CAMERA Fills In Richmond Times Dispatch Omissions
The following letter to the editor appeared in the Richmond Times Dispatch on Oct. 26, 2015:
“Dr. Yehuda Lukacs omits key details in his Op-Ed ‘America’s bipartisan moment in the Middle East’ (October 20). Stating that Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple Mount, ‘has been the site of almost daily clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police,’ the George Mason University professor omits mention of the incitement to violence by Palestinian Arab leaders.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas engaged in a libel long-used, in 1929 and 2000 among other instances, to provoke anti-Jewish violence by falsely claiming that Jews hold secret designs on the al-Aqsa mosque. In his August 1 speech Abbas said Jews planned ‘to get rid of al-Aqsa and establish their so-called ‘Temple.’ On September 16, he exhorted, ‘The al-Aqsa is ours…and they [Jews] have no right to defile it with their filthy feet…We bless every drop of blood that has been spilled for Jerusalem.’
Calling for another round of U.S.-led peace talks, Lukacs briefly mentions ‘Secretary of State John Kerry’s unsuccessful peace mission in 2014.’ Yet, he omits that Abbas rejected that mission, just as PA authorities rejected Israeli and U.S. offers of statehood in exchange for peace with Israel in 2000, 2001 and 2008. The author also fails to note that Abbas—currently in the tenth-year of a four-year term—can at best, only claim to represent West Bank Palestinian Arabs. Hamas, a U.S.-listed terror group that calls for Jewish genocide and the destruction of Israel, has ruled the Gaza Strip since its sole election in 2006 and subsequent 2007 coup when they seized power. Which of these groups, Hamas or Abbas’ corrupt Fatah movement that controls the PA, is Israel supposed to make peace with?
Lukacs claims that ‘only Obama can make a difference’ and turn ‘swords into plowshares.’ By omitting key details the author misdescribes the moment—its Palestinian leaders who could make a difference, but it seems they would rather reject peace and call for Jewish blood.
Sean Durns
Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America”
The original letter to the Richmond Times Dispatch can be found here.
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