Anthony Blinken Visits the President-For-Life at Ramallah

Before joining the Israeli and Arab delegates at the Negev Summit in Sde Boker, Anthony Blinken paid a brief courtesy call on the angry rais in Ramallah, who was furious that he had not been invited to take part in the meeting at Sde Boker.

Leaving Ramallah, Blinken delivered himself of some telling remarks:

“The two sides are very far apart, so we’ll continue our work, step by step, to try to bring them closer. We’ll work to prevent actions by either side that could raise tensions.

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“That includes settlement expansion, settler violence, home demolitions, evictions, payments to people convicted of terrorism, incitements to violence,” Blinken said.

Note that Blinken lists first four Israeli acts that in his view could “raise tensions”—“settlement expansion, settler violence, home demolitions, evictions.” Now let’s see. “Settlement expansion” could be interpreted to mean that the Israelis are building new settlements, but they are not. Jerusalem has approved roughly 3000 new housing units to be built in existing settlements, in order to accommodate natural population growth. Essentially, Blinken is saying that the Israeli population in Judea and Samaria must not be allowed to increase, for any reason. If people insist on having children, well then – they can always move back inside the Green Line.

When Blinken refers to “settler violence,” he fails to explain why such violence erupts. So let’s enlighten him: it only takes place in response to attacks, usually involving loss of life, by Palestinians on Israeli civilians. He nowhere mentions the Palestinian attacks that give rise, though quite rarely in fact, to that “settler violence.” Why not?

Blinken then mentions “home demolitions” – another quite unpleasant swipe at Israel, for trying to protect the lives of its people. Those “home demolitions” are not acts of wanton cruelty. The homes in question belong to terrorist murderers and their families. Many of those murderers are willing to die in order to kill Israelis. They do not fear death. But what dissuades some people is the certain knowledge that their families would lose their homes. Long experience has convinced Israeli security forces that “home demolitions” work; they do discourage many would-be terrorists. Who is Anthony Blinken to dictate to Israel, the nation most threatened by terrorists, what it can or cannot do to minimize that threat?

Finally, he thinks “evictions” by Israel must stop because they “raise tensions.” Those “evictions” take place only after a lengthy series of judicial hearings, held to determine who has clear title to a particular property, and whether those now living on the property have been paying the rent due. These are property disputes of the kind that occur every day in the U.S., where three million people are evicted every year. In every one of these “eviction” cases that have been decided recently,, the Jewish owner proved his title, and the Arab squatter presented no documents or other evidence that would convince a court. In one memorable case the Arab family squatting on property produced a clumsily forged Ottoman document to support its claim.. In another, the Arab family claimed that they had bought the land in question long ago from a certain “Ismail” who did not provide them with a deed and hadn’t been seen since. Palestinian propagandists have been successful in depicting these property disputes as part of a sinister Israeli plot to expel Arab owners so as to “judaize” east Jerusalem, the area where the latest cases have arisen. The “violence”that Blinken deplores begins with the Arabs who arrive to start trouble during the evictions; they are encouraged to appear by Palestinian propagandists who want the world to see Palestinians being forced to leave “their” homes by Israeli police enforcing an eviction notice. With cameras whirring, those who are being evicted bravely resist, along with other Arabs joining in the melee, against their wanton Israeli tormentors.

Only after listing the four ways that the Israelis increase “tension” through “settlement expansion, settler violence, home demolitions, evictions,” does Blinken mention just two ways that the Palestinians foster such “tension,” with “payments to people convicted of terrorism” and ”incitements to violence.” The “payments” are not one-off handouts to people “convicted of terrorism,” but a gigantic operation, the “Pay-For-Slay”program which provides generous monthly payments to imprisoned terrorists and, where terrorists have died during their attacks, to their families. When terrorists are released, they continue to receive those payments for the rest of their lives. The amount spent on this program by the PA is enormous – about $350 million dollars annually. Blinken’s vague “payments to people convicted of terrorism” does not adequately convey the size of this program. He ought to have written “lifetime payments to imprisoned terrorists or to the families of terrorists killed, that reward past and incentivize future terrorist acts.”

Blinken’s last item is “incitements to violence” — far too vague to convey the horrific truth. He should have expanded on the theme: “constant incitements to violence, including organizing riots at the security fence, naming public places – schools, streets, plazas – after terrorist murderers, televising children’s shows where small children mime the stabbing of Israelis, continuing to use textbooks full of violence and antisemitic messages.” But Blinken was determined to come down hard on the Israelis, and to go easy on the Palestinians. Without more, the phrase “Incitements to violence” could even be interpreted to apply equally to Israelis and Palestinians.

The Truth Must be Told

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