The World Jewish Congress' Jewish Diplomatic Corps (JDCorps) calls on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to show courage and leadership by putting a stop to incendiary and provocative statements, following Abbas’ address at the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva.
The remarks made by President Mahmoud Abbas at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday, October 28, are a missed opportunity to defuse the current crisis.
Though President Abbas has made occasional calls for de-escalation, he has simultaneously stoked the fire. He did this again today by making the inaccurate claim that Israel has sought to change the Palestinian “identity” of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount - where Jews are currently banned from praying by Israel despite it being our holiest religious site.
President Abbas said that Israel carries out ‘extrajudicial killings’ of Palestinian civilians. Two weeks ago he made a similar claim, accusing Israel of executing 13-year-old Mohamed Hansara. What Abbas failed to mention – both then and now – is that, Hansara had stabbed and seriously wounded an Israeli child before being shot by police. Far from executing him, the security services then took Hansara to an Israeli hospital, where he is now recovering.
Sadly, this is hardly the first time in history that the Jewish people have been falsely accused of killing gentile children. No matter how many times the Palestinian President tells the international community that he is committed to “legal and peaceful” means of self-determination, his defense of violence and twisting of facts says it all.
The Palestinian Authority cannot continue to say one thing to the international community and preach another line entirely to its Palestinian audience. We call on President Abbas to show courage and leadership by putting a stop to such incendiary and provocative statements.
We remain committed to a two-state solution and we would welcome efforts to work constructively with Palestinian professionals. We hope that our counterparts will join us in calling for an immediate cessation of violence and an unconditional return to negotiations.
President Abbas was wrong to reaffirm his pledge for unilateral international action and to call on the Human Rights Council to maintain Permanent Agenda Item 7 concerning Israel, the only item specifically targeting one country. The Human Rights Council and other UN bodies should not be twisted into political weapons aimed only at Israel. We urge the Palestinian leadership to concentrate less on international grandstanding and more on standing together with Israel in the search for peace.
The World Jewish Congress Jewish Diplomatic Corps (WJC JDCorps) is a flagship WJC program that supports a worldwide network of some 130 outstanding young Jewish professionals from more than 30 countries. WJC provides JDCorps members with opportunities to engage in diplomatic activities, meet with government officials and NGO representatives from around the globe, and participate in WJC events and activities.
