Another Palestinian ‘moderate’ is exposed

The peace-process crowd loves "moderates" but hands out the title too quickly. US Congressmen have an encounter with a Palestinian "moderate" who talks about "fireworks" and come away disappointed.

My latest column on jns.org.

In meetings with members of Congress who were visiting Ramallah, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh launched into a series of venomous anti-Israel tirades.

(March 18, 2022 / JNS) Every time a new Palestinian Arab leader begins to emerge, journalists, pundits and diplomats rush to crown him “moderate.” Well, one of those “moderates” just claimed—to a U.S. congressional delegation, no less—that Hamas has only been shooting “fireworks,” not missiles, at Israel.

 Funny, I don’t see that being reported by any of the journalists who previously praised him. I don’t see any of those pundits or diplomats publicly acknowledging that they were wrong about him.

Mohammed Shtayyeh - Wikipedia

 The latest fallen moderate is Mohammed Shtayyeh, who in 2019 was appointed prime minister of the Palestinian Authority by the P.A.’s apparent chairman-for-life, Mahmoud Abbas.

 As soon as Shtayyeh’s name was announced, Western journalists raced to paint him as a reasonable, moderate, all-around wonderful kind of guy. They did that for an obvious reason: They want to see a sovereign “Palestine” created in Israel’s backyard, and the only way to make that happen is to convince Israel—and its supporters around the world—that it would be safe to do so.

 Agency France Presse called Shtayyeh “a political moderate.” USA Today assured us that Shtayyeh is not some wild-eyed radical; he’s “a British educated economist.”

 The Council on Foreign Relations hosted a public event with Prime Minister Shtayyeh. Richard Engel, chief foreign correspondent for NBC News, was the moderator. Engel quickly cast aside his journalistic objectivity and showered Shtayyeh with sympathy. “It must feel more like you’re more alone, though?” Engel asked him. “It must feel like some of your Arab allies have turned their backs on you. … Does it feel more lonely where you are living right now?”

 The word “technocrat” quickly became attached to the new prime minister’s name. Shtayyeh’s position is “a largely technocratic post,” determined The New York Times. Shtayyeh is “seen largely as a technocrat,” declared Reuters, not identifying just who it is that sees him that way and carefully using the passive tone so as to cement the idea that the description is a widely-accepted fact that no one should question.

 Palestinian Arab extremists are perceived—correctly—as ideologues, ultra-nationalists and violent jihadists. So Shtayyeh’s journalistic friends were anxious to separate the new prime minister from that image. He’s just a “technocrat”—just a regular fellow who is interested only in getting the trains to run on time, that sort of thing.

 Shtayyeh’s media allies are careful not to remind the public that he used to be a senior official of Fatah, the ruling faction of the P.A. that openly sponsors financial rewards for terrorists and calls for the destruction of Israel.

This past week, Shtayyeh threatened to upset the apple cart that the media had so carefully constructed in order to protect his image. In meetings with members of Congress who were visiting Ramallah, the P.A. prime minister launched into a series of venomous anti-Israel tirades.

 House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) asked Shtayyeh about the 4,000-plus Hamas rocket attacks on Israel last May. Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) and Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) told Jewish Insider that “Shtayyeh dismissed Hamas rocket attacks against Israel as ‘fireworks.’ ”

 That’s right, “fireworks.” Which somehow managed to murder 10 Israelis and severely damage countless Israeli homes, schools and kibbutzim.

 Garbarino said that Shtayyeh’s outrageous statement “really annoyed people” in the delegation and indicated that “[the Palestinian Arabs] are not ready to have an adult conversation.”

 Jewish Insider reported that Shtayyeh also falsely accused Israel of “apartheid.” Remarkable! The prime minister of the P.A., which forbids Jews from living in its territory and forbids Arabs from selling property to Jews under penalty of death, accuses the Jews of apartheid.

 According to Jewish Insider, House Democratic Caucus chair Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) “forcefully pushed back” against Shtayyeh’s “apartheid” lie. To his credit, Jeffries recently wrote that accusations of Israeli apartheid are “demonstrably false, dangerous and designed to isolate Israel in one of the toughest neighborhoods in the world.”

 Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.) came away from the meeting with Shtayyeh convinced that the P.A. leaders have “such a victim mentality.” Rep. Valadao said, “I just didn’t get the impression that [Shtayyeh] is someone who is looking for long-term peace with Israelis in the region.” And Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) charged Shtayyeh with engaging in “revisionist history.”

