this was preceded by a massive incitement campaign and financial aid and security for anyone (or their families) who attacks Jews. This is a psychological and financial lifeline we can and should cut, and the sooner the better.
English translation by Avi Woolf.
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