While the Arab-Israeli Conflict has been going on for 100 years, there have been notable breakthroughs. Peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan in 1979 and 1994, respectively, were watershed moment which were unfortunately followed by the Two Percent War/Second Intifada (2000-2004), 2006 Lebanon War and Gaza Wars of 2008, 2012 and 2014. But in the waning years of the Trump Administration in 2020, Israel forged normalization agreements with several Arab countries including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
Democrats offered a tepid reaction to the new Arab-Israel peace announcements because there was no similar announcement with the Palestinians. However, a review of how Palestinians viewed their Israeli neighbors over the past several years shows interesting movements precisely when such archaic negative thinking is rejected.
Gazans consistently view Israel as an enemy. Palestinian polls show Gazans in favor of armed attacks inside of Israel against Jewish civilians by a majority ranging from two-thirds to over three-quarters, a shocking figure which should alarm the world (imagine if 75% of Pakistanis were in favor of killing civilians in India).
Arabs from the West Bank have a more nuanced attitude towards Israel. Their opinions change depending on current events.
results from Palestinian polls since mid-2015
The chart above shows how West Bank Arabs changed their attitudes in regards to launching an armed “Intifada” (blue line) and supporting the killing of Jewish civilians inside of Israel (orange line).
The “Stabbing Intifada” which included running over soldiers and civilians in the summer/fall of 2015 was popular among West Bank Arabs and saw a peak support level for terrorism at 47%.
The Trump administration announcement of its intention to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem saw an uptick supporting terrorism that had been dropping since the 2015 peak.
The lowest support for terrorism occurred after Trump cut funding for UNRWA. UNRWA is much more popular in Gaza where roughly 85% of Gazans get service from the UN agency, compared to only roughly 35% in the West Bank.
Support for Hamas and attacks against Israel spiked shortly thereafter, when Israel botched a military operation in Gaza. Palestinian Arabs widely viewed Hamas as being the victor in the contest, and with that perceived win, support for terror rose.
Support for attacking Israelis among West Bank Arabs declined since then and reached a low with the signing of the Abraham Accords
Interestingly, the Trump years saw a sharp decline in attitudes among West Bank Arabs supporting “lone wolf” attacks against Israeli Jewish civilians. Those four years saw the lowest Israeli death toll from terrorism in modern Israeli history. Meanwhile, the West Bankers support for an armed “Intifada” held somewhat constant.
Ending UNRWA’s mandate and fostering peace with more Arab nations seemingly directly impacts West Bank Arabs abandoning terrorism. Conversely, perceived “wins” for HAMAS in battles with Israel breathes new life for armed conflict. The path towards peace is clear: international peace brings peace while international meddling brings terror.
The International Criminal Court decided last week that it has jurisdiction to try Israel for its actions in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel disputes the claim as it is not a member of the ICC and the Palestinian Authority is not a state so should not be able to submit claims in such forum.
The PA had asked the ICC to investigate Israel for war crimes, particularly for Israel’s actions during the 2014 Gaza War. The PA hopes to win on multiple fronts with its action, both against Israel and its political rival in Gaza, Hamas.
Hamas is a designated terrorist organization by the United States, Israel and several other countries. Its 1988 foundational charter remains the most anti-Semitic ruling document ever written, including that of Nazi Germany in the 1930’s. Unperturbed, Palestinians voted Hamas to a majority of parliament in 2006 with that charter in the hopes of destroying Israel as the Two Percent War/ Second Intifada which started in 2000 came to a close.
The people of Gaza lust for Jewish blood has not abated. In the latest Palestinian poll conducted on December 15, 2020, a remarkable 77% of Gazans responded that they very strongly support (30.8%) and strongly support (45.9%) armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside of Israel. The fact that such a question can even be posed should be viewed as incitement to violence and a crime against humanity. That more than three-quarters of Gazans support killing Jewish civilians inside Israel should settle any discussion about the nature of the Hamas ruling authority and the people who live in Gaza.
