Monday, March 22, 2010
[Crossposted with additional material from JStreetJive. JStreetJive portion edited 3/23 9:43am]
Ramallah Town Square Named for Terrorist.......And Her Proud Work.
Just moments ago, speaking - some might characterize it as pandering - to the national AIPAC Conference in Washington, D.C, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton erroneously attributed the outrageous naming of a town square near Ramallah in the memory of Dalal Mughrabi, the 1978 terrorist who murdered 37 Jews including 13 children - to only HAMAS! The commemoration ceremony was well attended by members of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party. One Abbas lieutenant described Mughrabi as a "courageous fighter who held a proud place in Palestinian history." Tawfiq Tirawi, a member of the Fatah Central Committee declared, "We are all Dalal Mughrabi!" Consider the import of this monumental gaffe. Abbas and the PA constitute Israel's only legitimate negotiating partner and the Administration's "Partner in Peace." By condemning the commemoration, even if in error, Hillary is condemning that peace partner.
"When a Hamas-controlled municipality glorifies violence and renames a square after a terrorist who murdered innocent Israelis, it insults the families on both sides who have lost loves ones in this conflict."
At first hearing, Hillary's condemnation seems sincere and strong. It elicited a predictable, sympathetic response from her AIPAC audience. But her well-rehearsed indignation at HAMAS' role in honoring a terrorist (in reality it was FATAH that orchestrated the memorial) was a calculated, no-risk statement intended to compensate for the Administration's uncompromising demand to dry up all Israeli settlements - in effect, to ethnically cleanse the West Bank of Jews while Arab settlements in Israel and the West Bank grow and thrive without comment or criticism from the President.
But let's look a little more closely at her words: "Innocent Israelis" Did other terrorist (NPR calls them "activists") attacks kill "guilty" Israelis?
"It insults the families on both sides who have lost loved ones." That one needs a lot of explaining, Madame Secretary. How does the familiar pattern of Arabs murdering Jewish civilians - including children - "insult the families on both sides?" Was it an insult to the family of Dalal Mughrabi, the terrorist or to the families of the FATAH officials who presided over the event? Not an insult - a triumph.
Madame Secretary, can you point to the town square in Israel named for Baruch Goldstein? Can you remember the last Jewish suicide bomber who hijacked a PA bus and murdered 37 "innocent" Arabs? Hillary's performance was made easier in front of an audience that desperately wanted to applaud her before her act began. Of course, there were plenty of skeptics in the crowd, but the AIPAC leadership made it clear that it would brook no public disapproval.
Hopefully there is a growing challenge to the Administration's doctrine of "the infernal equal sign": the murder of Jewish civilians is equal to the murder of Arab civilians...the insult to Jewish families is equal to an insult to Arab families...Palestinian terror is equal to the building of Jewish apartments...and on and on. Only when thinking Jews and non-Jews understand the fallacy of this kind of logic will the stark reality of the epochally dangerous policy of the Obama Admninistration sink in.
If she acknowledged her omission of Mahmoud Abbas' party's role in terror and its glorification, she would be compelled to acknowledge the genocidal intent of ALL major Palestinian Arab "Peace Partners." Unless, of course - and this is a distinct possibility - AIPAC leaders gloss over the statement lest it be perceived as "disrespect' for the Secretary of State. In that case, it will be dismissed as an innocent naming error or a "misstatement". Hopefully, we haven't heard the end of this story.
Martin Solomon adds: Hilary's error was not. It was clearly an intentional choice to name Hamas and not Fatah in order to continue to cover for the supposed "peace partner." I suppose the excuse is that Abbas has little choice and between he and Fayyad they are doing all they can with the best of intentions given the culture they're dealing with. But that culture will never change if they're never responsible for anything. This is a matter of pushing for preordained conclusions before anything is ready and disaster is the only possible result.
