Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Credit: Wikipedia Commons)
By Tevy Pilc
Staff Writer/Researcher
B’nai Brith Canada
While the world was engrossed in the UK referendum vote to leave the EU, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas wasted no time delivering a plethora of nonsensical anti-Israel rhetoric to the very same European parliament this week.
Addressing the EU parliament in Brussels on the purpose of promoting a two-state solution, Abbas maliciously accused rabbis in Israel of calling to poison Palestinian water. He also made an outrageous proclamation that “once occupation ends, terrorism will disappear.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed immense outrage over the remarks, calling the water-poisoning accusation a blood libel. He also addressed Abbas’s refusal to meet with him and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin for meetings in Brussels.
“Someone who refuses to meet with the president and Prime Minister Netanyahu for direct talks, who propagates a blood libel in the European Parliament, is lying when he says his hand is outstretched in peace,” a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office said.
“Abbas has exposed his true face. Israel is waiting for the day when Abu Mazen (Abbas) will stop spreading lies and incitement. Until then, Israel will continue to defend itself against Palestinian incitement that causes terrorism.”
Here are some excerpts from Abbas’s speech:
On water-poisoning accusations:
“Only a week ago, a number of rabbis in Israel announced, and made a clear announcement, demanding that their government poison the water to kill the Palestinians…Isn’t that a clear incitement to commit mass killings against the Palestinian people?”
On “opposing terrorism”:
“We are against terrorism in whatever form it may take and whoever carries it out…In order to overcome terrorism, we also need to end Israeli occupation by creating a Palestinian State within the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital…Once this occupation ends, those pretexts will disappears and extremism will be over as will terrorism. There will be no more terrorism in the Middle East nor elsewhere in the world.”
On Israel and fascism:
“Israel has turned our country into an open prison… Israel is experiencing a tendency toward violence and extremism, and this is expressed in settler terrorism. This is in addition to the Israeli Army’s criminal conduct, which carries out murderous operations against the Palestinians and holds itself above the law… These are growing signs of fascism in Israeli society.”
According to Reuters, the water-poisoning accusations were not included in the official speech transcript issued by his office.
Abbas was referring to articles posted on Anadolu, the Turkish state-run news agency and The Gulf News, a newspaper in Dubai. The Anadolu article references a “Rabbi Shlomo Mlma,” who’s identified as a “Chairman of the Council of Rabbis in the West Bank Settlements,” who issued an “advisory opinion in which he allowed Jewish settlers to poison water in Palestinian villages and cities in the West Bank.”
However, reports from Reuters and Ha’aretz failed to validate the existence of a “Rabbi Mlma” or a “Council of Rabbis in The West Bank Settlements.”
Abbas also found himself trashed on social media this week when a photo was posted of him presenting Saudi Arabian King Salmon a framed of the 1930s Palestine Post newspaper. You might be more familiar with it’s current incarnation – The Jerusalem Post. The Palestine Post was (and still is today as the Jerusalem Post) a Zionist newspaper.
Mahmoud #Abbas presents Saudi King Salman with a framed copy of 'The Palestine Post'. Wonder if he's a subscriber. pic.twitter.com/B02y7RlrRV
— David Brinn (@davidbjpost) June 20, 2016
| Jerusalem Post Managing Editor David Brinn tweets the photo of Mahmoud Abbas giving Saudi King Salman with a framed copy of ‘The Palestine Post’. |
Tevy Pilc can be emailed at: [email protected]