Results of PCPRS poll 78 of December 2020. The first column shows overall results, the second shows results from the West Bank and last column is Gaza
The United Nations and liberal media falsely state that Gazans are “resorting” to violence and that Gaza rocket fire into Israel is “indiscriminate” but the will of Palestinian Arabs is clear that their aim is to kill Jewish civilians. The appropriate response from Israel – and from the ICC should they pursue the matter – is also abundantly clear.
The January 22, 2021 article (24th in the print edition) in The New York Times “What Zoom Does to Campus Conflicts Over Israel and Free Speech” could have been an interesting discussion about the ongoing role of big media companies and censorship. Remarkably, the Times opted to tackle an easy and extreme case – the dissemination of terrorist propaganda and calls for violence – and decided the answer was sure, if the target is Israel.
The opening sentences of the article made it clear that the author understood the subject to be used as a foil in the discussion:
“Leila Khaled is a two-time hijacker, a member of a Palestinian group on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. So it came as a shock to Javier Cohen, a senior at New York University, to find her speaking on an N.Y.U. webinar last semester.“
From such factual clarity, it is frightening that the Times would follow:
“In a conflict that has divided campuses in recent years, here was a new dimension: A commercial technology company [Zoom], under pressure from pro-Israel groups, was controlling content at a major American university.
“We’re usually not in the position of having campus speech being adjudicated by outside agents,” said [NYU Professor] Mr. Ross, arguing that criticism of Israel was being labeled anti-Semitism. “But Zoom is in the position of doing that right now. ”
This is preposterous and incendiary. Saying that pro-Israel groups are shutting down “content” through the guise of charges of “anti-Semitism” completely misses the mark that the university invited a terrorist who calls for violence onto the college square on the basis of free speech. In no civilized society does free speech cover such activity. To blame the target of the vitriol for shutting down discussion adds to the delusion and reeks of fanning more anti-Semitism.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) had written about Leila Khaled a few months ago when she was due to speak at San Francisco State University (SFSU):
“In some anti-Israel circles, PFLP terrorists Leila Khaled and Rasmea Odeh have drawn particular admiration. Leila Khaled took part in the hijacking of two civilian aircraft in 1969 and 1970. In recentinterviews, she has remainedunrepentant for her role in the hijackings and continues to hold the view that the Palestinian national movement is justified in using all means of resistance, including armed struggle.”
At the same time in September 2020, Colorado Congressman Doug Lamborn wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr outlining the criminal charges that should be brought against SFSU which had invited Khaled and possibly the technology companies like Zoom for hosting such discussions which “appeared to be [for the purpose of] the promotion of the PFLP’s [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine] terrorist agenda to a wider audience.“
While the Times did not quote the ADL or Lamborn’s letter, it seemed to acknowledge the issue of promoting terrorism but then it quickly shifted gears back to anti-Israel free speech:
“A spokeswoman for Zoom, Colleen Rodriguez, said Ms. Khaled’s association with a terrorist group violated the company’s terms of service. The company also banned three other colleges’ webinars featuring Ms. Khaled.
“As schools around the country have shifted to virtual learning, the battles over Israel and the Palestinian territories — with opponents accusing one another of anti-Semitism or suppressing free speech — have migrated with the technology, evolving from campus demonstrations and fliers to social media and Zoom.”
It is as though the article was written by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in acknowledging the problem of promoting terrorism but then excusing it as a matter of “suppressing free speech.” The article would go on for another 37 paragraphs – three pages including large color pictures – about whether criticism of Israel is a matter of free speech.
The 2,000-word article ended with an exchange that suggested the public square deserved to hear from Leila Khaled:
“The history is “messy,” he said, with “justice on both sides, and injustice on both sides.”
“Even without remote learning, students have little incentive to see the other view and strong support for hardening their own side’s.
“Mr. Stern said, mildly, “That makes conversations very difficult.””
One cannot imagine that the Times would go to such lengths to defend a university inviting a member of al-Qaeda onto campus to discuss the evils of the United States and its desire to continue an armed struggle against the western world. Maybe an alt-left university in California or New York would entertain a member of ISIS delivering a lecture under the banner of the university but hopefully law enforcement would shut it down.
