News
Israeli leaders condemn Abbas for continuing dangerous incitement
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the Palestinian people by television yesterday evening. Rather than call for a de-escalation of violence or condemn any of the recent attacks, he accused Israel of “executing” children and “attacking holy sites.”
It was Abbas’s first major speech since the current wave of attacks began, which has seen seven Israelis killed. He claimed that Israel is planning to harm the holiness of the al-Aqsa Mosque and alter the status quo at the holy site, saying “Al-Aqsa is our right as Palestinians and as Muslims and no one else has a right there.” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly publicly stated that Israel has no wish to alter the site’s status quo.
However, what most angered Israeli leaders was Abbas’s claim that Israel is not only “terrorizing our people, homes, trees, holy places” but also “execute[s] our boys in cold blood, as they did with the boy Ahmed Manasra and other children in Jerusalem and other places.” Mansara and his 15-year-old cousin stabbed two people in northern Jerusalem on Monday, seriously wounding a 13-year-old Israeli boy riding his bike. Pointing out that Abbas had omitted to mention Mansara’s attack, Netanyahu also noted that far from being executed, Mansara “is alive and hospitalized” in an Israeli hospital.
Netanyahu said that Abbas’s address was “filled with lies and incitement” and that, “While Israel protects the status-quo on the Temple Mount, Abbas has used religion to incite more acts of terror.” His sentiments were echoed by the opposition Zionist Union, which called Abbas’s claims “grave, defamatory statements that distort reality, border on utter irresponsibility and only serve to further fan the flames of hopelessness and hatred in the region.” Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid also joined the chorus of condemnation, commenting, “Instead of calming the situation and condemning the despicable terrorists … Abbas chose to mount a miserable performance showing lack of leadership and cowardice of the lowest level.”