|
Trending Topics
|
Source: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/09/23/abbas-netanyahu-un-speeches/#more-769164
No Moral Equivalence Between Abbas and Netanyahu
(Commentary) Jonathan S. Tobin - The media is treating the dueling speeches Friday at the UN General Assembly by Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as morally equivalent. But, to put it bluntly, Abbas lied, and Netanyahu told the truth. Abbas claimed the Palestinians came to the UN armed only with "hopes and dreams." But as Netanyahu later replied, the Palestinians had come with "hopes, dreams - and 10,000 missiles and Grad rockets supplied by Iran." Israel is a democracy in which its Arab minority can claim full rights of citizenship. Yet Abbas has said peace must mean every town in the West Bank as well as neighborhoods in Jerusalem where Jews live over the green line must be eradicated. Netanyahu's mentioning that the Palestinians have laws prohibiting the sale of land to Jews (a crime punishable by death) are accurate reflections of the Nazi-like hate that permeates the PA. This UN circus initiated by the Palestinian leader is nothing more than a charade intended to bolster his standing at home and to avoid the necessity of engaging in U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Israel. The Palestinians don't want to negotiate; they want the world to impose a diktat on Israel that will not guarantee the security or the rights of the Jewish state or even to agree to finally end the conflict.