Thursday, November 20, 2014

Mass murderer moderate Mahmoud

From  Richard Baehr Yisrael Hayome

Mass murderer moderate Mahmoud
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, under pressure from U.S. ‎Secretary of State John Kerry, uttered a few words on Tuesday that appeared to ‎condemn the barbaric attack by two Palestinians in a synagogue in Jerusalem. (The ‎killers, of course, will soon be recognized as martyrs by Abbas' political party Fatah, ‎and all the other Palestinian groups, which are even more extreme). 
The attack, ‎which has so far killed five Israelis, as well as the two murderers (a mild term, really for ‎those who slaughter rabbis and others with an axe or knife while they are ‎praying), could have had a far worse outcome, though others in the hospital on life ‎support or in critical condition may soon be added to the death toll. ‎
Some 30 people were praying at the time of the attack, and the goal of the ‎killers was to murder them all. Israeli police prevented a worse bloodbath, ‎and it is a virtual certainty now that synagogues will be added to other institutional ‎venues in Israel that require more security. Had the monsters been more ‎‎"successful" before they were shot to death by the Israeli police, then CNN could ‎have headlined "32 dead in mosque attack in Jerusalem," and the BBC could have ‎shown pictures of the two dead Palestinians while refusing to show any of the 30 ‎Jewish or Israeli casualties, and The New York Times could have used its typical ‎passive voice to describe the attack this way: "Violence breaks out in Jerusalem, 32 dead." Someone needs to have a heart-to-heart talk with violence and keep him ‎from breaking out in this way. That is the road to peace.‎
The attack clearly had no impact in preventing or delaying the latest disgrace from ‎Europe, where Spanish legislators showed their concern for the dead and ‎wounded by voting to recognize the nonexistent state of Palestine.‎
Kerry has hardly been an innocent party in recent months, ‎repeatedly blaming Israel for the breakdown of peace talks that due to Palestinian lack of interest in even participating in a peace process, never got to a stage where they ‎could break down. His spokespeople at the State Department, amateur-hour ‎incompetents Jen Psaki and Marie Harf, have treated Israel like a pinata, particularly ‎during the recent Gaza war, when Israel just could not do enough in their eyes to ‎protect Palestinian civilians (despite their being regularly used by Hamas as human ‎shields, and with 12-year-olds sent off to fight). Better it seems that Israel had a ‎right to defend itself (all criticisms of Israel begin this way), but did nothing, since ‎any Israeli attack or bombing might involve civilian casualties, presumably ‎something new in the history of war. Yesterday, Psaki criticized Israel's demolition ‎of the houses of the mass-murdering duo, since it was an obstacle in the path to ‎peace. That path, in the minds of some in the Obama administration, including ‎possibly President Barack Obama, himself, involves the eventual disappearance of Israel as a ‎Jewish state. ‎
Kerry has argued that one of the principal reasons for the growth and success of ‎Islamic State (particularly its recruitment of new jihadists) has been the failure of Israel and ‎the Palestinians to achieve peace and a two-state solution. After all, if we have ‎learned anything the past few months, it is that there is nothing the jihadist recruits ‎want more than the two-state solution, and Israel and Palestine living side by side ‎in peace and security. Presumably, these recruits share the vision of Kerry ‎and Martin Indyk and Obama. ‎
But it is worth giving credit where credit is due, and yesterday Kerry issued a very ‎tough statement condemning not only the attack in the synagogue but the ‎incitement by Palestinian officials that has precipitated and fueled not only this ‎atrocity but many such attacks in recent months. Kerry called Abbas and ‎demanded he issue a condemnation of the attack (Abbas' first, of course, since the start of the ‎campaign of violence that he has supported).
