Fatah, the faction headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed Monday’s 18 April, 2016 bomb attack on a bus in Jerusalem, in which 21 people were wounded. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which is Fatah’s so-called "military wing”, praised the attack and said its perpetrators "responded to our calls to carry out suicide attacks.” Earlier, both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad welcomed the Jerusalem attack, with Hamas calling it "the natural response to [so called] Israeli crimes, particularly the field executions [self-defense measures] it conducts, and the [erroneous] assaults on the Al-Aqsa Mosque." Islamic Jihad also justified the attack, saying that it "delivered the message that the Intifada would continue." Earlier on Monday, PM Netanyahu responded to the bus bombing by pledging to find those responsible and settle the score. "We will find whoever made the bomb, we'll get to the terrorists who delivered it, we'll get to the people standing behind this attack and we'll settle the score with these terrorists." (INN) [Comment]

for "right" to kill Israelis

by Itamar Marcus 

 

The Palestinian Authority has claimed for years that they have a right under international law, confirmed by a UN resolution (see details below), to kill Israeli civilians in all places and at all times. Accordingly, those Palestinians who have killed Israelis are said to have done something positive and heroic. Palestinian murderers of Israeli civilians are presented as heroes and role models. 

 

Now the PA is taking its ideology to the international forum and seeking recognition for these fundamental principles of PA ideology. They are asking that Palestinians have an internationally protected right to murder Israeli civilians, that will also be recognized as a positive act that should be awarded. 

As a means to attain this recognition, the PA is asking the international community to award an imprisoned Palestinian terrorist with the Nobel Peace Prize. As the leader of the Tanzim, Fatah's terror wing, Marwan Barghouti orchestrated many terror attacks in which Israelis were murdered. He was convicted in an Israeli court and is serving 5 life sentences for murder.

 

According to the head of the PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs, Issa Karake:

"The candidacy [of Barghouti] is essentially a call to recognize the legitimacy of the prisoners' struggle... and also a response to the claims and Israeli terms that do not recognize the legitimacy of their struggle, and treat them as 'terrorists and criminals'..."

[Donia Al-Watan (independent Palestinian news agency), April 14, 2016]

 

The PA's request of the world to "recognize the legitimacy of the prisoners' struggle" is the PA euphemism for "recognizing the legitimacy" of Palestinian killing of Israelis. 

Barghouti was convicted of five murders - for the killings of the five people below. The PA wants the international community to "recognize the legitimacy" of their murders, by awarding him the Nobel Peace Prize:

 

 

 

Yoela Hen (45) was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in a shooting attack at a gas station in Givat Zeev near Jerusalem on Jan. 15, 2002, carried out on the orders of Marwan Barghouti.

 

 

  

   

 

Eli Dahan (53) was murdered in a shooting and stabbing attack at the Sea Food Market restaurant in Tel Aviv on March 5, 2002, carried out on the orders of Marwan Barghouti.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yosef Habi (52) - was stabbed to death during a shooting and stabbing attack at the Sea Food Market restaurant in Tel Aviv on March 5, 2002, carried out on the orders of Marwan Barghouti.

 

 

 

 

 

Police officer Sergeant-Major Salim Barakat (33) charged the terrorist during the attack at the Sea Food Market restaurant in Tel Aviv, and was stabbed to death. The attack was carried out on the orders of Marwan Barghouti.

 

 

 

(No picture) Greek monk Tsibouktsakis Germanus was murdered in a shooting attack on his car, carried out on the orders of Marwan Barghouti on June 12, 2001.

 

In addition to these five murders, dozens of other Israeli civilians were murdered by Tanzim terrorists during the period Barghouti headed Tanzim, although he was not tried for those murders. 

 

As stated above, the PA claims it has the right to kill Israeli civilians, and they quote UN resolution 3236 of 1974 which "recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to regain its rights by all means." The PA interprets "all means" as including violence and killing of civilians. Significantly, it has chosen to ignore the continuation of the resolution which states that the use of "all means" should be "in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations..." The UN Charter prohibits targeting civilians, even in war. Furthermore, chapter 1, Article 1, opens by saying that "international disputes" should be resolved "by peaceful means." 

