Last week, Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister, Matan Vilnai made some waves. Here’s the NY Times:
The Israeli deputy defense minister, Matan Vilnai, told army radio that Israel would respond to escalation and that “we will not shy away from any action†to halt the rocket fire on Israeli civilians. He called Hamas leaders irresponsible, and said they knew that “by intensifying the rocket fire and extending their reach they are bringing onto themselves a worse catastrophe, as we will use all means to defend ourselves,†including a major ground operation.Mr. Vilnai used the Hebrew word “shoah,†meaning catastrophe or holocaust, and rarely used for anything other than the Nazi extermination of the Jews.
A spokesman for Mr. Vilnai said he did not mean to make any allusion to the genocide.
The AP actually gave a fuller account of Vilnai’s statement.
“As the rocket fire grows, and the range increases … they are bringing upon themselves a greater ‘shoah’ because we will use all our strength in every way we deem appropriate, whether in airstrikes or on the ground,” Vilnai said.The Hebrew word “shoah” most often refers to the Holocaust but Israelis use it to describe all sorts of disasters. A spokesman for Vilnai, Eitan Ginzburg, said the deputy defense minister never intended it as a reference to the Holocaust but used the word “shoah” to denote a disaster.
However incautious Vilnai was in his choice of words it hardly compares to what Mahmoud Abbas said last week.
In an interview to the Jordanian newspaper al-Dustur, Abbas said that he is against an armed conflict at this time, but things may differ in the future.Abbas, a leading figure of the Palestine Liberation organization, was quoted as boasting about the fact that he was the one to “fire the first bullet of the resistance” back in 1965, adding it was the PLO that taught many around the world “how to resist, when resistance is most effective and when it is not.”
“I had the honor to lead… we taught everyone, including the Hizbullah, the ways of resistance. They were all educated in our training camps.”
(h/t Daled Amos)Now how did the Times report this?
The fighting brought harsh criticism from the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, who reportedly threatened to call off negotiations with Israel over a peace treaty. “We tell the world: watch and judge what’s happening, and judge who is committing international terrorism,†Mr. Abbas said in Ramallah, on the West Bank.Mr. Abbas, who has referred to the rocket firing as useless provocation, said last week that armed conflict remained an option if negotiations failed.
Note that Abbas’s comment about “armed conflict” is presented without remark. It’s presented as if it’s a normal statement reflecting Abbas’s frustration.
But it’s more than that. First of all, it rejects the premise of the “peace process.” The so-called “moderate” is rejecting the tradeoff of legitimacy the PLO was granted in exchange for halting the “armed struggle” against Israel. If “armed conflict” remains an option, Abbas has never accepted the very premise of the “peace process.”
Second of all, to read the statement in its entirety, it isn’t simply an expression of intent. It’s a general statement of support of terror against Israel; specifically in support of Hezbollah.
And he is expressing his pride in having been a terrorist. (Daled Amos noted that the statement proved that the 6 Day War had nothing to with causing PLO terror.)
I don’t believe that there’s much new to Abbas’s statement. The PA – including the “moderates” of Fatah – have treated the Oslo Accords as a nuisance that inconveniences its terror war against Israel. But Fatah never truly accepted the “peace” part of “peace process.” Still, in his statements Abbas has pretty clearly confirmed what the “peace process” skeptics have been saying for years. It’s a big deal, that has been largely ignored.
Of course that isn’t all Abbas said. The New York Times intentionally ignored the more hysterical part of the statement:
“It’s very regrettable that what is happening is more than a holocaust. We tell the world to see with its own eyes and judge for itself what is happening and who is carrying out international terrorism,” Abbas told reporters in Ramallah.He appeared to be referring to remarks made by Israel’s Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai, who used the Hebrew word “shoah” — generally used only for the Nazi Holocaust — in remarks to army radio on Friday.
I’m not convinced that Abbas was referring to Vilnai’s statement. Comparing Israeli operations in self-defense to the holocaust is pretty typical Palestinian hyperbole. (Israel Matzav notes the irony of a holocaust denier claiming that Israel’s actions are worse than the holocaust.)
The AFP also reports on another howler uttered by Abbas.
“It is unthinkable that Israel’s reaction to Palestinian rocket attacks — which we condemn — can be so terrible and frightening,” Abbas said, adding that the attacks were targeting “innocent women, children and old people.”
Despite the many failings of the NY Times article, it notes his condemnation of the qassams, hasn’t been on the morality of targeting Jewish innocents, but rather as a “useless provocation.”
It’s interesting the way the media treats Israeli and Arab rhetoric. The most outrageous statements by the Palestinians are scarcely noted. In contrast, the impolitic expressions of Israelis are gleaned for sinister meaning.
More at memeorandum.
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
