An Israeli media watchdog is charging that an official Palestinian Authority (PA) video recently aired 19 times in three days implicitly calls for taking violent measures against Israeli Jews.
Days after the broadcasts, in the midst of severe Arab rioting and attacks against Jews in many areas of Jerusalem, a Hamas terrorist rammed a car onto a light rail station platform, killing two people, one of them an infant, and wounding seven others.
The video clip shows PA President Mahmoud Abbas, in a speech from October 17th, calling for Palestinians to prevent “in any way” Jews from going to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, according to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).
In recent months, more and more Jewish groups and individuals have ascended to visit the walled compound – the holiest site in Judaism, which held the First and Second Temples, and now houses the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque.
However, in the video, Abbas said that the presence of Jews “defiles” the Islamic holy site and must prevented “in any way.” According to PMW, “expressions like ‘in any way’ and ‘using all means’ are common PA euphemisms for various degrees of violence and terror.”
In the video clip, Abbas proclaimed that “It’s not enough for us to say: ‘There are those carrying out Ribat‘ (religious conflict / war over land claimed to be Islamic). We must all carry out Ribat in the Al-Aqsa [Mosque]. It’s not enough for us to say: ‘The settlers have arrived [at the Mosque]‘. They have come, and they must not come to the Sanctuary (i.e., Temple Mount).
“We have to prevent them, in any way whatsoever, from entering the Sanctuary,” Abbas said. “This is our Sanctuary, our Al-Aqsa and our Church [of the Holy Sepulchre]. They have no right to enter it. They have no right to defile it. We must prevent them. Let us stand before them with chests bared to protect our holy places,” the PA chief said, according to a broadcast aired on official PA TV between October 17 and 19.
Three-month-old Chayah Zissel Braun and Karen Yemima Mosquera were killed in the vehicular terror attack last Wednesday. On Friday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed an Arab youth who was about to hurl a firebomb at Israeli motorists just north of the city.
Fatah FB page. Image: PMW
Additionally, Abbas’ Fatah in recent days called on its members to “all wear black clothes so that the occupation forces cannot identify young people by the color of their clothes and arrest them,” according to a post on the group’s Facebook page on October 25.
Meanwhile, the official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, joined in the hatefest, and on October 10th, published a cartoon showing an Israeli soldier “beheading” the Dome of the Rock with a sword.
PMW also noted that PA TV has twice broadcast a documentary film on the city, which shows Jews praying at the Western Wall, calling them “sin and filth.”
Additionally, over the summer, Palestinian programmers in Gaza have developed a video game teaching strategy in destroying Israel, according to regional media watchdog, MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute).
A report appearing on Sky News Arabia, broadcast on October 22, said the game – whose trailer was posted online on July 6 - was aimed at developing “strategy and familiarity with weapons.”
Palestinian game developer. Screenshot: MEMRI
“The idea is to develop the spirit of resistance among Palestinian boys and girls,” game developer Karam Hussein said. “This game shows young Palestinians – or in fact, all Palestinians – that mutual understandings and negotiations over plundered rights can never bring about any positive result. The language of weapons is the most effective with the Israelis.”
