British taxpayer watchdog group Taxpayers’ Alliance yesterday unveiled two reports – “Palestinian Hate Education Since Annapolis” and “Funding Hate Education,” – detailing the role of European foreign aid in funding the demonization of Israel in PA schools and media.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance said it has taken up the issue of incitement against Israel in the Palestinian territories because it believes there must be greater scrutiny of aid programs for the PA, so that taxpayer money from the UK and the EU no longer funds programs that harm the peace process and the national interests of British and EU citizens.

Matthew Sinclair, research director for the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said at a press briefing in Jerusalem, held with Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, that in Palestinian society, “we’re looking at a population where 42 percent are under the age of 15. You have a huge younger generation whose views are going to shape the situation for a long time.

“Peace lies in the hearts and minds of people and it’s vital that the right attitudes are encouraged in people and the right conditions are created for peace,” Sinclair continued.

“It’s rare we see it [foreign aid] doing as much harm to the British taxpayers as we do in this case,” he said.

According to the Taxpayers’ Alliance, European foreign aid provided to the PA, including €420 million and £63.6m. in 2007 alone, “create[s] a responsibility to ensure that the Palestinian Authority does not misuse its budget.”

Ayalon described the problems that hatred and incitement toward Israel in the Palestinian territories spell for coexistence and said that peace will remain impossible “as long as we don’t see the acceptance of Israel as a legitimate and natural part of the Middle East.”

He then related an anecdote from a debate with a British man at the London School of Economics, whom he asked: “‘Can you name one leader of Palestine, one king, one leader?’

“Of course they couldn’t because Palestine never existed,” Ayalon said.

“There has never been a Palestinian state,” he said. When we came here we didn’t find any other nation here. We aren’t going to argue narratives with the PA, he said.

Ashley Perry, the media adviser for the deputy foreign minister’s office, told The Jerusalem Post that much of the onus for battling incitement must shift from Hamas to Fatah, arguing that the image of the Mahmoud Abbas-led party as “moderate” has allowed Fatah to skirt responsibility for battling incitement and indoctrination against Israel in PA-run schools and media outlets.

“When [PA President Mahmoud] Abbas is mentioned, he is talked about as a moderate and a good leader and the complete opposite will be said of Hamas. It’s time for Fatah’s actions to be in line with the perception,” Perry said.

He called on Fatah to adhere to the demands made of Hamas.

“For the [peace] process to go forward, they [Fatah] must stop calling for the end of Israel, end indoctrination and [stop] naming summer camps after murderers.”

Meanwhile, here is yet another example of the fruit borne by Fatah’s incitement and indoctrination against Israel (hat tip: PMW).

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

11:30PM: While Israel’s willingness to discipline two IDF officers over the unjustified use of artillery shells during Operation Cast Lead indicates her willingness to hold herself to account, Hamas, as usual, has its own unique take.

Israel’s willingness to punish its own officers is proof enough the country’s armed forces committed war crimes, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said on Tuesday.

—-

Barhoum said that even the “occupation’s allegation that it punished its officers for their crimes in Gaza” was “clear evidence and condemnation, [amounting to] official recognition of the commission of war crimes against the Palestinian people.”

8:55PM: CAMERA deals with yesterday’s misleading Ha’aretz report “Two IDF officers disciplined for using white phosphorous in Gaza offensive.”

2:50PM: Druze member of the Knesset and deputy minister for development of the Negev and the Galilee Ayoub Kara reportedly told the Church’s representative on the Middle East his thoughts on who should control Jerusalem.

Member of Knesset Ayoub Kara said on Monday that he got the feeling from his meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican last week that the Catholic Church was behind the pontiff on behalf of the Jewish people. Speaking on Arutz Sheva’s Hebrew journal, the deputy minister for development of the Negev and the Galilee said that the pope’s speech on International Holocaust Day showed that he knew what happened in the concentration camps.

Kara said that after his meeting with the pope, he had an argument with the Church’s representative on the Middle East, who said internationalization of Jerusalem was the optimal solution to the Arab-Israeli struggle over the capital. Kara responded by saying that if there was no Israel, there would be no churches in the Middle East, noting how the Christians of Bethlehem and Nazareth are being treated by their Muslim neighbors. He added that the interest of the Church should be Israeli control, and felt that some of what he said was accepted by the cardinal.

2:32PM: Turkey’s ambassador to Israel Ahmet Oguz  Celikkol has asked to be transferred to a new posting after he was treated with deliberate disrespect by Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon.

I request that his replacement be someone with an easier-to-spell name.

2:30PM: Or it was the Mossad.

Sheesh! How many versions of this guy’s death are there? I feel like it is a game of Cluedo (“It was Colonel Mustard, in the hotel room, with an electrocution device”)

8:55AM: A preliminary investigation conducted by Hamas suggests that Mahmoud al-Mabhouh’s death in Dubai was likely carried out by agents of an Arab government, and not by the Mossad.

I don’t think it’ll matter, though. Terrorist groups will no doubt still try to perpetrate an act of terrorism against Israel in retaliation for al-Mabhouh’s killing.

6 thoughts on “The Day In Israel: Tuesday Feb 2nd, 2010”

  1. Michael Zvi Krumbein

    If Ha'aretz was Wikipedia, I could remove the statement for misuse of a source with no trouble. Now that the information HAS appeared in Haaretz. it can be – and probably will be – used there. Of course, I suppse anything from Ha'atetz could be removed as "gibberish".

    When a supposedly respected newpaper prints things that could not get into Wikipedia…

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top