The New York Times spent considerable ink over this past week saying that the new Biden Administration will help unify the country. That will only happen if he sends the attorney general and law enforcement after the alt-left universities and media companies like The New York Times which continue to promote terrorism and terrorists.
For people looking to get a quick understanding of terrorist attacks, many turn to the global media companies like CNN’s ”Fast Facts” section. It is there that much of the world gets an alternative view of terrorism, sanitized of the evils of Palestinian anti-Semitism.
CNN has a section called “Terrorist Attacks by Vehicle Fast Facts” devoted to global car ramming attacks. The site leads with a story of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch calling for the use of cars as death machines in 2010 and ISIS doing much the same in September 2014. The website then pivots to a “Timeline” section which recounts 15 terrorist attacks using vehicles since 2006. There is only a single incident in Israel listed and there, CNN quotes the Palestinian terrorist’s family as denying the killer had any involvement with Hamas.
The untold reality is that, like airplane hijackings, Palestinian Arabs are at the forefront of this form of terrorism too.
The paucity of Palestinian terrorism on the site is particularly shocking because there were dozens of Palestinians using cars as weapons against Jews during the media company’s timeframe, along with the active incitement and encouragement of Palestinian leadership.
Fatah, the party of the acting-president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, posted on its Facebook page several cartoons encouraging Arabs to run over Israeli Jews in November 2014, shortly after a Palestinian Arab ran over and killed a few people at a bus stop.
Fatah website promoting running over Jews
The cartoon’s language of “Run over, friend, run over the foreign settler!” and “hit the gas at 199 [km/h] for al-Aqsa,” made the murderous motives abundantly clear.
The Palestinians loved the cartoons so much they began to make their own videos calling for car ramming attacks the following week. The song, “Runaway oh Zionist” is described by ADL:
“The song, preformed in Hebrew with Arabic and Hebrew subtitles, says, “Runaway oh you Zionist, Runaway…Minutes, and a car will run over you” and depicts a Jewish man singing about running away from cars. In the part of the video where the Jewish man gets hit by a car at a bus station and thrown into a cemetery, the lyrics are, “A car will attack you from each direction to give you a ride to the grave.” The song closes with “Runaway Zionists because you will be killed by all means.“
Screenshot of Palestinian video “Runaway oh Zionist.”
Another song circulated online at this time titled “Run-over this settler” was performed by a Palestinian duo with lyrics: “Ran-over a Jewish settler…did it, with his limited resources, for his country.” The song called upon Palestinians to “wait for them at the intersection, let the settler sink in the red blood. Terrify them don’t be merciful.” Jordan-based Al Yarmuk satellite TV station aired the song on its channel as well.
Fatah officials joined the chorus for vehicular homicide with statements like “We will pursue you [Zionists] with car rammings and kill you with rocks.” None of this was covered by CNN.
A thorough review of vehicular terrorism was conducted by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose University in November 2019 in a study called “Smashing Into Crowds” — An Analysis of Vehicle Ramming Attacks.” It’s an important work designed to review how transportation officials should prepare for acts of terrorism.
According to the report, 22% of global vehicular terrorist attacks on civilians since 2010 were committed by Palestinian Arabs. That figure EXCLUDED attacks on police and military personnel which approached 1,000 incidents according to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It included all attacks by a broad range of individuals such as those suffering from mental health issues (the 22% Palestinian figure would be over 50% if just focused on jihadists). But, again, CNN could only mention a single occurrence by Palestinians and fail to describe any of their incitement.
The Mineta report captures the essence of car-ramming attacks by jihadists, especially for Palestinians:
“The emergence of groups inspired by religion-based ideologies contributed to the escalation of violence. The substitution of God’s will for political constituency eroded self-imposed constraints, such as killing large numbers of innocent civilians, including children. Religious fanatics count only on heavenly approval for their actions. Condemnation by those regarded as unbelievers or infidels matters little, and undiluted commitment guarantees paradise. Among religiously inspired terrorists, suicide attacks became common….
