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As usual, it was filed with his usual hypocrisy, as he pretended that the Palestinian Arab nationalism movement was an ultra-liberal initiative and that Israel was uniquely evil.
Here are some of the more outlandish things he said:
I come here today to convey to you the greetings of my people in Palestine who aspire for peace and justice. Palestine is a country in the heart of the Middle East, a country in the Middle East where Christians and Muslims live in harmony, a country in the Middle East, the birth place of Jesus Christ, in Bethlehem, where I pray with my follow Palestinian Christians three times every year, a country that hopes to live in peace and security side by side with its neighbor the State of Israel.Christians in the West Bank have been fleeing ever since the PA took control. Muslims have forced Christians out of Bethlehem. Abbas has done nothing to help. In Gaza, Christians have been threatened and attacked as well. Abbas goes to church for his photo-ops but he has not lifted a finger to help Christians under siege, instead he blames their flight on Israel.
But today in Cooper Union I stand on the same place where Abraham Lincoln stood over 150 years ago and condemned the scourge of slavery, to state, loud and clear, that we the Palestinian people condemn terrorism, we condemn what happened on 9/11, we condemn the treatment of Christians and non-Christians by ISIS (Daaish) I am speaking on behalf of 99 percent of the Muslim peoples around the world Here, today, nearly in the shadow of Ground Zero, I state to the world: the barbarians of ISIS (Daaish) and Al Qaeda who kill innocent people are not faithful Muslims. And to the children and families of the victims of 9/11, I say as a Palestinian Muslim, I am sorry for your pain. These murderers do not represent Islam, we all stand against them to defeat their evil plans. At the same time we must work to end the Israeli occupation and establish a Palestinian state, for we cannot fight terror only by the gun.We haven't forgotten that PAlestinians (and Arabs in general) celebrated 9/11. Quite publicly.
A poll this month showed 86% of Palestinians support and justify rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. That is terrorism. A 2003 poll found that 40% of Palestinians found suicide bombings sometimes justified, the highest percentage in the entire Muslim world.
The 99% figure is absurd. A survey in 2008 showed that fully 36% of Muslims worldwide thought that 9/11 was fully or partilly justified.
Abbas is a liar.
As you may know, Jews, Christians and Muslims have lived peacefully together in Palestine for centuries. So peace between religions runs through the heart of the most sacred City in the world, Jerusalem. Peace between the world’s religions runs through Jericho the Oldest City on Earth. Peace between the world’s religions runs through Palestine.No, there was no peace. There was relative tolerance by Muslims of Jews and Christians as long as they didn't think of themselves as equals. But as travelogues from the 19th century showed, Jews were hated by Muslims and Arab Christians as well. Sometimes things got much worse. That is not peace.
On behalf of the brave Palestinian people, in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, I still come here to deliver a message of peace and justice to Israel and the rest of the world.Most Palestinian Arabs say that their national goal is to destroy Israel. Abbas has done nothing to stop the incitement against Israel and Jews in his classrooms and newspapers. There is no desire for peace, there is no real denunciation of terror and this speech is a sick joke.
Abbas himself regularly praises terrorists who target children. He did it just last week.
I made a prayer for an America that is a real friend of Israel, not a false friend. And just as real friends do not let friends drive drunk, so too a real friend of Israel would not let them engage in the widespread killing of women and children, including bombing United Nations schools and hospitals, such as we just saw in Gaza.Oh, please. His own Fatah members were shooting hundreds of rockets at Israeli women and children and he did not say a word against it. Abbas supports terror, at least tacitly.
Security requires justice and an end of occupation. We cannot understand how the Israeli government can be misguided as to fail to understand that the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza that kills thousands of women and children only sows more hate?The official transcript says "hundreds of women and children" - Abbas changed it to "thousands." This is of course a deplorable lie.
Not to mention that Abbas' media and speeches in Arabic and statements by other officials who report to him are what creates the hate. While Israel spends hundreds of millions to save lives, Abbas doesn't really care whether his own people live or die as long as his cause is furthered. The cynicism is sickening.
In Maine every summer, young Palestinians, Israelis, Americans, Arabs, and others meet in a camp called seeds of peace, founded in 1993. They build the very world I am calling for in Palestine. It works. It's real. It's the future. To those who say peace between Israelis and Palestinians is impossible, I say, let them visit America. I say, let them visit Maine.The hypocrisy here is incredible. Abbas is 100% against any similar programs for people under his rule - because these peace programs, such as the ones funded by the EU and sponsored by the Peres Center, are considered "normalization" with Israel. Even the most pro-Palestinian groups are barred from coming to Ramallah if they are Israeli. Supporting coexistence in Maine while opposing it in one's on backyard shows exactly how much Abbas cares to live in peace with Israel.
If you can stomach 35 minutes of lies, here is the video. The introduction by William Clark is especially risible, pretending that Abbas has been working for peace all his life. (No need to mention the Olympics massacre, is there?)
(h/t Miguel for a link)