Mahmoud Abbas sparked controversy this week when he called on Palestinian security forces to “confront” Israel’s military.
The President of the Palestinian Authority was quoted in the PA’s official newspaper by Azzam al-Ahmad, who wrote, “It’s not a secret that President Abbas instructed the Palestinian security forces not to hesitate to confront the occupation army [IDF] and the herds of settlers if they continue with the incursions on our land.
“We stress the importance of the national resistance,” added al-Ahmad.
It is important to understand that the “national resistance” that Abbas is referring to is Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis. The article goes on to show support from the Palestinian Authority to the terroists who fought IDF troops last week in Nablus.
The article continues: “The best example is what is going on in Nablus [where battles between IDF soldiers and Palestinian gunmen have taken place in the northern West Bank city], and even in Huwara. Not long ago, they [PA security forces] fought with them [Israeli soldiers] in Huwara,” the writer claims.
In response to Abbas’s comments, US State Department spokesman Ned Price called on Abbas to clearly condemn Palestinian terror.
“We call on the Palestinian Authority, including President Abbas, to clearly condemn terrorism against Israelis and terrorism in all its forms,” said Price.
“The Palestinian Authority and Israel should be leaning into security cooperation with each other at such a time. That is in the interests of both Palestinians and Israelis. It’s very consistent with what the parties agreed to at Aqaba,” he added.
Some media outlets have reported this news in a way that paints the US as coming down strongly upon Abbas, but this is not true. The United States is not condemning Abbas for his incitement to violence but instead calling on him to “clearly condemn” terror.
The reality is that Mahmoud Abbas and his party fund and incite terrorism. And the West continually fails to hold them to account.
We call upon the UK Government to officially recognise Jerusalem is Israel's capital and move its embassy to Jerusalem.
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