Mahmoud Abbas: The Leopard Who Does Not Change His Spots
What is it about politicians and so-called statesmen that causes them to lose their eyesight and intellectual acuity? It must be an as-yet undefined form of Altzheimers.
Shimon Peres, in a case of the blind leading the soon-to-be blind, convinced Yitzchak Rabin to set off on the course of folly known as Oslo. I argued at the time that such lunacy would inevitably lead to more and more bloodshed. Twelve years later the death toll keeps mounting.
I am not a prophet. But anyone with half a measure of brains, and that is all I have, could see that you cannot make peace with the world's greatest and most murderous terrorist.
Nonetheless, it took almost ten years for those who style themselves "World Leaders" to recognize the obvious. Even then, some, such as Jacques Chirac, would not admit it right to the very end. When Arafat finally had the good grace to die in a French hospital, Chirac gave him a sendoff worthy of a great head of state. Even the formal funeral in Egypt was more muted.
And now the cycle of horror is starting all over. "Politician's Altzheimers" is setting in again, and the "World Leaders" are embracing the "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas. Moderate? There goes the eyesight and the acuity once more.
This is the same Mahmoud Abbas who financed and helped in the planning of the Munich massacre of Israeli athletes. The same Abbas who since the mid-60s was the loyal sidekick of Arafat. He was clearly privy to all the horrors and killings, the hijackings, the extortion and the corruption that have been the hallmarks of Fatah and the PLO.
Where is the evidence of moderation? Surely not in his actions, either before or after the demise of Arafat; nor in his writings where he is clearly seen as a Holocaust denier and venomous hater of Jews.
No, he has not changed. As recently as two days ago he referred to Israel as the "Zionist enemy". His demands in all the speeches he has delivered in the election campaign do not vary one iota from those of his late but unlamented predecessor and mentor.
Will he fight terror? No. He will not take up arms against the terrorists, he insists. Well what does he propose to do, wave some magic wand that will cause them to disappear? I do not think so. The only disappearing he is interested in is that of Israel. It is still the same old message, but delivered in a tailored suit rather than a mock uniform.
We are urged to overlook all these things because Abbas is fighting an election and so he must appeal to the electorate in this way. Sure, tell them what they want to hear so you get elected, then you do what must be done. Isn't that what is called lieing?
What would "World Leaders" say if Prime Minister Alawi of Iraq were to campaign on the basis of Jihad against the US and the EU? How about a photo op where Alawi embraces al Zarqawi and pledges not to take up arms against him and his minions? Would the "international community" -another great phrase- pass it off as a lie necessary to get elected? Not on your life; and life is precisely what is at stake.
Shimon Peres, in a case of the blind leading the soon-to-be blind, convinced Yitzchak Rabin to set off on the course of folly known as Oslo. I argued at the time that such lunacy would inevitably lead to more and more bloodshed. Twelve years later the death toll keeps mounting.
I am not a prophet. But anyone with half a measure of brains, and that is all I have, could see that you cannot make peace with the world's greatest and most murderous terrorist.
Nonetheless, it took almost ten years for those who style themselves "World Leaders" to recognize the obvious. Even then, some, such as Jacques Chirac, would not admit it right to the very end. When Arafat finally had the good grace to die in a French hospital, Chirac gave him a sendoff worthy of a great head of state. Even the formal funeral in Egypt was more muted.
And now the cycle of horror is starting all over. "Politician's Altzheimers" is setting in again, and the "World Leaders" are embracing the "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas. Moderate? There goes the eyesight and the acuity once more.
This is the same Mahmoud Abbas who financed and helped in the planning of the Munich massacre of Israeli athletes. The same Abbas who since the mid-60s was the loyal sidekick of Arafat. He was clearly privy to all the horrors and killings, the hijackings, the extortion and the corruption that have been the hallmarks of Fatah and the PLO.
Where is the evidence of moderation? Surely not in his actions, either before or after the demise of Arafat; nor in his writings where he is clearly seen as a Holocaust denier and venomous hater of Jews.
No, he has not changed. As recently as two days ago he referred to Israel as the "Zionist enemy". His demands in all the speeches he has delivered in the election campaign do not vary one iota from those of his late but unlamented predecessor and mentor.
Will he fight terror? No. He will not take up arms against the terrorists, he insists. Well what does he propose to do, wave some magic wand that will cause them to disappear? I do not think so. The only disappearing he is interested in is that of Israel. It is still the same old message, but delivered in a tailored suit rather than a mock uniform.
We are urged to overlook all these things because Abbas is fighting an election and so he must appeal to the electorate in this way. Sure, tell them what they want to hear so you get elected, then you do what must be done. Isn't that what is called lieing?
What would "World Leaders" say if Prime Minister Alawi of Iraq were to campaign on the basis of Jihad against the US and the EU? How about a photo op where Alawi embraces al Zarqawi and pledges not to take up arms against him and his minions? Would the "international community" -another great phrase- pass it off as a lie necessary to get elected? Not on your life; and life is precisely what is at stake.
By permitting Abbas to get away with his incitement it further cements the poisonous hatred that is the daily diet of the Palestinians. The injection of this venom kills any hope for peace.
No, the leopard has not changed his spots. But he is being released into the forest to wreak his havoc.
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