Abbas' latest version of the big lie has been that Jews are planning to destroy Al-‎Aqsa mosque and take over the Temple Mount. Abbas described how Jews were ‎‎"contaminating" the Temple Mount with their presence. That kind of language ‎presumably is why Abbas is regarded by Western peacemakers as a ‎moderate, and the man with whom Israel must negotiate, since he offers a rare ‎‎(always final) opportunity to achieve peace and a two-state solution. Presumably, ‎Israelis who meet with Abbas have gone through a decontamination process ‎before they are in his presence (e.g., converting to Islam). ‎
This latest intifada, including car attacks, vandalism of the Jerusalem light rail, ‎stabbings, and Tuesday's mass murder, were part of a campaign designed to ‎achieve nothing more than dead Jews. Dead Jews are always a reason for ‎Palestinian celebration, yesterday creating joyous moments in both Gaza and the ‎West Bank. Not entirely coincidentally, the latest wave of attacks provided a public relations ‎boost for Abbas and his party. In Palestinian society, the ‎resistance -- those most purposeful and effective in killing Jews and fighting and ‎denying Israel's right to exist and calling for its destruction -- are always the most ‎popular on the street. Hamas fought the war in Gaza. 
Fatah now needs to look like ‎it is doing its part where it has authority. Jonathan Schanzer described Abbas' ‎political calculus:‎ ‎"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attacks and ‎hammered Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for inciting the ongoing ‎violence in Jerusalem. Similarly, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry ‎condemned the 'senseless brutality,' and called on Abbas to do the same.‎
"Abbas soon stepped up. It was his first condemnation of any attack in ‎Jerusalem since the unrest began last month, Indeed, the aging Palestinian ‎leader is walking a tightrope. On the one hand, lone wolves are by definition ‎not under the control of Abbas nor other Palestinian political organizations. ‎And it is also true that Abbas has not been the driving force of the Jerusalem ‎unrest. But at the same time, he does appear to be making an effort to ‎benefit from the tensions, seemingly seeking to ride this current wave of ‎nationalist fervor." ‎
In order to insure that every Palestinian will understand not to take Abbas' ‎condemnation too seriously, Fatah ‎spokespeople were more direct in their warm praise for the bloodletting:‎ ‎"Blessed be your quality weapons, the wheels of ‎your cars, your axes and kitchen knives ... ‎because [they are being used] according to ‎Allah's will. We are the soldiers of Allah."‎
And then there is Obama, who is never ‎anything but evenhanded when such attacks ‎occur. He too condemned yesterday's attacks, ‎since they targeted "innocent civilians." 
The choice of words may not be accidental. The ‎innocent civilians were in a synagogue on the ‎Israeli side of the Green Line, what the diplomats ‎call West Jerusalem, though the Obama ‎administration recognizes no part of Jerusalem as ‎being part of Israel at this point. If the attack had ‎occurred at a synagogue in Judea and Samaria, ‎would there then be some guilt associated with ‎the civilians who were murdered, hence they were ‎not such innocent civilians? What about a mass ‎murder of Israeli soldiers? Does the president ‎consider them innocents as well when they are ‎slaughtered?‎
The president went on to make his traditional plea ‎for the peace living people on both sides, a ‎majority in each case, to work for peace and to lower tensions: ‎"Speaking before a meeting with national security and ‎public health officials, Obama said that the 'majority' ‎of Palestinians and Israelis 'overwhelmingly want ‎peace.'
"'Too many Israelis have died; too many Palestinians ‎have died. At this difficult time I think it's important ‎for both Palestinians and Israelis to try to work ‎together to lower tensions and reject violence,' ‎Obama said."
Certainly yesterday and in the weeks prior, there is no ‎evidence that a majority of Palestinians or their ‎leadership were interested in demonstrating their ‎overwhelming desire for peace with Israel. From such ‎bromides, fantasies that last decades are created.‎
There is really only one truth about the Israeli-‎Palestinian conflict since its inception -- the ‎Palestinians (or simply Arabs, as they used to be ‎called) will not accept Israel as a state for the Jews. ‎The Palestinian national movement has as its ‎principal goal the denial of a state for another people. ‎
That goal now requires Israel's destruction, hence ‎death to the Jews, innocent civilians be damned.‎

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