“The change in recruiting methods [using social media and online postings] produced changes in the local terrorist population and also affected tactics. The Internet attracted individuals—it did not create local groups. Terrorist campaigns were replaced by one-off attacks; there was no institutional learning, no improvement in operational skills over time. Instead, jihadists remained mostly unconnected individuals operating alone with limited resources. When they did reach out to join others, they risked being taken in by police undercover operations. Isolated jihadists could not sustain terrorist campaigns or inspire sufficient numbers to create a high volume of violence.
“The use of vehicles as weapons is an ideal tactic for today’s circumstances. Vehicles are a readily available “weapon.” Limited skill is required, and the ability to drive is widespread. Little preparation is required for an attack. Cities filled with people and vehicles provide ample targets which cannot easily be protected, and high body counts are potentially achievable. It is not surprising, then, that the number of car-ramming attacks has increased….
“Ramming attacks did not become a terrorist tactic until the 1990s when Palestinians started carrying out vehicular assaults in Israel. Many of the attacks targeted off-duty soldiers waiting at bus stops—a ubiquitous sight in Israel—but some of the attacks were directed against both soldiers and groups of civilians.
“Car ramming did not become a major feature of the Palestinian terrorist campaign until a decade later. The 2001 bus attack was the only vehicle ramming attack to occur during the Palestinian uprising known as the Second Intifada from 2000 to 2005, during which there were hundreds of bombings, armed assaults, and rocket and mortar attacks. Occasional vehicle ramming attacks occurred during subsequent years, especially in the summer of 2008, but the sharp increase in Palestinian vehicle attacks did not begin until after 2014. Still, HAMAS and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were the only Palestinian groups to call for such attacks. By 2016, vehicle ramming attacks had evolved from a statistically rare event to reportedly become the second most common form of attack in Israel and the second deadliest form of attack carried out by Palestinians, behind only stabbing.
“The increasing difficulty of smuggling explosives into the West Bank after the construction of the West Bank Barrier built in response to the Second Intifada and increased border barriers and controls between Gaza and Egypt is offered as at least a partial explanation for the subsequent increase in car rammings by Palestinians. Car rammings increased as preferred modes of attack became more difficult. Palestinians may also have found inspiration in exhortations from global Jihadist groups like al Qaeda and ISIS.”
The report – which was not about Palestinian terrorism – had no difficulty clearly pointing out that the origin of car ramming terrorism came from Palestinians, that Palestinian leadership specifically calls on people to use vehicles to kill Israeli Jews who are treated as less than human, and that Palestinians are the leading users of such terrorist tactics – even more than all other jihadists around the world combined.
Yet CNN would have its readers believe otherwise.
Most people will not look up an 18-page report compiled by transportation experts at an American university to learn what actually happened around the world from jihadist terrorism and rely on readily-available media like CNN which, unbeknownst to viewers, attempts to sanitize the crimes against humanity executed routinely by Palestinian Arabs. Not only does truth die in the hands of mainstream media but innocent victims suffer a second-time from the failures of memory and justice.
The New York Times has continued to use pictures which accompany its articles (read editorials) to frame narratives that are vehemently anti-Zionist.
On November 20, 2020, the paper had a two-page spread on pages A12 and A13 which touched upon the victims of terrorism but handled the stories very differently.
Pages A12 and A13 from The New York Times on November 20, 2020
Page A13 had a large color photograph of a victim of a terrorist attack in Toronto. The article’s title “Professed ‘Incel’ Who Killed 10 With Van Stands Trial in Toronto” had a caption under the page’s dominant picture which read “Cathy Riddell, 70, who sustained over 20 injuries, including brain trauma, in a 2018 van attack that killed 10 people and wounded 16.” The large picture gave a personal story of the tragedy that struck so many and left the reader feeling emotionally attached to her and the many victims of this ‘incel’.
The story on page A12 portrayed a very different picture for readers. The story called “Seeking Restart with Biden, Palestinians to Pare Prisoner Payments” also had a picture – but of a very different kind of “victim.”