 

The Palestinian Authority and Fatah have enlisted many of its leaders to promote awarding Barghouti the Nobel Peace Prize. Note while reading these sources that the PA uses the euphemism "struggle" when referring to terror and murder of Israelis:

 

Mahmoud Al-Aloul,Fatah Central Committee member: Barghouti "source of pride"

"Fatah Central Committee member Mahmoud Al-Aloul said that [Marwan Barghouti is] a source of pride for the Palestinian people, being one of the founders of the Palestinian national path of struggle. He emphasized that they will continue on this path of national struggle... [Al-Aloul]: 'The fighter Barghouti is a source of pride for the Palestinian people and one of the founders of the Palestinian path of struggle'... He stressed that Palestine's youth draw inspiration from the struggle experience and the ideas of their leaders, the Martyrs (Shahids) and prisoners in their confrontation with the Israeli occupation."

[Donia Al-Watan (independent Palestinian news agency), Apr. 14, 2016]

 

Issa Karake, Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs: 

"We, the Palestinian people, support this initiative, and we think this initiative carries several messages... a judicial message, which is a response to the Israeli claims accusing the prisoners of being terrorists and criminals."

[Official PA TV, April 12, 2016]

Issa Karake, Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs: Support for "their legitimate struggle"

Karake: "The nomination of Barghouti for the prize means support for the just rights of the Palestinian people in its struggle for freedom and independence, and support for the prisoners' cause, as well as their legitimate struggle for freedom and honor, as prisoners of freedom who sacrificed and fought for their land and in order to end the injustice the occupation is causing to our people"...

"Karake stated that this campaign is a response to the wave of Israeli measures and acts against the prisoners, to deny their legal status as fighters, and the non-recognition of the legitimacy of their struggle against the occupation."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 8, 2016]

 

Headline: "National campaign for the candidacy of the prisoner Marwan Barghouti for the Nobel Peace Prize"

"At the press conference, Director of [PLO] Commission of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake, Ramallah and El-Bireh District Governor Laila Ghannam, head of the Fatah parliamentary faction Azzam Al-Ahmad, Coordinator of the National and Islamic Forces in the Ramallah and El-Bireh District and Secretary of Foreign Relations of the Supreme Council for Monitoring Prisoners' Affairs Issam Bakr, and Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories Sheikh Muhammad Hussein spoke one after the other, while Secretary-General of the People's Party and head of the Al-Badil list Bassam Al-Salhi gave a speech in the name of the national forces... Al-Salhi called to increase the efforts and widen the scope of the campaign through the launch of a popular campaign to gather as many signatures as possible in support of Marwan Barghouti's candidacy for the prize, out of an understanding of its significance in refuting the false Israeli version which attempts to define Barghouti and the prisoners as criminals."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 13, 2016]

 

Fatah calls the terrorist Barghouti's arrest an "abduction" 

"The Fatah parliamentary faction saluted the [PA] Parliament and Fatah Central Committee member, prisoner Marwan Barghouti yesterday [April 14, 2016] on the 14^th anniversary of his abduction, and praised his resolve in the face of the hangmen.

The faction made a statement calling to organize a widespread popular campaign of solidarity and support for the candidacy of MP Barghouti for the Nobel Peace Prize because this candidacy is of the entire Palestinian people, all of the freedom fighters, and the just Palestinian cause..."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 15, 2016

[Comment]

