Israel Matzav

Netanyahu finds a talking point

Could this be the issue that finally switches the impetus to act to the 'Palestinian' side?

For the last three years, Israel has been under constant pressure to be the party to make the move to get the 'peace process' going. Abu Mazen has been able to sit back and just keep saying "Israel hasn't made a proposal." "It's Israel's fault." And unfortunately most of the world believes him. Now, Israel has finally identified an issue that should resonate with the West. It's an issue we could have found a long time ago, but only now is it being brought front and center and only now is it being squarely laid in the court of the 'Palestinian Authority.' Only now are we beginning to fight with two hands. The issue is incitement.

Palestinian Authority incitement is poisoning the atmosphere and is tantamount to “confidence destroying measures,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told visiting Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore on Sunday.

Netanyahu’s comments came just hours after he sounded particularly downbeat in the cabinet regarding the diplomatic process, informing his ministers that signs of progress were not “especially good.”

...

Speaking before a meeting with Gilmore, Netanyahu cited the PA’s official television broadcast of a program this week in which the terrorists who murdered five members of the Fogel family in Itamar last March were glorified.

The PA television program, he said, portrayed the terrorists as martyrs and heroes, just days after the PA’s mufti in Jerusalem quoted from a Muslim text calling for the murder of Jews.

“I think this is the wrong way to go. We demand a prompt condemnation; I hope you demand a condemnation because the only way to move to peace is to prepare our people for peace and not for brutal terror,” the prime minister said.

Later, during the meeting with Gilmore, Netanyahu said that while many ask Israel to take confidence building measures toward the Palestinians, the type of incitement being aired in the PA was destroying Israel’s confidence.

...

A similar message was relayed in a meeting later with visiting Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird. At that meeting, Netanyahu said the international community should urge the PA not to form a unity government with Hamas. He also praised President Shimon Peres for saying at the World Economic forum in Davos on Saturday that Turkey was providing Hamas with hundreds of millions of dollars.

“This is a matter of concern for us,” Netanyahu said.

So will we finally begin to stick up for ourselves? Time will tell.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority Television, Palestinian incitement

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:40 AM