The picture was of two people walking around rubble. The caption read “The parents of a Palestinian prisoner inspecting her house in the West Bank after it was demolished by the Israeli Defense Forces.” In this rendition of history, the Palestinian terrorist is the victim, by being in jail and having her house demolished. The dead and injured Israelis are nowhere to be found as they are not victims for the Times, as their very presence makes Arabs “resort to violence.”
While the paper could have shown pictures of Israeli victims as it did in the article on the following page, including the Henkins who were shot to death in their car in front of their children, or Tamar Fogel who was 12 years old when she entered her home to see her parents and three siblings stabbed to death by two Arab men, or hundreds of other Israelis, it opted to make the Palestinian Arabs serving in jail the victims.
Perhaps a dose-of-reality bubble could have been placed over this woman’s head as she inspected the demolished home, like Widad Barghouti who had her house demolished after her son Qassam Shibli killed a 17-year old Israeli girl on a hike. The text would read her statement just after her house was demolished: “I say to [my son Qassam], to all of them [the prisoners], that we are proud of you. If we want to talk about our achievements as mothers, then the most important achievement that we have made in our lives is that we gave birth to heroes such as these.” Nah, that would break the Times narrative crafted for its anti-Zionist readership.
The anti-Israel media will tell you explicitly, subtly, directly and indirectly until you’re brain-washed to believe that Palestinian Arabs are always the victims, even – or perhaps especially – those that murder.
Israel has a long history battling armies and terrorists since the Jewish State declared its independence in 1948. Since September 2000, a total of 1,383 people have been killed by terrorists and many times that number have been wounded.
Yasser Arafat launched the Second Intifada in September 2000 after he was disappointed with only getting 98% of his stated desires from the peace process with Israel. Terrorist attacks became daily occurrences and the death toll and carnage was horrific. In just the last few months of 2000, some 43 people were killed in Palestinian attacks. The toll increased in the following years with 208, 464, 210 and 143 murdered during the years 2001 through 2004, respectively. The reduced number of deaths in the latter years was a direct result of Israel constructing a security barrier to stem the flow of Palestinian killers from areas which Israel had handed to Palestinian Authority rule between 1995 and 2000. The barrier proved critical in saving Israeli lives in the following years.
Palestinian terrorists kill 15 civilians including 7 children and a pregnant woman at a Sbarro pizza store in Jerusalem on August 9, 2001
From 2005 through 2008, a total of 134 people were killed in terrorist attacks, a four year total which was less than 2004 alone. The numbers would continue to improve during the two Obama terms, with 55 fatalities in the 2009 to 2013 period, but escalating to 79 deaths in the second term, with a spike from the stabbing and car ramming intifadas after the peace process under U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry completely failed.
The last four years have been the safest ever.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s strong support for Israel translated into the lowest Israeli death toll from Palestinian terrorism (47 murdered), despite the various dire warnings of the region going up in flames because of the U.S.’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the move of its embassy to the city and various other pro-Israel initiatives. Year-to-date, two people have been killed by Palestinian terrorists, the lowest one year total ever. The two-year and three-year totals (14 and 28, 2019-2020 and 2018-2020, respectively) are also records for the fewest Israeli deaths from terrorism.
Four-Year Period
Fatalities from Terrorism
2001-2004
1,025 (Second Intifada)
2005-2008
134 (Security Wall built)
2009-2012
55 (Palestinians hopeful in Obama’s squeeze of Israel)
2013-2016
79 (Failure of Obama peace initiative; Stabbing Intifada)
2017-2020
47 (Trump Administration’s pro-Israel agenda)
Trump administration yields most peaceful period for Israel in decades
President Trump helped make Israel strong which helped make Israel safe. It is a formula worthy of repeating.
Saeb Erekat is the Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and has long held the title of “Negotiator” with Israel in attempting to create a new state of Palestine. He is also a champion of the anti-Zionist Terrorist Lobby.
