(Mr. Phillips is president of the Religious Zionists of America, Philadelphia Chapter; Mr. Korn, the former executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, is chairman of the RZA - Philadelphia / http://www.phillyreligiouszionists.org/)
Welcoming Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas to the White House on March 17, President Obama declared that "He has been somebody who has consistently renounced violence." Anyone who follows the news from the Middle East knows that Abbas regularly glorifies and encourages violence. Yet here was the president of the United States telling the public the opposite. How does Abbas get away with it?
Just three days earlier, the New York Times reported that that two of the latest rocket attacks on Israel were carried out by "Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade." Abbas is the chairman of Fatah. The Times, of course, is distinctly unsympathetic to Israel and would be the last source on earth to make up statements to make Abbas look bad. The reason the Times reported Fatah's link to the attacks is because Fatah itself claimed responsibility.
The rocket attack is just the tip of the iceberg. Abbas regularly presides over public events where terrorists are glorified as "heroes" (especially terrorists whose release from Israeli prisons he recently engineered) and where violence is openly incited.
Here's just one small example from a whole mountain of such instances. Last October 9, the Palestinian Authority's official television station aired a live broadcast of a rally held under Abbas's auspices. When we say "under Abbas's auspices," we mean literally under his auspices: a large sign on the podium declared, "Memorial Under the Auspices of Mahmoud Abbas, President of Palestine and Chairman of Fatah's Central Committee."
The purpose of the rally was to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the death of a prominent PLO killer from the 1970s, Majed Abu Sharar. Various PA cabinet ministers, mayors, and other senior officials took part. At one point, the National Security Artistic Band --yes, that is really its name-- performed a song called "My Weapon Has Emerged." Here's a sample verse:
"From my wounds, my weapon has emerged.
Oh, our revolution, my weapon has emerged.
There is no force in the world that can remove the weapon from my hand.
From my wounds, my weapon has emerged.
Oh, our revolution, my weapon has emerged.
There is no force in the world that can remove the weapon from my hand.
My weapon has emerged. My weapon has emerged.
This revolutionary people has sacrificed and offered in order to live in freedom!
My weapon has emerged.”
How does Abbas get away with this?
Here's how. The information about the weapons song comes from Palestinian Media Watch, which monitors and translates PA television broadcasts. The major news media simply ignored the information. The State Department said nothing about it, hoping that nobody else would notice (lest it upset the "peace process"). Journalists, who are by and large more sympathetic to the Palestinians than to Israel, refrained from asking about it during the daily press briefings given by White House spokesman. And Jewish leaders who are afraid of being called "anti-peace" refrained from bringing it up.
If nobody brings it up, then nobody has to answer any questions about it. If nobody answers any questions about it, then it doesn't make the news. If it doesn't make the news, then those who find it uncomfortable don't have to address it and don't have to reconsider their policies. They can just pretend it never happened. It's like a tree falling in the forest--if nobody hears it, then it's like it never happened. Welcome to the Middle East peace process, where if something happens that could upset the process, everyone just pretends it didn't happen.
Once in a while, a little information unflattering to the Palestinians manages to seep out--for example, when Abbas's Fatah movement claimed responsibility for those rocket attacks last week. But there, too, the familiar process set in. The State Department was silent, the journalists didn't ask the White House spokesperson, and nervous Jewish leaders let it pass.
The first thing President Obama should have said to Abbas when he arrived at the White House was how disappointed he was that Abbas had not condemned the rocket attacks and arrested the Fatah members who took part in them. But Mr. Obama did not say a word about Fatah and the rockets. And nobody challenged him on it.
All of which explains how President Obama feels comfortable reeling off a baseless claim about Abbas "renouncing violence." He knows that he will not be challenged on it. And so long as those who are in a position to challenge the falsehood refrain from challenging the falsehood, Abbas will continue to get away with it.