Vice President Joe Biden said Monday night, 18 April 2016, that Israeli PM Netanyahu's government was leading the country "in the wrong direction" hours after a bus bombing in Jerusalem wounded at least 21 people. In a speech to the Israel advocacy group J Street, Biden criticized Palestinian leaders, but saved his harshest words for Israeli officials. Biden expressed what he called the Obama administration’s "overwhelming frustration” with Israel. "The present course Israel’s on is not one that’s likely to secure its existence as a Jewish, democratic state – and we have to make sure that happens,” Biden said, before going on to criticize Israel over a host of issues. Despite a partial freeze on construction in Jewish communities in Judea & Samaria, Biden attacked Israeli actions over the Green Line and also openly expressed the hope that the Israeli left win back control of the Knesset. Biden did single out Palestinian leaders, including Mahmoud Abbas, for declining to condemn specific acts of terrorism carried out against Israelis. The White House on Tuesday, 19 April, backed the harsh remarks against Israel made by Vice President Joe Biden (Fox/INN) [Comment]

Minister of Tourism MK Yariv Levin announced a new initiative that could dramatically change tourism in Israel beginning this coming winter. According to the new plan, each airline that successfully opens a new flight to Ben Gurion Airport will receive a grant of 100 thousand euros. If each airline provides more and more flights, the grant will be increased to 300 thousand euros per year. The new plan comes as the Ministry of Tourism realized that airlines market tourist destinations far better than any government campaign. According to the estimates, the new plan will bring 80 additional direct flights from new destinations and increase the amount of tourists adding half a million tourists a year. In the past year, more than 3 million tourists visited Israel. The increase of tourists, especially during the winter season, is also expected to reduce the summer prices of resorts across Israel. (INN) [Comment]

A resolution adopted last Friday by the executive board of UNESCO, meeting in Paris, does not recognize a Jewish connection to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount and calls Israel an "occupying power." The measure refers to the Western Wall as Al-Buraq Plaza and to the Temple Mount as the Al-Aksa Mosque/Al-Haram Al Sharif. It also criticizes Israel for its decision to build an egalitarian prayer area in the Western Wall Plaza. Israeli PM Netanyahu responded the following day: "UNESCO ignores the unique historic connection of Judaism to the Temple Mount, where two temples stood for a thousand years and to which every Jew in the world has prayed for thousands of years. The UN is rewriting a basic part of human history." Despite being the holiest site in Judaism, the Temple Mount remains under Jordanian jurisdiction. Israeli police, in an attempt to appease the Muslim Waqf which was left in charge of the Temple Mount compound after the 1967 Six Day War, ban Jews from praying or performing any other form of worship at the site. (JTA/INN) [Comment]

Leading Jewish groups harshly denounced CNN on Monday, 18 April 2016, for failing to refer to a major bus bombing in Jerusalem as a terrorist attack. "There’s no excuse for this; hopefully it’s not part of a pattern,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of Jewish human rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told media sources. Cooper was responding to CNN‘s coverage of an explosion on the number 12 bus as it drove through Jerusalem’s Talpiot neighborhood during rush hour. At least 21 people were wounded in the incident, two of them critically. Jerusalem Police Chief Yoram Levy soon confirmed, "There is no doubt that this is a terror attack.” But the leading CNN article reporting on the incident carried the headline, "Bus fire in Jerusalem injures at least 21, police say.” "CNN is an important news organization and it owes its readership, the victims and itself to get the story right,” Cooper said. (Algemeiner) [Comment]

Israel’s Cabinet convened its weekly meeting atop the Golan Heights on Sunday, 17 April 2016, so that PM Netanyahu could pointedly inform the world that, in light of the current situation in the region, there is no chance Israel will ever return the strategic plateau to Syrian control. "The time has come for the world to recognize our sovereignty here,” said Netanyahu. The international community needs to accept this.” The statement comes amid mounting assessments that Syrian dictator Bashar Assad will survive the ongoing civil war and maintain power in Damascus, largely thanks to the assistance of Iran and Russia. For nearly 20 years the Golan Heights was used as a platform to launch attacks on the Galilee region, before being captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. Israel officially annexed the Golan in 1981, but came under heavy American pressure in the 1990s to relinquish control as a first step toward making peace with Syria and the broader Arab world. Had Israel succumbed to that pressure, its northern towns and cities would today be under tremendous and sustained threat from groups like ISIS and the various Al Qaeda-affiliated gangs fighting in Syria. (Israel Today) Continue to pray for wisdom and courage for Israel’s leaders not to bend to foreign demands to achieve a false peace with those who have no intention of relinquishing their hatred and violence towards the Jewish state. Intercede for the safety of Israel’s northern and southern borders. [Comment]

