The Palestinians, concluded the Israeli Government after fifteen months of extensive research, are inciting hatred and terror against the citizens and Government of Israel. To track this “culture of death,” Israel has now established an Index of Incitement.
The index was designed to motivate the Palestinian Authority to halt the incitement and promote a culture of peace. Its true importance is that it serves as a guide showing the harsh reality: Peace cannot be achieved when a “partner” for peace does not espouse peace but the other’s destruction. When the “partner” is engaged constantly in building structures of war rather than of peace and coexistence, the world’s expectations must be adjusted accordingly.
Familiar patterns of incitement reappeared, including among others, the glorification of terrorists and jihad as part of the national ethos, severe libels against Israel, anti-Semitic stereotypes in the official Palestinian media and the denial of any connection between the Jewish People and their holy places.
The index checks—on a quarterly basis—the Palestinian media, education system curriculum, leaders' remarks, sermons, advertisements on the Internet, basic documents, etc. The examination assesses the relative weight of the foregoing in the incitement and in building a culture of peace.
If only the world that is so eager to see “peace” and “democracy” would assign costs to such behavior: High levels of incitement could mean reduction in economic aid, or halting it altogether, while high levels and effort to build mutual respect and recognition will support the current flow of funds. At the moment though, there is reverse correlation – the higher the effort to hurt Israel, the greater the reward, funded by the EU, UN, US and other supposed “friends of Israel.”
The index is divided into four main areas: (1) explicit incitement towards violence and terrorism, (2) encouraging an atmosphere of violence and terrorism, (3) incitement towards hatred and demonization and (4) not preparing hearts for peace.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said that Israel is witnessing severe incitement. "We know that there is supposed to be a soccer game there in memory of a suicide terrorist who murdered and wounded dozens of people on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem. Regrettably, we see the PA awarding scholarships to the families of murderers. We see that they name squares after terrorists who murdered dozens of Israelis. These do not jibe with education for peace," the Prime Minister said.
According to the Israeli Prime Ministers Media Adviser, incitement against Israel, which frequently turns into genuine anti-Semitic incitement, is an inseparable part of the fabric of life in the Palestinian Authority. Thus, anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic messages are regularly heard in both the private and official media and in mosque sermons, and are studied in school textbooks.
Terrorists are given an honored status and become models for emulation in Palestinian society, both in the media and via ceremonies held by institutions affiliated with the PA.
Institutionalized and systematic incitement against Israel has never ceased in the PA, even during the height of the diplomatic process in the 1990s.
Examples of Palestinian Authority Incitement from Recent Months
[Dates are noted dd.mm.yy]
On 9.3.11, Abu Mazen's advisor Sabri Saidam, delivered a speech in which he emphasized that Palestinian weapons must be turned towards Israel. He demanded that the Palestinian people be attentive to the living conditions of martyrs' families and said that the anniversary of the death of Dalal Mughrabi (one of the perpetrators of 1978 coastal highway massacre) should be marked by inaugurating a square in her name in the city of El-Bireh.
On 6.3.11, the PA's official newspaper, Al Hayat Al-Jadida, published an item to the effect that the management of a youth club in Ramallah planned to hold a soccer tournament in memory of Wafa Idris, a suicide bomber.
On 9.2.11, the official Palestinian television station broadcast a clip from a campaign entitled "Women as Exemplars", during which Dalal Mughrabi (see above) was extolled. In the summer of 2010, several children's summer camps were named after her.
On 24.1.11, the Governor of Jenin issued a Presidential Grant worth $2,000 to the family of Palestinian terrorist, Khaldoun Samoudi, who was killed while trying to detonate two bombs against IDF soldiers at the Beka'ot Crossing.
On 2.1.11, Al Hayat Al-Jadida reported that Azzam Al-Ahmed, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, attended a gathering on the 46th anniversary of the establishment of Fatah, held in the village of Turah, southwest of Jenin, during which models of settlement buildings were blown up. He reviewed terrorist attacks that had been perpetrated by Fatah and said that, " Fatah is a mass movement which believed in popular revolution and wrested its right to use all means of resistance in order to achieve its aim."
On 30.12.10, Al Hayat Al-Jadida reported that Israel aspired to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to build the Third Temple on its ruins.
On 26.10.10, Palestinian television broadcast a documentary about the work of Palestinian medical teams including a fictitious scene in which an Israeli soldier shoots a Palestinian in the head.
On 6.10.10, Al Hayat Al-Jadida carried an interview with Palestinian Minister Amr Aloul in which the latter said that Israel is “an apartheid state that carries out state terrorism against the Palestinians.”
On 10.9.10, official Palestinian television broadcast a short film in which it was said that Jewish prayer at the Western Wall is, "a sin and impurity."
On 21.6.10, official Palestinian television broadcast a children's program in which it was said that, "The Jews are our enemies," and that, "Israeli soldiers are wild animals."
On 28.5.10, official Palestinian television broadcast a report on the family of a Palestinian security prisoner, during which her nieces were interviewed and said that they wanted to bear arms against Israel.
The "History of the Arabs and the World in the 20th Century" 12th-grade textbook, used in the PA, teaches about World War II. It includes Nazi ideology but does not mention the Holocaust at all.
