Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Elder of Ziyon
This comes on the heels of his Fatah party bragging about its terror wing attacking Israel in recent weeks. It has been only a month since Abbas said that Israel has inflicted 50 "holocausts" on Palestinians, only the latest of his many explicitly antisemitic statements he has made publicly.
Abbas' Wafa news agency has hundreds of articles trying to make Abbas look like a statesman, reporting breathlessly on his sending letters of congratulations to various world leaders on their national days and every meeting he has in Ramallah with even minor officials from countries or NGOs. For the New York visit, Wafa has a bonanza of photo ops trying to make Abbas look important showing him meeting with major officials.
One of the featured photos is with Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, smiling while putting his arm around Holocaust denier Abbas.
Compare with with Abbas' publicity photos with other dignitaries in New York.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez:
President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Peter Maurer:
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres:
No other official gives Abbas more than a handshake.
But the head of the WJC, which is committed to fighting antisemitism worldwide, puts his arm around a dyed in the wool antisemite like Mahmoud Abbas. While smiling. As if it is an honor to be in the same room as a supporter of terror.
The WJC issues several statements a week, but it did not condemn Mahmoud Abbas' "holocausts" statement, even though it was widely reported.
I have no problem with the head of a Jewish organization meeting Abbas, as a means to convey messages from the Jewish community or to encourage moves towards peace and away from terror. But it needs to be accompanied with a public message of what the meeting is meant to accomplish and a strong statement of condemnation of Abbas' antisemitic statements.
In this case, as in other meetings between Lauder and Abbas, the subject matter is opaque - and all we see are the photo-ops which the Palestinians use as propaganda to pretend that they have no problem with Jews, but only with Israel.
When the leader of a Jewish organization seemingly goes out of its way to treat an antisemite with more respect than anyone else does, we have a problem with our Jewish leadership.
