Israel Matzav

American silence fuels 'Palestinian' terrorism

This New York Post piece by Eliyahu Federman is spot-on (Hat Tip: Victor Shikhman).

Abbas called Jews visiting the Temple Mount (Judaism’s holiest place) a “herd of cattle,” with no right to visit or worship there. Jewish visits, he said, were a desecration that must be stopped “by any means.”

“Any means” turned out to include the murder of baby Chaya.

What’s most remarkable is the US silence on Abbas’ remarks. Neither Secretary of State John Kerry nor any State Department spokesman condemned Abbas’ words comparing Jews to cattle. Even the US embassy in Israel failed to issue a statement.

If the Israeli prime minister called Muslims praying at their holy places a “herd of cattle” to be removed “by any means,” Jewish groups and the US government would rightly and swiftly denounce such vile bigotry.

Yet four days passed from Abbas’ remarks to the Wednesday terror attack. Four days of silence that culminated in horror.

Not a single Arab leader rejected this dehumanization of Jews, or protested the incendiary call to prevent Jewish visitation and worship at the Temple Mount.

Nor did the American Task Force on Palestine, the pro-Palestinian lobby in Washington, speak up, nor groups representing American Muslims, Arabs or Palestinians. The “pro-peace” movement, including Americans for Peace Now and J Street, raised no objection.

After Wednesday’s horror, the State Department finally woke up, condemning the act of terrorism “in the strongest possible terms,” expressing “our deepest condolences” and urging “all sides to maintain calm and avoid escalating tensions.”

But calls to “maintain calm” and “avoid escalating tensions” should have come earlier, before condolences became necessary. They should have come after the Palestinian president called Jews “cattle” and their presence a desecration to be stopped “by any means.”

Such a statement may not have prevented the attack, but it would have made clear that Palestinian incitement and violence against Israel and Jews is unacceptable to the American people.

I'm not sure why Federman considers American silence in the four days leading up to the attack to be remarkable. Surely, after nearly six years of the Hussein Obama administration, no one should have expected anything else from the White House or the State Department (except maybe for them to pile on and back 'Abbas'). But he's right to call the administration out on that silence, and he's right to call out the supposed 'peace groups' - who couldn't even find it in themselves to issue a statement that 'Abbas' remarks are 'not helpful to the cause of peace' - for their silence as well.

Another Washington double standard....

Read the whole thing.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, double standards, John Kerry, Palestinian terrorism, State Department obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:38 PM