08 October 09
2005 antisemitic cartoon in Palestinian newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida. Courtesy Palestinian Media Watch, www.palwatch.org
Shimon Peres once remarked, “I don’t care what the Palestinians say, only what’s written in the agreements.” But what the Palestinians say to one another, and particularly what they teach their children, is far more important than what’s written in peace agreements.
Incitement and demonization are not just one more treaty violation. They reflect the failure of the Palestinians since the beginning of Oslo to create a constituency for peace with Israel, to educate the Palestinian population to the idea of living side-by-side with a Jewish state or to make clear that peace will also require concessions on the Palestinians’ part.
That has never happened. Even worse, there has been no education to accept the existence of Israel in any borders or to renounce once and for all the dream of throwing all the Jews into the sea.
The Palestinian Authority [PA] has gone out of its way to make heroes of the most vicious terrorists – not exactly the way to encourage thoughts of reconciliation and peace. Mahmoud Abbas sent his warmest congratulations to child-murderer Samir Kuntar, upon his release from an Israeli jail, and commissioned festive celebrations in honor of Dalal Mughrabi, the mastermind of the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre in which 38 Israelis were murdered.
Day in and day out, Palestinians are exposed to clearly antisemitic rantings and wild accusations on their radio, TV and newspapers, in their mosques and their schools. Here are a few of them that Rosenblum mentions:
…Israel will pay NIS 4,500 to any Palestinian who can prove he is a drug addict; Israel produced and distributed to Palestinians 200 tons of drug-laced bubble gum designed to destroy the genetic systems of Palestinian youth; it also distributes carcinogenic food and fruits for Palestinian consumption and children’s games that beam radioactive x-rays. And don’t forget the HIV-infected Jewish prostitutes whom Israel unleashed on Palestinian youth. Or Suha Arafat’s accusation to Hillary Clinton that Israel poisons Palestinian wells.
The very outlandishness of these slanders — like the IDF organ-stealing story, which also originated in the Palestinian press — shows that the Palestinian audience has been conditioned to regard them as believable, by years of being fed similar poison.
The effect of decades of incitement to destroy Israel is fully reflected in Palestinian polls. A June 5-7 poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that three-quarters of Palestinians reject any possibility of reconciliation with Israel in this generation, even if a final peace agreement were signed and an independent Palestinian state created.
The PA is not alone in this, although the effect of its propaganda on the prospects of the ‘peace process’ has been huge. Egypt is probably the world leader in production of antisemitic propaganda of all kinds, from films and TV programs — for example this 30-part series based on “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” — to publication of “Mein Kampf” and the Protocols translated into Arabic.
You know what? We don’t have to take this.
It’s difficult for Israel to pressure Sweden, for example, to control its hate-mongers, although perhaps more could have been done diplomatically in response to the Aftonbladet scandal.
But the PA is wholly dependent on Israel and the US. And Egypt receives $3 billion a year from the US. Even without the help of the US, Israel can make life very difficult for the PA.
It is remarkable that Israel does not take decisive action to force the PA to finally put an end to the incitement — which after all comes from their state-controlled institutions. Perhaps Israelis, too, are so accustomed to hearing themselves compared to pigs and apes that it doesn’t register any more.
The Obama administration appears to be devoting a large amount of effort and political capital to an attempt to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such as its unfortunate demand for a settlement freeze. Ending Palestinian and other Arab incitement would be one of the most constructive steps it could take.
Or — don’t bother. Take them at their hateful word. Make no further concessions and do what’s necessary to ensure Israel’s safety. If they insist on being Nazis, treat them as such.
Either way, self-respect demands that we don’t continue to accept this, not for one more day.
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Self respect does demand that Israel change its behavior, and that protection of its own citizens ought to come first, before any other considerations.
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