 The truth is that Shtayyeh is no different from any of the other Israel-haters, revisionist liars and terror apologists who comprise the leadership of the Palestinian Authority. The only difference was that the media had done a good job of hiding him from serious scrutiny. Still, they can’t hide his own words.

 Stephen M. Flatow is an attorney and the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995. He is the author of “A Father’s Story: My Fight for Justice Against Iranian Terror.” Reach him @stephenflatow

 Rashida Tlaib plays the “Grandma Card,” again

 Rashida Tlaib wants to smear Israel. And she is willing to stoop as low as necessary to do so—even lying about her own grandmother.
 

By Stephen M. Flatow, Israel National News March 5, 2022

 Isn’t it remarkable how some anti-Israel lies seem to be repeated again and again, and even published in respected newspapers, no matter how many times they have been exposed as false?

Rashida Tlaib                            Reuters

 In a major New York Times feature this week, U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) once again falsely promoted the claim that her grandmother, Mrs. Muftia Tlaib, is persecuted by Israel—when, in reality, Grandma lives under the rule of the Palestinian Authority, not Israel.

 Yet Tlaib keeps repeating the lie, and New York Times reporter Rozina Ali either didn’t bother, or didn’t want to, do the elementary fact-checking on Tlaib’s claims.

 The narrative of the ‘mistreated grandmother’ —sure to elicit readers’ sympathy— was a major part of the March 3 article. It repeatedly referred to Israel’s supposedly harsh “occupation of the West Bank,” followed by mentions of the fact that Tlaib’s grandmother, Mrs. Muftia Tlaib, “is living in the West Bank.”

 The clear implication, again and again, was the Grandma lives under Israeli rule. To strengthen that oppression, the article mentioned that Some years ago, Tlaib “visited the West Bank and saw for herself the walls and checkpoints.”

 Of course, Israel’s checkpoints are no more oppressive than the checkpoints that one finds at every airport in the United States, and they serve exactly the same purpose—to catch terrorists. But Congresswoman Tlaib, and her sympathetic Times interviewer, seemed determined to create the impression that cruel Israel is mistreating poor grandma.

 The notion that Grandma Tlaib is oppressed by Israel is a lie.

 She resides in the Palestinian Arab village of Beit Ur al-Fauqa. Nothing in the article gave readers even the slightest clue that the Israeli occupation of that village ended in 1995. For the past 24 years, Beit Ur al-Fauqa has been governed by the Palestinian Authority.

 In the autumn of 1995, then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin signed an agreement with then-PA chairman Yasir Arafat, known as the Oslo II Accord. It provided for the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the territories where 98% of the Palestinian Arabs reside, including Beit Ur al-Fauqa. The Israelis withdrew. The occupation ended.

 Arafat agreed that a portion of the non-residential agricultural land which Beit Ur al-Fauqa claims belongs to it would be assigned to the area under Israeli security control. Prime Minister Rabin requested this arrangement because that area is dangerously close to the Israeli towns of Beit Horon and Givat Ze’ev, and Route 443, a highway where Israeli automobiles are often subjected to Arab terrorist attacks. But the residential portion of Beit Ur al-Fauqa, as well as the rest of the adjacent agricultural land, have been under the rule of the PA for more than two decades now.

 Isn’t it remarkable how the Times article in effect rewrote history? No Oslo accords, no Israeli withdrawals, no Palestinian Authority control over 98% of the Palestinian Arabs. None of that ever happened, to judge by the Times and Congresswoman Tlaib.

 Ironically, the only oppression Grandma Muftia Tlaib experiences is at the hand of her fellow Palestinian Arabs. The Palestinian Authority refuses to permit Grandma Tlaib and her fellow-residents to vote for their town’s leaders. Beit Ur al-Fauqa has been governed since early 1996 by a group of eleven administrators appointed by the PA. So much for Palestinian democracy.

 In addition, Grandma and her neighbors, like all of the Palestinian Arabs who live under PA rule, have not been allowed to vote for their national leadership, either. PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas is now serving the 17th year of his four year-term. He has accomplished this feat by simply never holding elections for his office.

 Ever wonder why Muftia Tlaib’s Granddaughter-the-Congresswoman never acknowledges the PA’s oppression? The answer is obvious: Rashida Tlaib wants to smear Israel. And she is willing to stoop as low as necessary to accomplish that goal—even if it means both lying about her own grandmother and using Grandma as a political weapon. That’s really about as low as you can get. She ought to try her hand at a limbo dance.

 You can view this column and others by the author on-line here.