FLAME.HOTLINE.

March 29, 2022

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, entering the eighteenth year of his 4-year term of office, has lost the attention and the sympathy of the world with his empty renunciation of all past agreements with Israel.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, entering the eighteenth year of his 4-year term of office, has lost the attention and the sympathy of the world with his empty renunciation of all past agreements with Israel.

Palestinians’ new threat against Israel proves only their fading influence

Dear Friend of FLAME:

Pity the poor Palestinians. Their flagging national movement is mired in a bitter internecine battle between Hamas terrorists in Gaza and the corrupt PLO, now led by a doddering 86-year-old Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah (Judea and Samaria).

Meanwhile, Abbas and other Palestinian leaders continue to tilt at windmills, in the mistaken belief that the world is paying any attention.

Two weeks ago, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) declared that all prior agreements with Israel are null and void, and the PLO would withdraw its recognition of Israel’s right to exist.

Even as their “eternal” enemy, Israel, has blossomed over the last 74 years into a global technological, economic and military miracle, the Palestinians remain dependent on diminishing welfare handouts from international donors, and now even their once-vibrant political cachet seems to have evaporated.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine didn’t help. It’s turned the attention of the world’s nations toward a new—real—villain in Vladimir Putin and away from knee-jerk condemnations of Israel and support for the Palestinians.

Our hearts have turned to the brave, freezing democratic Ukrainians, and away from the hapless, aimless Palestinians with their ever-feuding, blood-soaked dictatorships in Ramallah and Gaza City.

Even their Arab brethren have forgotten or grown tired of the Palestinians . . . and many (horror of horrors) have taken Israelis into their warm embrace.

The Abraham Accords have been a gamechanger, creating close ties between Israel and numerous Arab states—alliances that were unimaginable just a few years ago. The growing relationships have siphoned off Arab funding and turned Arab sympathies away from nihilistic “Palestine.”

Egypt’s President Sisi of Egypt and Jordan’s King Abdullah have warmed to Israeli engagement well beyond the cold peace that has existed since Israel signed peace treaties with the two Arab nations decades ago. Egypt continues to keep its border with Gaza more locked-down than Israel’s.

Even Mohammed bin Salman , the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, recently expressed optimism about a vibrant future for Saudi-Israel relations.

The PLO’s renunciation of all agreements with Israel means that the governing Palestinian Authority (PA)—an Oslo-born creation under full PLO control—is renouncing the Palestinian Authority’s own legitimacy and the very reason for its existence.

The seemingly major PLO announcement from Ramallah was greeted by a huge collective yawn worldwide.

With vanishing support for the PLO leadership among Palestinians, Abbas has little legitimacy at home. The PLO/PA have lost all validity as leaders of the Palestinian people, being utterly inept at anything except terror and corruption.

Palestinian polls repeatedly show that the Palestinian people in Judea and Samaria would kick Abbas and his PLO cronies into oblivion if elections were held. While all of these polls favor Hamas, this is probably less a hearty endorsement of Hamas’ explicit genocidal policy toward Israel than reflective of a hope that Hamas would institute “cleaner” government in Judea and Samaria.

No wonder “President” Abbas won’t allow elections in the territories—even as he enters the eighteenth dictatorial year of his four-year presidential term, to which he was last elected in 2005.

Informed observers also know that, if the PLO really cancelled all security and economic ties with Israel, as its announcement proudly claimed, the PLO/PA’s domain would explode in a blaze of street crime, rampant anarchy and a catastrophic economic collapse in the territories.

The world seems to have become aware that, since the Oslo Accords of 1993, the PLO and PA have made progress nowhere but in United Nations agencies, mastery of terror and graft, and in narrow segments of public opinion.

The Palestinians have moved not an inch closer to achieving a resolution of the “final status issues” regarding the disputed territories over the thirty-year Oslo period—despite several generous Israeli peace offers, billions in foreign aid, and dogged American mediation and pressure.

Actually, remarkably little attention has been directed at the Palestinian cause for years. The world press is pretty silent on the situation—except when Hamas or Hizbullah launch massive volleys of missiles at Israeli population centers and short protective wars are launched, or when PLO-inspired terrorists knife innocent civilians on the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

All indications are that the world’s attention has moved on, particularly in fraught times like the present.

Europe—and a transfixed world—are now seeing what a real war looks like, courtesy of Mr. Putin. We are also seeing true atrocities being committed by an authoritarian regime unleashing its destructive power on a democracy.

In this context, pro-Palestinian advocates are hobbled by the truth that aggressor Russia is doing things—like targeting civilians and especially children—that have characterized Palestinian, not Israeli, behavior.

Please point out to friends, family, colleagues, and your elected representatives the emptiness of Palestinian threats to renounce its agreements with Israel, and their need to embrace compromise to resolve the status of the disputed territories once and for all. The urgency of doing so, once the dust settles in Ukraine, should be foremost on the Palestinian agenda.

Emphasize that the world can best help the Palestinian (and Israeli) people by working to develop a new Palestinian governance structure—with new leaders dedicated to peace. That new leadership must be one truly dedicated to an equitable solution for all parties and have a realistic view of its rapidly diminishing leverage in any negotiations. Its lodestar must be the Palestinian people’s wellbeing . . . not Israel’s destruction.

I hope you’ll also take a minute, while you have this material front and center, to forward this message to friends, visit FLAME’s lively Facebook page and review the message immediately below. It describes FLAME’s new hasbarah campaign—which further exposes “The Israel Genocide Slander” and the anti-Semites who make this false accusation.

Best regards,

Ken Cohen, Editor
Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)

P.S. Whoopi Goldberg’s comments recently about the Holocaust underscored perhaps the greatest “public relations” problem Israel faces: Lies, slander and misinformation. One of the greatest of these falsehoods is the accusation of genocide against the Jewish state. Last May, actor Mark Ruffalo tweeted that Israel commits genocide. A college student in a public forum told Vice President Harris that Israel commits “ethnic genocide.” I think you’ll agree that the only antidote to these lies is the truth. To clarify the outrageous accusation of genocide by Israel, FLAME has created a new hasbarah message called “The Israel Genocide Slander.” I hope you’ll review this convincing, fact-based paid editorial, which is slated to run soon in the New York Times,Washington Post, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, Orlando Sentinel and other media nationwide. It spells out why the State of Israel does not and has never committed genocide—and why accusers should be branded anti-Semites. This piece will also be sent to all members of Congress, Vice President Harris and President Biden. If you agree that this kind of public relations effort on Israel’s behalf is critical, I urge you to support us. Remember: FLAME’s powerful ability to influence public opinion—and U.S. support of Israel—comes from individuals like you, one by one. I hope you’ll consider giving a donation now, as you’re able—with $500, $250, $100, or even $18. (Remember, your donation to FLAME is tax deductible.) To donate online, just go to donate now. Now, more than ever, we need your support to ensure that the American people, the U.S. Congress and President Biden stay committed to fighting anti-Semitic actions by individuals, politicians and commercial companies.

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