 Israel’s MK Haim Jelin, who formerly served as the head of the Eshkol Regional Council and is a resident of a Gaza border community, reacted to the IDF's uncovering of a Hamas tunnel stretching into Israel on Monday calling on Israel to work to destroy such tunnels, while also advancing a diplomatic initiative with Arab states on a parallel track. "This tunnel must be destroyed immediately, we shouldn't wait. We should destroy every tunnel that enters Israel and every tunnel we know they have started to build - just as we assassinate terror cells that are set to fire rockets into Israel." Jelin said that Hamas must be stopped from digging tunnels, calling on PM Netanyahu to take action. "Mr. Prime Minister, this is your responsibility. We are strong and prepared to take a lot, on one condition: that there will be a diplomatic horizon for the whole region. You need to hit them before they come out of the ground, and at the same time to initiate a long-term 'hudna' agreement with the moderate Arab states, the US[A] and Europe," he said, using the Arabic word for truce. (J.Post) [Comment]

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett has applauded the IDF's success in locating and destroying a massive terrorist attack tunnel from Gaza into Israel, and warned of Hamas' continued motivation to launch a major attack. Bennett, who is also a member of the Security Cabinet, said Hamas' top priority was to carry out a multi-pronged, mass-casualty infiltration attack from Gaza into southern Israeli communities. "In the two years since Operation Protective Edge, Hamas was not deterred from re-intensifying its efforts. Despite the IDF destroying its entire attack tunnel capabilities - and foiling a massive planned attack against Israeli civilians - Bennett warned that Hamas had turned tunnel construction into a "national priority," and was investing massively in plans to launch an even greater attack.

"The time has come to internalize" the threat, he said. "Hamas' objective is to surprise us with a multi-front infiltration attack, including killings and kidnappings," he said, describing it as a "terrorist Yom Kippur War-type scenario." During the 1973 war, Israeli forces sustained serious casualties when Arab armies launched a surprise attack, capitalizing on the Israeli government's sense of complacency following its spectacular 1967 victory, before the IDF eventually recovered and pushed back to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Israel needs to prevent such a scenario recurring "at any price, and not to rely on Hamas being 'deterred'," he said. (Arutz-7) Pray according to scripture: "Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent, who devise ways to trip my feet.” Ps 140:4 [Comment]

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday 15 April 2016, that the world's current refugee crisis, with more than 70 million displaced people, has become "totally unmanageable" and "uncontrollable." Speaking at the World Bank headquarters in Washington at a panel discussion on the refugee situation, Ban called for political solidarity as the world faces the "biggest refugee and displacement crisis of our time." World Bank President Jim Yong Kim told the panel "We can no longer wait for the humanitarian experts to do their work while we enter later at some point with our long-term solutions after months or sometimes after years. We know we can no longer wait as countries implode and say, ‘Well, this is not our job,’" he said. "So how do you solve this problem of so many refugees who don't have livelihoods, who don't have income, and at the same time not just simply burden a country like Jordan with debt?" Kim asked.

Queen Rania of Jordan said one out of every seven people in her country is a Syrian refugee. "To put that in context, if the United States received an equivalent influx, it will mean accommodating 50 million refugees. Think about that, 50 million. That's almost 2½ more Floridas, five Ohios, 10 South Carolinas," she said. Queen Rania said the refugee crisis was a global one, adding, "We are deluding ourselves if we think it can be contained. We know all too well in our interconnected world a crisis in one place is a crisis in all places." (VOA)

[Comment]