On 10.3.10, Al Hayat Al-Jadida reported that the Palestinian Authority had postponed the inauguration of the Dalal Mughrabi Square in Ramallah following an official Israeli protest. This did not prevent dozens of young people from unofficially dedicating the square. A spokesman for the Palestinian security services said that the dedication of the Square had been postponed, "for technical reasons and not at Israel's request." He added that, "Neither Israel nor anyone else is capable of preventing us from being proud of our history." PA Minister of Culture Saham Al-Barghouti said that, "It is our right to honor our martyrs and name a street after the martyr Dalal Mughrabi on the anniversary of her martyrdom. It is the right of the Palestinian people. However, the Israelis' interference with this right indicates how the Israelis violate our rights."
On 27.12.09, official Palestinian television reported that President's Office Director-General Tayib Abd A-Rahim presented condolences, on behalf of PA Chairman Abu Mazen, to the families of the three terrorists who were killed by the IDF after murdering Rabbi Meir Avshalom Chai. He gave the families condolence telegrams from Abu Mazen and told them to acknowledge them as martyrs of the Palestinian revolution. He said, on Abu Mazen's behalf, that "The occupation authorities perpetrated an action that had been planned for some time and was the cold-blooded assassination of Fatah activists, which contravenes morality and the repeated, false claims about the apparent morality of the IDF. Without doubt, the occupation authorities perpetrated a wild and barbaric assassination, maliciously and in cold blood."
Noticeably absent from the above list are numerous music videos, cartoons, caricatures, newspaper articles, posters and banners, maps, transcripts or recordings of Friday sermons and a complete host of YouTube and other clips readily available on the Internet that are consistently used to demonize the Israelis.
One clip in particular shows Palestinians subjected to various means of torture by the Israelis, including amputations and iron burning. In another, the Israelis kidnap Palestinian children to use their blood for baking Matza for Passover. Apparently, these blood libels are alive and well, and have not disappeared with the defeat of Nazism.
A group calls for a “Youth Intifada” against the Zionist Occupiers. Another highlights the Turkish TV series of the “Peace-Aid” Flotilla and Israel’s shooting nine “peace activists” for no reason whatsoever.
The hatred and incitement are so engrained in Palestinians’ very being, that everything is permissible, including butchering innocent children. Everything is justified, including using one’s own children and civilians as live shields. It is the duty of each believing Muslim to engage in a holy war against the Zionists who defile the Arab land called Palestine.
This culture of death is so infected that there is only one pill to rid the affected body of it. What is done to administer that pill? Who will administer it?
One would expect Israel, whose body is ailing, to attempt to take care of itself. Alas, Israel and the Jewish communities around the world are embroiled in a culture of constant debate on behalf of the Palestinians, completely oblivious to any damage they thus cause to themselves.
Expecting the world to be aware of their position on the Palestinian problems has been, and will continue to be, a costly mistake. The Palestinians are not interested to engage in a peace process, nor will they recognize the Jewish State’s right to exist. The world ignores this reality and Israel fails to present its case.
Israel behaves like a woman and the world is a man. A woman who expects a man to read her thoughts and anticipate her every need without clearly and directing stating it aloud, is in a constant state of frustration and loss. The world able to read Israel’s mind, are you kidding me?
The fact there is no cohesive plan and message with regard to the United Nations fiasco about to occur in September is a disgrace to diplomacy and a deadly mistake. The best defense is a good offense. It is time for Israel to go on the offensive in a big way.
There should already be a long and sustained outcry from Prime Minister Netanyahu regularly against the danger of usurping Israeli lands and their rightful capital. He should make quite clear to the world what will happen if any such attempts to take such lands proceed.
Standing by and waiting for the world to chime in and read Israel’s mind about this egregious plan has never worked in the past, and with the advent of a pro Palestinian government in Washington it is a deadly miscalculation.
The world has never stood up for the Jewish people until it affected them directly. The U.S. refused to enter World War II until it was no longer possible to refrain from combat.
What makes Israel believe it will be any different this time?
Israel’s enemies know the value of repeating lies and untruths over and over until the world accepts them as true. Yet, Jewish leaders stand idly by watching as the world’s opinion turns against the Jewish State.
There must be a continual response to these lies. Our enemy’s words only resonate because we allow them to do so.
The words No, No, No, that is a lie and here is why, should be Israel’s battle cry going forward. No propaganda can go unanswered. No historical rewrites can be allowed to stand in for the truth.
Until Israel gets its message together and stops worrying about what the world thinks, it will be seen as a weak and tiresome country. No one will defend someone who will not defend himself. No one respects a wimp, and as we are all told continually, “the world loves a winner.” Until Israel acts like a winner, it continues to be the loser.
Lack of communication is creating untold problems for the State of Israel.
We need strong voices in unison to combat the lies and agenda of destruction or we are doomed. It is time the Jewish people spoke in one long and loud voice to save their country and their homeland.
In the series “Postcards from Israel,” Ari Bussel and Norma Zager invite readers throughout the world to join them as they present reports from Israel as seen by two sets of eyes: Bussel’s on the ground, Zager’s counter-point from home. Israel and the United States are inter-related - the two countries we hold dearest to our hearts - and so is this “point - counter-point” presentation that has, since 2008, become part of our lives.
Ari and Norma can be reached at: aribussel@gmail.com