After pressure from the United States’ Trump Administration, the European Union finally began to investigate the funneling of money to Palestinian groups that directly and indirectly are involved with terrorist attacks against Jewish Israelis. The document which referred to “financial support to third parties, in the lists of EU restrictive measures” was designed to curb the flow of money from members of the EU to some of the Palestinian NGOs (non-Governmental Organizations) which are involved in illegal activities. This includes EU-designated terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Saeb Erekat would have none of it.
Erekat declared that “Hamas and the PFLP are not terrorist organizations,” despite such designation by the EU, the United States and many other countries. Hamas’s foundational Charter openly calls for the killing of Jews and destruction of Israel. It has killed hundreds of Israelis in terrorist attacks since its founding.
In December 2019, 130 Palestinian NGOs refused to sign onto the EU restrictions and launched a “Palestinian National Campaign to Reject Conditional Funding.” On September 30, 2020, Palestinian leaders met with Palestinian NGOs in Ramallah met to discuss how to remove Palestinian NGOs from the restrictive list to keep the euros flowing.
Remarkably, Erekat’s role in the Terrorism Lobby to get funds and support for groups that kill Jews did not stop the Jewish State from admitting him to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem for complications from the coronavirus. It should serve as a further reminder to the EU to monitor those who support life and those with genocidal aspirations.
Saeb Erekat, part of the anti-Zionist Terrorist Lobby, speaking at the left-wing J Street Conference
For years, The New York Times has refused to label Hamas as a designated foreign terrorist organization and instead has opted to call it an “Islamist militant group.” That changed on September 5, 2020 but not for a good reason.
The Times went so far to label the group in its headline, “The Justice Department Charges Two With Trying to Support Terrorist Group Hamas.” It seemed a moment to celebrate the Times finally calling out this horrible antisemitic group. However, the two pictures of White men under the title gave immediate pause.
September 5, 2020 NY Times article
The article said that the “Justice Department on Friday charged two American citizens with ties to a far-right extremist group with trying to support the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas – a case that shows that extremists have sought to turn protests against racism into opportunities to commit violence, but that also runs counter to President Trump’s assertions that those extremists are predominantly from the far left.” It would continue to call a Hamas a terrorist group two more times before continuing that “the Justice Department has predominantly charged members of Boogaloo with crimes, contradicting claims by Mr. Barr and Mr. Trump that far-left extremists are responsible for the violence and crimes that have occurred at protests.”
After a decade of not referring to Hamas as a terrorist group in hundreds of articles which mentioned it, the Times did so FOUR TIMES in a single article as it linked it to a far-right extremist movement. Yet Hamas is not a right-wing movement but an Islamic one, championed by progressives supporting Palestinian Arabs including former Democratic President Jimmy Carter.
The Times is actively moving past its history of ignoring Palestinian Muslim antisemitism and terrorism to actively recharacterizing it as an evil of the right. I wonder whether these efforts will win the praise or scorn of Muslim anti-Zionist Democratic members of Congress like Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
There is a new placard being burnished around the world. It calls for justice and an end to the hatred and excuses for the racist, misogynistic, antisemitic and homophobic actions of Palestinian Arabs. #PalestinianActionsMatter
The PA publishes anti-Semitic textbooks for children in school that demonizes Jews, claims they have no connection to the holy land, and glorifies “martyrs”
Since the Palestinians gained control of Gaza, they launched three wars (2008, 2012 and 2014), fired thousands of rockets at Israeli cities, and dug tunnels to penetrate Israel for attacks, rather than build an economy
Palestinians set fire to Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus and painted the dome green, the color of Islam
The world is waking up to the systemic racism and antisemitism of Palestinians with calls to defund the Palestinian Authority and questions whether yet an additional Arab state in the region should be created which has been instilled with such a toxic culture.
Mobile subscribers come in two general varieties: pre-paid and post-paid.
Post-paid subscribers pay AFTER they receive service each month. These customers do not know exactly how much they will pay for service due to the variability in usage but have an understanding with the wireless carrier on the basic parameters of $X for Y voice minutes and Z GB of data usage.
