Abbas repeats libel to
EU
Israeli rabbis called to poison
water
and cause "mass murder of
Palestinians"
Abbas later was forced to
retract
v
Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques
Zilberdik
x
The Palestinian
Authority and Mahmoud Abbas have a history of spreading horrific libels whose
purpose is to create hatred and fear among Palestinians and demonize Israel in
the international community.
The latest
Palestinian Authority libel, which
Palestinian Media Watch described in detail
last week which accused Israel of poisoning
Palestinian water sources in order to kill Palestinians and force them to
emigrate, was repeated by Mahmoud Abbas when speaking at the European Union on
Friday. Because this was said at the EU and televised, the condemnation was
widespread and Abbas was forced to issue a retraction. The retraction was not
televised but was a press statement issued by his office.
The
following is the excerpt from Abbas' speech reiterating the poison wells
libel:
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "There is an issue
that the Israelis are bringing up, and that is the issue of incitement.
Despite the fact that the Israeli incitement does not stop,
and the actions of the occupation (i.e., Israel) and the settlers do not stop...
Just a week ago, some rabbis rose up in Israel and explicitly announced and
demanded of their government that it poison the water in order to kill the
Palestinians. Is this not clear incitement? Is this not clear incitement, whose
goal is to carry out a mass murder of Palestinians? We are against
incitement!"
[Official PA
TV, June 23, 2016]
The libel that
rabbis called to poison the Palestinians' water, which had been voiced by the PA
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the PLO in the days prior to Abbas' speech, did
not appear in the written version of Abbas' speech, which was publicized in the
official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on June 24, 2016. Apparently Abbas
decided to add it in at the last moment.
The
following is the text of the retraction published by Abbas'
office:
Headline: "[PA] President
[Mahmoud Abbas]: Palestine is the cradle of the three monotheistic religions,
and we are not among those who harm any one of them"
"[PA] President Mahmoud
Abbas rejected the Israeli accusations and declarations directed against him and
against the Palestinian people, according to which he harmed Judaism, and
condemned accusations against him of Antisemitism.
After it became clear that
the reports that were published in many media outlets about the declarations of
a rabbi regarding the poisoning of Palestinian wells were baseless, President
Abbas - out of the deep respect he has for all religions, including Judaism -
emphasizes that he did not intend to harm Judaism or its believers in general.
However, at the same time he condemns the illegal actions and steps of the
occupation authorities (i.e., Israel) and its settlers against the Palestinian
people, including the incitement against him and against his
rights."
[Official PA
daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 25,
2016]
Posts