Renewed Attention to Palestinian Incitement
CAMERA has long highlighted the pernicious effect of Palestinian incitement, which, though too-often ignored by the American press, is a central obstacle to peaceful coexistence.
The importance of (ending) this phenomenon was raised this month in separate publications by David Pollack of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and David Horovitz of the Times of Israel.
One interesting passage from the former:
A different but related and very frequent Palestinian assertion is that incitement is a predictable, understandable, and perhaps even inevitable response to the conditions of occupation under which Palestinians now live. As such, they say, incitement is impossible to stop—even if, ironically, that makes it harder to convince Israel to end the occupation. If, however, the occupation were to end somehow, then incitement would arguably cease of its own accord.
This may seem logical, but only until two complicating factors are considered. First, it begs the question of “how to get from here to there”—that is, how to end the occupation while incitement continues. Second, it ignores the historical evidence from all the other cases in which Israel withdrew from an occupation but anti-Israel incitement raged on or intensified, tolerated and even abetted by the Arab governments in charge: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and most recently Gaza. This record suggests that even after a compromise peace deal with the PA, incitement could well continue from a new, more powerful vantage point—unless the deal itself includes some kind of built-in corrective measures against that possibility.
And from the latter:
And nine years after his death, incitement against Israel’s very existence remains widespread — in Palestinian schools and summer camps, newspaper articles and caricatures, TV shows and advertisements, where Israel has no place, where Israeli cities have Arabic names, where the Jews have no Middle East history.
Arafat told president Bill Clinton at Camp David in 2000 that he couldn’t sign a peace deal then because he would be assassinated by his own people for doing so. But that was a consequence of the uncompromising climate that he had most deliberately created.
More from SNAPSHOTS
Double Standards: Boycotts and Discrimination in MassLive
May 16, 2025
Anti-Israel activists, including Harvard University’s Lara Jirmanus, a clinical instructor, seem to struggle with the concept of “discrimination.” Quoted in a May 14 MassLive article, “Harvard ‘failed to respond’ to 450 discrimination complaints. Staff hand-delivered [...]
Swarthmore Students Are Learning: It Was Never About Palestinian Rights
May 14, 2025
Students at Swarthmore College are so close to understanding the conflict. An article in the Swarthmore Phoenix details the frustrations of student activists with the college’s Students for Justice in Palestine. The gist of their criticism is [...]
AFP Arabic Stops Mislabeling Northern Israeli Communities ‘Settlements”
August 10, 2021
A view of Metulla, northern Israel (Photo by Hadar Sela)After failing to set the record straight last May when Agence France Presse's Arabic service repeatedly referred to Jewish communities in northern Israel as "settlements," the [...]
NY Times Praises Ilhan Omar’s Book While Glossing Over Her Antisemitism
August 19, 2020
A recent New York Times book review boosts Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) autobiography while glossing over her antisemitism. In the paper’s Aug. 16, 2020 edition, NYT reporter Christina Cauterucci writes: The memoir offers breathing room [...]
When TV Interviews of Ilhan Omar Constitute Journalistic Malpractice
August 11, 2020
Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) documented animosity toward Jews and Israel was ignored in recent interviews by MSNBC and C-SPAN. MSNBC’s The Beat for July 23, 2020 included host Ari Melber’s 10-minute conversation at 6:16 [...]
Boston TV Station WCVB Teamed Up With Terrorist Supporter CAIR
July 7, 2020
WCVB-TV (channel 5) (Boston’s ABC network affiliate) recently misled area viewers about a matter involving antisemitic propaganda. This occurred on its local Sunday show Cityline hosted by Karen Holmes Ward who is described by the [...]
Harper’s Magazine Echoed Palestinian Propaganda Condemning Israel And America
June 2, 2020
Writing in Harper's, Kevin Baker condemns the U.S. Middle East peace plan [“The Striking Gesture,” Easy Chair, May 2020], mischaracterizing it as, “Give up all your [Palestinian] hopes and your holiest places, embark on a [...]