In contrast, pre-paid customers pay BEFORE they use the service. Sometimes this is done because the consumer wants to have a defined liability and ensure they are not burdened by overage charges. Pre-paid plans are often used by consumers with poor credit.
In the early days of wireless, there were only post-paid subscribers as the handsets and calling plans were expensive. The cost kept the marketplace limited to only the wealthy and consumers who truly needed the service. To attract the masses, carriers introduced pre-paid plans which were not only much cheaper but avoided the lengthy contracts and background checks. The mobile industry took off.
This is the template the Palestinian Authority has used with terrorism, inverting pre-paid and post-paid to attract the masses.
Post-paid Terrorism for the Masses
In the early days of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the group took a significant amount of time to recruit and train its killers. Money was spent on guns, ammunition and bombs, and considerable time was invested in surveillance, training and planning. The massacre of the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games, the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre and the numerous airplane hijackings in the 1970’s were carried out by devout fanatics. These were pre-paid terrorist activities with the terrorist group investing a lot upfront, limiting both the number of attacks and PLO membership.
The world changed after the jihadist terrorism against the United States on 9/11/2001. The U.S. pushed the world to fight terrorist groups directly with arms AND by cutting off their source of funding. Even the United Nations got involved.
The impact was felt in Israel.
HAMAS, the Palestinian jihadist terrorist group, was forced to wage war on a more limited budget and use less expensive weaponry to kill Jews including cheap and poorly constructed missiles, bombs attached to balloons and thousands of young men with rocks.
For its part, the Palestinian Authority employs a “pay-to-slay” program, a post-paid terrorism financing plan in which it needn’t directly recruit individuals or invest in armaments for attack. The PA pays the terrorists and their families based on how long they spend in Israeli jails which is correlated to their crimes – more dead Israelis equals more jail time and more money.
This contract is considered sacrosanct. Acting-President of the PA Mahmoud Abbas said “[e]ven if we have only a penny left, we will give it to the martyrs, the prisoners and their families…. We view the prisoners and the martyrs as planets and stars in the skies of the Palestinian struggle, and they have priority in everything.”
Consider Hakim Awad, just 18-years old when he burst into a Jewish family’s home one night while they slept. He stabbed the parents and three children to death, including a three-month-old infant. The PA considers his actions noble and pays his family $14,000 per year. Should Awad live to the age of 80, the PA will pay nearly $2 million to Awad’s family.
Hakim Awad leaving court. He received five life-sentences for murdering five Jewish civilians (Photo: Hagai Aharon)
This system of “pay-to-slay” works well for all the Arab parties. The terrorists and their families get the money directly rather than it going to weapons, and they have clarity that the greater destruction they can inflict, the more money will go to their families. The Palestinian Authority gains millions of terrorists-in-waiting while it maintains that it is not involved in terrorism as the world is accustomed to thinking about terrorism on the basis of pre-paid financing. This allows Abbas to stand at the General Assembly of the United Nations while playing the victim and continue to receive millions of dollars from countries.
Abbas’ post-paid terrorism has worked. Stabbings, rock-throwings and car rammings ballooned after Hamas’s failed war against Israel in 2014. Countries around the world continue to give monies to the PA considering it “humanitarian” support because they are in favor of an independent Palestinian state, even though it is clear that they are funding terrorism. The Palestinian terrorists-in-waiting read about the funds transfers and consequently know their families will be paid well and that they will be honored as heroes in their communities.
In the early days of mobile, post-paid wireless subscribers were considered much more valuable than pre-paid subscribers, as they spent much more money each month and were more loyal, less likely to leave the carrier. That has changed over time with each spending roughly the same amount today.
In terrorism, the dynamics have also converged. The loyalty of post-paid terrorists-in-waiting has matched the devoted jihadists, knowing that the monies and honor are guaranteed.
As long as donor charities and countries continue to fund the Palestinian Authority, the value of the post-paid terrorists will continue to rise and the blood of Israeli Jews will continue to flow.
First One Through 