New Abbas poster

In the same speech that Mahmoud Abbas waxed nostalgically over the PLO in 1964 today, he added, "We must also recall the outstanding [early] leadership of the Palestinian people, the Grand Mufti of Palestine-Haj Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, who sponsored the struggle from the beginning, and sponsored the struggle and displacement for the cause and died away from his home."

The Mufti was a rabid Jew-hater who was the driving force behind not only the 1929 massacres in Jerusalem and Hebron but also the 1936-39 riots that resulted in the deaths of hundreds. He moved to Germany during World War II, hoping that Hitler would win and allow to him murder every Jewish man, woman and child in Palestine, and proposing plans to do exactly that.

This is Mahmoud Abbas' hero.

For some reason, that part of his speech wasn't translated in the English version of the Ma'an article.

If any Western politician would publicly praise a Nazi sympathizer who supported genocide, their careers would be over. When the so-called "moderate" PA leaders do exactly that, no one says a word.

This idea that it is acceptable for Arabs to make outlandish and unacceptable statements because they are Arab is nothing less than bigotry. If they are to be treated as respectable world leaders, they should be held to the same standards as anyone else. It is way past time of granting them a free pass.