Jew-baiting
Who gets today’s prize for most jaw-dropping remark?
It could be the “first lady” of the PA. Suha Arafat said, “Our people have been submitted to the daily and intensive use of poisonous gas by the Israeli forces which have led to an increase in cancer cases among women and children” and that Israel has contaminated water sources which “chemical materials.”
Who gets today’s prize for most jaw-dropping remark?
It could be the “first lady” of the PA. Suha Arafat said, “Our people have been submitted to the daily and intensive use of poisonous gas by the Israeli forces which have led to an increase in cancer cases among women and children” and that Israel has contaminated water sources which “chemical materials.”
It could be the First Lady of the United States. Mrs. Clinton sat politely in the face of an offense against Jews that would have driven any remotely sensitive person out of the room. She gets a second chance at the prize for later issuing a flip statement, complimenting her husband’s wisdom in urging “the parties to refrain from making inflammatory charges or engaging in excessive rhetoric and to deal with any issues at the negotiating table.” Her words raised Suha’s blood libel to the status of an “issue” for Palestinian-Israeli “negotiation.”
Or maybe The New York Times. Hard on the heels of firing pro-Israel sage A.M. Rosenthal, NYT headed its story of pg. 27, “Palestinians criticize Israel…” and noted, “her hosts… excoriated Israel for its alleged toxic contamination of Palestinian air and water.” Clever, those Jews, contaminating Palestinian air without contaminating Jewish air.
The rhetoric is ugly, but there is a bigger problem here. The Palestinians have burned American flags, threatened a Speaker of the US House of Representatives, called for Saddam to drop chemical weapons on Israel, and teach children the joy of martyrdom through the murder of Jews. Yet Mrs. Arafat and her cohorts have no fear of an adverse American reaction. And they are right.
The Clinton Administration – and Mrs. Clinton – still treat the PA as a “partner,” not a patently anti-American organization on probation for a bloody history and intransigent political philosophy. We have made this case before:
“The Palestinians… (made) common cause with practically every enemy of the West from the 1960s through the 1990s. From the Soviets, the Bader Meinhof, the Red Brigades, the East German Stasi, the Japanese Red Army, and continuing with Saddam and the Iranian Mullahs, it is hard to find a friend of theirs that we should want to do business with – and that includes certain Western European governments.
“The Palestinians violate the Oslo Accords most egregiously by not changing their Charter; by having twice the allowed number of men under arms; by not extraditing wanted terrorists as required; by fomenting hatred and a love of violence among their people – including children; and by threatening others with violence…Since the PA governs 97% of all Palestinians formerly living under Israeli occupation, America as well as Israel should worry about the consequences.
“Under no circumstances should the United States view Israel and the PA as having equal claim to America’s partnership and forbearance. Israel is a democratic, pro-Western partner in a variety of economic, social, military and political ventures. We share values including the rule of law, a free press, and the right to dissent.”
We ought to share disgust for Jew-baiting. Mr. President, we’re waiting.