Did Palestinians Suggest Assassinating Visiting World Leader?

When 40 of the Western world’s top leaders visit Jerusalem later this week, they will be accompanied by large entourages of aides and security personnel, severely stifling the daily flow of life in the Israeli capital.

Most residents of the Holy City dread these visits. It’s bad enough when just the American president is in town. Imagine the traffic and delays with dozens of presidents, princes and kings all here at the same time!

But then the Palestinians reminded us precisely why the exaggerated security measures that cause such congestion are necessary.

Abbas’ official mouthpiece

Al-Hayat Al-Jadida is the official, government-controlled newspaper of the Palestinian Authority. As such, it is the mouthpiece of the Palestinian leadership, in much the same way CNN is the mouthpiece of the American Democratic Party (I kid, I kid…).

On Saturday, this mouthpiece of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas published an editorial decrying the fact that Israel would be hosting 40 top world leaders in Jerusalem to mark the liberation of Auschwitz and remember the Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

“It can be assumed that the Palestinians will resist the ceremony being held in Jerusalem itself, as Jerusalem is ours,” wrote Al-Hayat Al-Jadida columnist Yahya Rabah in a piece translated by Palestinian Media Watch.

Palestinian incitement knows no bounds

Ah, but Rabah didn’t leave it at a vague expression of displeasure. He took things one dangerous step further.

“One shot will disrupt the ceremony and one dead body will cancel the ceremony,” read the damning line. 

Now, perhaps Raba was speaking of a general act of terrorist violence against some random Israeli Jew. That would be bad enough coming from the primary media organ of Israel’s ostensible “peace partners.”

But at least to me, his very specific wording sounds worryingly suggestive of a targeted assassination of one of the presidents, princes or kings who are about to touch down in the Holy Land.

Hopefully, that will be enough to finally wake up the international community not only to this particular threat, but to the routine incitement that characterizes the Palestinian Authority media.