Jeff Jacoby
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
What was really newsworthy about Suha Arafat's anti-Semitic blood
libel wasn't that Hillary Clinton didn't condemn it. It was that the Israeli
government did.
The first lady caught a lot of flak for not objecting when Yasser
Arafat's wife, during a ceremony in the Palestinian town of Ramallah,
blasted
Israel for the "daily and intensive use of poison gas" against Arab women
and
children. For good measure, she also accused Israel -- in rhetoric straight
out of the Dark Ages -- of having "contaminated about 80 percent of water
sources used by Palestinians."
It comes as no surprise that a woman who married the most notorious
killer of Jews in our time would spew such obscenities. Nor should anyone
have been astonished that Hillary failed to pounce on Mrs. Arafat's words
the
way a savvy New York politician would. After all, she's not a savvy New
York
politician.
Only one detail made l'affaire Suha notable: The Israeli government
spoke up in protest. Prime Minister Ehud Barak's office issued a statement
"strongly condemning the unworthy statements made by Suha Arafat. . . .
Poisoning the public atmosphere does not help the success of the
negotiations." A stiff letter was delivered to the Palestinian Authority.
Israeli diplomats spread the word that Jerusalem was angry.
Par for the course, you might think. But it isn't. From Arafat on down,
leading Palestinians routinely traffic in disgusting libels, anti-Semitic
canards, and naked incitements to violence -- all of which have been
strictly
forbidden by the numerous peace accords signed by Israel and the
Palestinians. Yet rarely if ever do Israeli leaders complain.
"Israel carries out a clear policy of annihilating our people and
destroying our national economy by smuggling spoiled foodstuffs . . . into
PA
[Palestinian Authority] territory," Abd al-Hamid al-Qudsi, a deputy
minister
in Arafat's regime, said last year. "Israel . . . aims to kill and destroy
our people." Reaction from the Israeli government? None that was
detectable.
A program on the PA-controlled television station instructs viewers that
"the Jews are the seed of Satan and the devils." On another broadcast,
children sing at one of the Palestinians' martial summer camps:
I came to you with my sword in hand.
We will drive them [the Jews] out to the sea.
Your day is coming, conqueror, then we will settle accounts.
Our accounts are unending in stones and bullets!
To this day, the constitution of Fatah, Arafat's wing of the PLO, calls
for the "complete liberation of Palestine and eradication of Zionist
economic, political, military, and cultural existence." In December,
Al-Hayat
Al-Jadeeda, the official PA newspaper, published a Fatah communique: "It is
impossible to struggle against [Israel] via negotiations. There is no
alternative but a struggle that will smash the Israeli aggression and
emphasize the readiness of our people to explode with force. . ."
None of this drew a hot rebuke from the Israeli prime minister. No
Israeli diplomats protested the calls to violence by walking out of
negotiations with the Palestinians -- or by doing anything else.
In August, Arafat bestowed the PLO's highest award on Khalil al-Ra'i, a
terrorist convicted of murdering an Israeli policeman. The only word from
Prime Minister Barak's office was that Israel, as a sign of goodwill would
soon release even more Palestinian prisoners. A few weeks later, 199
Palestinian terrorists -- most of them convicted killers -- were freed and
sent by bus into Palestinian territory. As they disembarked, they were
handed
guns and welcomed into Arafat's militia.
What are the Palestinians to think when so many openly demonstrate their
hatred of Israel, nurture in their children the dream of killing Jews, and
flout the treaties to which they have pledged themselves, yet continue to
be
embraced by Israel as "peace partners?" The logical conclusion is that
rejectionism pays and that the "peace process" is a sham -- a fig leaf for
slow Israeli capitulation.
So on and on it goes.
September: An Arabic translation of "Mein Kampf," complete with a
glowing
introduction, climbs to No. 6 on the Palestinian best-seller list.
October: Farouk Kaddoumi, the head of Arafat's Political Bureau, tells
an
interviewer: `Don't think the PLO has given up its rifle, even though it
currently proceeds with the [peace] process. We will fight as long as our
lands are occupied and we will use the rifle."
November: The Palestinian education ministry issues a textbook that
teaches "the basic similarity between Nazism, Fascism, and Zionism." It
fits
nicely with earlier textbooks, such as the language primer that tells
fifth-graders, "Remember, the final and inevitable result will be the
victory
of the Muslims over the Jews."
Surveys of Palestinian -- indeed, Arab -- opinion confirm that there is
little desire for peace with the Jewish state. Much of the Arab world still
dreams of Israel's elimination. The hate-filled rhetoric is not an act. But
the Israeli government ignores it. "These are only words," Shimon Peres
says.
"Let them
It wasn't Suha Arafat's vile slander that so upset Israeli officials. It
was that she embarrassed Hillary Clinton in the process. The next time Mrs.
Arafat accuses Jews of gassing Arab babies, she will make sure there is no
American dignitary in attendance. That, really, is all the Israelis
JWR contributor Jeff Jacoby may be reached by clicking here.
