Where’s the Coverage? Antisemitism Rampant in the PA
Blogger Elder of Ziyon (EoZ) describes this week’s Palestinian Book Fair in Ramallah, translating from the Arabic-language Feneeq News the statement of Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, “On behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas and myself, I thank all of you, the owners of publishing houses and intellectuals, visitors and guests of Palestine, who have turned this event into a cultural gathering, challenging the occupation and its repressive practices, and breaking the siege and isolation Israel wants us to be under.”
EoZ notes that, “There is not the slightest indication that Israel did anything to stop this fair.” In fact, this year’s fair is the 10th annual Palestinian Book Fair; with a decade of fairs having been held, the claim of Israeli attempts to squelch it is absurd on its face.
In addition to the insidious statements by top Palestinian officials, books on offer—many of which cannot be authenticated as no book list is made available to the public— contain antisemitic material. One confirmed example is Ramzy El-Menyawi’s “Chaos Theory—The American Scenario to Fragment the Middle East and the Zionist Theory Adapted by America,” of which EoZ writes:
In the introduction to the book Menyawi makes an analogy between the US army invading and fragmenting the Muslim world and matzah made from the bodies and blood of the people Jews murdered.
This sort of thinking such as the blood libel is not on the margins of Palestinian society – it is mainstream.
Indeed, Palestinian Authority antisemitism is rampant, as demonstrated by PMW’s report on “Palestinian Authority Antisemitism in 2015“. In its overview, Palestinian Media Watch chronicled the hate-speech promoted in Palestinian media, children’s shows, news outlets, and educational programming. The regular stream of antisemitic language by officials of the PA government is also covered, like a Fatah spokesman referring to Jews as “sons of apes and pigs.”
Yet, the international media continues to ignore this very real problem of Palestinians indoctrinated by their leaders, teachers, books and media to hate Jews because they are Jewish. Where’s the coverage?
–Rachel Frommer, CAMERA Intern
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