The spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party on Saturday warned that if the Trump administration moves the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, it will “open the gates of hell.”Should America be scared by this "moderate" spokesman threatening it with opening up the
gates of Hell?
It is hardly the first time.
Here is a very incomplete list of the number of times that we have heard that expression when Palestinian Arabs - including "moderate" Saeb Erekat - want to scare people into bending to their will,
January 2001 - Fatah officials in response to Israel killing a Fatah terror leader
August 2001 - Saeb Erekat in response to Israel's killing a PFLP terrorist leader
August 2001 - Also Saeb Erekat, in response to Israel's destroying a terror HQ/police building in Jenin
November, 2001 - Hamas in response to Israel's killing of Mahmoud Abu Hanoud
January 2002 - Fatah warning Israel not to hurt a terrorist in custody
September 2003 - Hamas after an unsuccessful attempt to kill Sheikh Yassin
March, 2004 - after the successful attempt to kill Sheikh Yassin
July 2005 - after Israel killed 7 Hamas terrorists
November 2005 - After Israel killed a member of Fatah and Hamas
February 2006 - when Israel withheld money transfers to Gaza
June 2006 - by the PRC after their founder was killed
April 2007 - a general warning against an Israeli invasion of Gaza
May 2007 - after Israel fired at the house of Ismail Haniyeh
August 2008 - Islamic Jihad general warning against Israel
December, 2008 - Hamas threatened this before Cast Lead
March 2011 - threat against UNRWA if it started teaching about the Holocaust in Gaza schools
November 2012: Hamas in response to Ahmed al-Jabari's assassination
June 2014: Hamas warning Israel not to react to the kidnappng and murder of 3 Israeli teenagers
March 2015: Saeb Erekat warning of consequences if Palestinians are blocked from UN action by the US
So, how many times have we seen the gates of Hell open up in the past sixteen years?
All it takes to end these threats is to call them on it, and let them know that any attempts to intimidate anyone with these sorts of threats will result in responses that they would not be happy with.
It is the fastest way to turn their false "honor" at making empty threats into a source of shame.
They have to learn to grow up. And the only way that will happen is by holding them responsible for their words and actions the way other adults are.
(h/t Meryl Yourish)