Mahmoud Abbas gave a speech on Oct. 14 — and it was all based on lies. And those lies continue to fan the flames of terror. The Palestinian president hopes that Europe and the West will believe him and apply pressure on Israel. More than that, he hopes that the rest of the world, especially the Muslim world, will be so up in arms by the lies that they will rise up and crush Israel and all of her supporters. Abbas said that Israel executed 13-year-old Ahmed Mansara, a Palestinian boy, and were “executing” Palestinian children. Subsequently, the official Palestinian Authority translation toned down the word “execution” and replaced it with “cold-blooded murder.” He held up the picture of the boy on the ground after having been shot, he said, by Israelis. This all took place in Pisgat Zeev, an area located between Jerusalem and Ramallah.
What Abbas neglected to mention is that the boy and his 15-year-old cousin Hassan had, moments before that picture was taken, stabbed two Israeli boys — one who had just jumped on his bicycle after buying candy in a local candy store. That boy, the Israeli boy, is critically wounded and fighting for his life.
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What Abbas did not say is that Ahmed is alive, with no threat to his life. He is being treated at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. Abbas, the man who is supposed to be the partner in peace of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, knowingly and consciously lied. And it was a whopper.
In that same speech, Abbas also said that the Israelis are trying to change the status quo on the Temple Mount: “The Israeli attack against our people, our land, and the holy places threatens peace and stability. … We have said it clearly: We will not accept a change in the status quo at Al-Aqsa mosque that would damage its sanctity and its character. … It is our right to continue our peaceful struggle in order to achieve our independence, and our victory will come.”
“Our peaceful struggle.” Did he actually use those words?
If Abbas is successful in inciting violence through lies, there will be an uprising far bigger than simply another intifada.
Abbas used expressions such as “Israeli aggression” against the Palestinian people, their holy places and their homes. He spoke of the “executions of children like Ahmed Manasra.” He actually calls terrorists “victims and heroes.” And the Arabic media back him up.
Here are two Arabic media news headlines. The first one reads: “Palestinian Child Bleeds to Death While Israeli Police and Civilians Watch, Shouting Insults.” The second reads: “Teen Shot by Israelis Stomped On, Left to Bleed to Death.”
It’s all about incitement. And Abbas is one of its loudest, most authoritative voices. Israel has no interest in changing the status quo on the Temple Mount. They would like to stop the stone throwing from up there down onto worshippers at the Western Wall, but that’s it. The Israeli government is doing nothing that would even suggest they harbor thoughts about the holy site other than sifting through the refuse that the Waqf (the Muslim religious body responsible for the site) had dug out and dumped into a landfill. (Israel has found some remarkable archeological discoveries in that garbage pile.) The office of the Israeli prime minister released a statement saying: “Abbas’ speech tonight was filled with incitement and lies. The young boy he referred to is currently hospitalized at Hadassah after he stabbed an Israeli child who was riding his bike.”
Netanyahu’s office tried to counter the lies by saying: “While Israel protects the status quo on the Temple Mount, Abbas has used religion to incite more acts of terror.”
The real proof is in the videos. Surveillance videos on social media show footage of Ahmed and his cousin walking by an intersection and then running back with knives. Each boy is carrying a knife in his right hand and running.
Palestinian supporters, however, have posted only videos in which the police and Israelis look like killers. But when you look carefully, the video shows the police holding Ahmed’s knife. The hospital says that he suffered injuries but was not shot.
Hassan, the 15-year-old cousin, was shot to death. He is seen in the video, knife in raised hand, running across the street and lunging at the police as he is shot.
To achieve his goal of raising a global Muslim outcry against Israel, the Palestinian leader is exploiting sensitive chords that resound throughout the Muslim world. He is suggesting that Jews are taking over the Nobel Sanctuary, aka the Temple Mount, the third-holiest spot in Islam. And he is suggesting that Jews are executing children. Abbas is playing right into the ugliest and most dangerous stereotypes in Muslim culture.
If Abbas is successful, there will be an uprising far bigger than simply another intifada. If he is successful, not only Israel but the West, as well, will erupt and explode in a wave of anti-Western violence.
If this state of affairs continues, there will be no controls. It is highly doubtful that even Abbas, at this point, has the influence or ability to stifle the terror. He can rev it up but he cannot rein it in.
And in the end, this violence will occupy the West. It will probably consume Abbas and his cause as well.
Micah D. Halpern is a columnist and a social and political commentator. His latest book is “Thugs: How History’s Most Notorious Despots Transformed the World Through Terror, Tyranny, and Mass Murder” (Thomas Nelson). Reprinted with permission from Oberserver.com.
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