Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas railed against Israel during an address to the European Union parliament in Brussels on Thursday, slamming the Jewish state for committing “mass-murder”. The comments came hours after Abbas rebuffed efforts by EU President Martin Schultz to arrange a meeting between Abbas and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. While Rivlin accepted the offer,…
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The Anti-Defamation League issued the following response:
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) decried conspiratorial anti-Israel allegations made by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in a speech before the European Parliament today, saying the charges are “reminiscent of age-old anti-Semitic stereotypes” and belie his claim that his “hands are extended in peace.”
In his speech before the European Parliament in Brussels, Abbas propagated a false and malicious story of “certain rabbis in Israel have said very clearly to their government that our water should be poisoned in order to have Palestinians killed,” and further alleged that Israel is the cause of all global terrorism, claiming, “Once the occupation ends, terrorism will disappear, there will be no more terrorism in the Middle East, or anywhere else in the world.”
Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO, issued the following statement:
President Abbas reportedly came to Europe to talk peace. Instead, he interspersed claims of an interest in reconciliation with Israel with base allegations against the Jewish state, which are reminiscent of age-old anti-Semitic stereotypes. Unfortunately, conspiratorial incitement by the Palestinian Authority is not new. His charges of an Israeli effort to poison Palestinian water, and claims of Israel serving as the root of terrorism worldwide, are particularly disturbing and significant.
We note that President Abbas’ speech was met with a standing ovation by the parliamentarians present. As the international community, particularly European leadership, grows increasingly active in trying to promote an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, they must forcefully and publicly reject such offensive and dangerous incitement. How can Israel see Europe as an honest broker when its elected officials applaud a speech laden with lies and mischaracterizations?
Such statements, along with his rejection of an invitation to meet Israeli President Reuven Rivlin while in Brussels, make Abbas’ condemnations of terrorism and stated interest in peace disingenuous. It is sad to think that Abbas would rather take the easy route and deliver an incendiary speech that consigns the region to further conflict rather than sit down with Israeli leadership to make the hard decisions of working toward a two-state solution that actually could bring peace to his people and the region.
In April, ADL called on the United States to take a strong stand against Palestinian Authority efforts to present a one-sided resolution harshly critical of Israel at the U.N. Security Council, saying it would in no way advance Israeli-Palestinian bilateral negotiations.
The American Jewish Committee issued the following response:
AJC, an organization that has spent decades seeking to advance Arab-Israeli peace, decried Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s incendiary address against Israel before the European Parliament, as well as his refusal to meet with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in Brussels.
“Once again, President Abbas is the great disappointer,” said AJC CEO David Harris. “Instead of returning to direct peace talks with Israel, Abbas abused an international platform to deliver yet another tirade full of invectives and falsehoods against Israel.”
“Abbas’s malicious attack contradicts any attempt he made to verbally offer a hand for peace,” Harris said. “Indeed, Abbas demonstrably held back his hand both by his remarks, and by rejecting an EU request that he meet with President Rivlin.”
Both Abbas and Rivlin were invited to address the Parliament, as the EU seeks a higher profile in efforts to move the stalled peace process.
In his address, Abbas made the patently absurd declaration that “the occupation” is the source of global terror. “Once the occupation ends, terrorism will disappear, there will be no more terrorism in the Middle East, or anywhere else in the world,” he said.
“Remarkably, European legislators held up Abbas as an opponent of terrorism, even as he and his government regularly lionize Palestinian terrorists,” said Harris.
Abbas also accused Israel of “turning our country into an open-air prison,” and repeated an age-old and deadly anti-Semitic canard that rabbis in Israel wish to poison Palestinian water.
Harris concluded: “In sum, Israelis, and Palestinians who truly seek a negotiated comprehensive peace accord based on a two-state agreement, continue to await the day when Abbas becomes a leader committed to advancing the peace process, and not continually undermining it, or else gives way to other Palestinians ready for an enduring agreement with Israel.”