Skip to content

Anglican Friends of Israel

Narrow screen resolution Wide screen resolution Increase font size Decrease font size Default font size
Home arrow Articles arrow Abbas: A "Moderate" Honoring Terrorists
 
Abbas: A "Moderate" Honoring Terrorists Print E-mail
Written by Anglican Friends of Israel   
Thursday, 17 April 2008

UPDATE: Abbas withdraws award to honor female terrorists

During a telephone conversation on Wednesday, Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas informed Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik that he had decided against bestowing the prestigious Al Kuds Mark of Honor medal to honor two Palestinian women who assisted in terrorist attacks that killed Israelis. Instead the awards - the highest medal granted by the PLO - will be given to the families of the terrorists on Thursday. Abbas told Itzik that awards for any Palestinians prisoners have been retracted. Israeli leaders and citizens were furious over the plan to honor the female terrorists, said Itzik, who added that it would not have been beneficial to peace talks. The imprisoned women to be honored were Ahlam Tamim, a Hamas loyalist who drove a suicide bomber to the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem in summer 2001 where he blew himself and killed eight people. The other female was Amra Muna, who enticed Israeli teenager Ophir Rahum through an Internet chat room to meet her in Ramallah where he was killed by Palestinians. 

AFI COMMENT: By giving these honours to the families of the terrorists, instead of the terrorists themselves, Abbas is still condoning their actions even while trying to assauge international outrage. 

Abbas: A "Moderate" Honoring Terrorists

From HonestReporting :

Why does the media continue to refer to the Palestinian leadership as "moderate"? 

On the eve of the anniversary of the horrific 2002 Passover massacre in Netanya's Park Hotel, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas has delivered a stinging reminder that "moderacy" on the Palestinian side is a relative term.

The Jerusalem Post reports that the Al Quds Mark of Honor, the PLO's highest medal, will be given to two female terrorists who helped kill Israelis.


Ahlam Tamimi, a Hamas-linked terrorist in prison for assisting the suicide bomber who killed at least six people in the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, and Amra Muna, who seduced Ophir Rahum over the Internet and then lured him to Ramallah to be murdered, will be awarded the medal.

Conferring the Al Quds Mark of Honor is decided at the discretion of the Palestinian Authority's president, and he alone has the final say when choosing the Palestinians to be honored with the medal.

It is highly unlikely that this appalling story will be covered by the mainstream media, which regularly describes Abbas as a "moderate". While this may be true in comparison with the absolute fanaticism of Hamas, this incident is yet another demonstration of how the media is too quick to cast Palestinian leaders in these terms.

Abbas, as recently as February, did not rule out returning to the path of armed "resistance" against Israel and took pride in the fact that he had been the first to fire on Israel and that his organization had trained Hezbollah. This, in addition to his history of Holocaust denial .

So why does the mainstream media continue to refer to various Israeli politicians or civilians who live over the Green Line as "hard-line", "uncompromising", "intransigent", "implacable" and other similar terms while Abbas and other Palestinians are presented as "moderate"?

In a similar vein, former US President Jimmy Carter laid a wreath Tuesday on the grave of Yasser Arafat, whom he claimed, fought for the advancement of the Palestinians and other just causes in the world. Is this the same godfather of terror responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocents in a bloodstained career? Or was he a "moderate" Palestinian leader?

Demand more from your media - ask why some unpleasant truths are systematically under-reported while Palestinian leaders are inaccurately described in gracious political terms.
 
< Prev   Next >
[ Back ]

Newsflash

You can download Anglican Friends of Israel's short pamphlet about Israel's 60th anniversary here.  Please contact us if you would like to order copies for distribution to your church or organization.
 

Login

RSS/XML Newsfeed

RSS 2.0