Hillary's statement was so patronizing it was a damned insult. To stand on the stage and condescend in such a blatant manner ought to have given the AIPAC audience (who was well coached to treat her with the utmost respect) wild.
Jennifer Rubin comments: The Wages of Moral Equivalence.
Carl in Jerusalem: Clinton decides that Hamas controls Ramallah
Elder is spot-on here: Hillary: Worse than clueless?
Finally, Barry Rubin: Hillary Clinton's AIPAC speech: Find the Glaring Contradiction
Hillary's address was extremely disturbing. The puffery was the usual, the substance was scary. The fact that AIPAC had to turn itself into a Stepford lobby shows how dependent it is on those in power and not the other way around.
Abbas is, of course, continuing to stick to a hard line and is even reserving the right to "popular resistance."
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Hillary's AIPAC Two-Step [Hillel].
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How off was Hilary's ascription of the glorification of terrorist Dalal Mughrabi to Hamas alone? In Hillary Clinton's unfortunate mistake, Palestinian Media Watch piles up the evidence so high that it can't be simply an unfortunate error: ...Palestinia... Read More
Nothing accidental about Hillary's obfuscation about Israel's supposed peace partner.
PRI's The World, which is produced by WGBH, a local outlet for National Palestinian Radio (NPR), and BBC put their false moral equivalence fabricating machine into hype-drive in reporting about the incident behind Hillary's embarrassing misstatement. Their puff-piece What’s in a street name? suggests it's OK to name a square after Dalal Mughrabi because she's a hero to the Palestinian Arabs, and don't the Israelis name streets after terrorists from Irgun and the Stern Gang? The piece might have been put together a couple of days ago, but running it today was a clear attempts at defusing any controversy that might arise over Hillary's deliberate misstatement—not that NPR listeners or other people who get their news from the MSM would ever know about her confusion, or was it deception.
While they didn't commit Hillary's gaffe of saying it was Hamas who governed Ramallah, they still dissembled about whether the dedication ceremony actually took place.The radio piece says the ceremony was canceled, not merely postponed, but the web page claims it was "activists," not Abu Mazen's Palestinian Authority, that named the square. Taqiyya in action.
In 1978, the Palestinian hero Mughrabi lead a gang of 12 who shocked the world when they committed the horrific Coastal Road Massacre, brutally killing 38 unarmed civilians, including 13 children, and wounding 71. The World 's reporter is careful to call them militants, not terrorists, and doesn't bother mentioning that the first one killed was American nature photographer Gail Rubin, who was on the beach, away from the group. It must not be politically correct to mention that Palestinian Arab terrorists have always been happy to kill Americans too, not just Israelis. Or that all the Palestinian Arab leadership, both in Gaza and Ramallah, are still the same murderous thugs they've always been.
In what way does it insult the Palestinian families who have lost loved ones in the conflict?
By opposing that memorial to a person whom the overwhelming majority of such families revere?
Or how?
David:
If the reverence for terrorists came naturally to the Palestinians, the PA wouldn't have had to make the effort they have since '94 to promote martyrdom through the media, schools and mosques. You are speaking of a people who have been thoroughly propagandized, and, in that part of the world, declining to participate in staged events supporting the dominant faction = no job, no access to the foreign aid trough, harassment and worse. Sadly, many Palestinians know they are being screwed over by the corrupt Fatah and being used as human shields by Hamas and Hezbollah. They just aren't offered a viable third choice and the US, the Quartet, et al, are doing nothing to foster the rise of such third way.
Nappy:
I agree -- no accident at all. Hillary couldn't very well blame Fatah when the US has banked its entire hopes on this devious and corrupt that exploits the "Israel bogeyman apartheid state" while it loots the treasury to the tune of billions.
Lynne T,
and the US, the Quartet, et al, are doing nothing to foster the rise of such third way.
And looking back at the actions of those guys one can begin to believe that they are going arm in arm with the Arab League and using the Palestinians for their dirty work.