The PA:
US embassy in Jerusalem is a ticking bomb
Official PA daily op-eds:
- Opening of US embassy is "a war crime" and "an American military base"
- Trump is "stupid," "a moron," and "needs rehabilitation in a mental hospital"
- US and Israeli officials in Jerusalem are "a gang of Zionist robbers celebrating its theft"
- Israel is "satanic Zionist plant"
By Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Continuous hate speech against the US is being published in the official PA daily in response to the US moving its embassy to Jerusalem. The cartoon above depicts the embassy as a ticking bomb. It shows three domes in Jerusalem: (left to right) the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock, and the new "US Embassy" as a large hand grenade. [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 16, 2018]
An op-ed in the same official daily called the embassy itself "an American military base" and its opening of it "a war crime":
"How can it be that Israel's future will be full of shining promises of peace, as [US Presidential Advisor Jared] Kushner said while representing his President Trump at the inauguration of an American military base (sic., the US embassy) in occupied Jerusalem? Those who were present at the inauguration ceremony of Trump's embassy in Jerusalem are partners in a war crime ..."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 15, 2018]
Another said the embassy was an "outpost" to be "uprooted" and that the US is now "the enemy":
"[US President] Donald Trump, who issued the ominous Jerusalem declaration... continues in his unparalleled stupidity to talk about peace... The US has no place in the Middle East peace. It has lost its position, qualification, and credibility. Donald Trump, who transformed it [the US] from a mediator into an enemy, is leading the hostility...
This outpost (i.e., the US embassy) that Trump has established in our Jerusalem will be uprooted, and what will remain is the face of free Palestine."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 16, 2018]
One writer portrayed the US and Israeli officials in Jerusalem as "a gang of Zionist robbers celebrating its theft." He referred to the officials as a "gang" seven times:
"Before I watched the Zionist ceremony establishing the American outpost in occupied Palestinian Jerusalem (i.e., the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018) I was very concerned... However, after watching I calmed down again. The reason for this is that what I saw was nothing more than a gang of Zionist robbers celebrating its theft, just like a gang of bank robbers who just finished the robbery and are now happy with what they stole, laughing hysterically and not believing that they now have millions in their possession!
What confirms this impression - that this is the celebration of a Zionist gang of robbers who stole the history and land - is the almost complete international absence...
After I watched the gang of robbers I felt great relief, because what I saw was an isolated gang acting outside of the framework of time and space, outside of the framework of history and law; a gang led by [US President Donald] Trump and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, together with blonde model Ivanka [Trump] and her little Zionist husband [Jared] Kushner. More importantly, when the dust cleared the gang was exposed in its wretched celebration, and most importantly - Jerusalem is still preserving its Palestinian Arab identity."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 16, 2018]
Another called to Gaza to "sprinkle your pure blood over their putrid heads [of the moron Trump and his staff]":
"Gaza... Your enemies and the robbers of the land and the homeland are vampires who are shepherded by a rebellious cowboy (i.e., US President Donald Trump)... as history is slaughtered, the facts are turned upside down in the name of the wretched promise of the moron Trump and his staff who are obsessed with Armageddon - sprinkle your pure blood over their putrid heads that are contaminated with the conduct of capitalists, that are mired in the bog of robbing the peoples and planting the satanic Zionist plant in the inhabited home and homeland."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 15, 2018]
Additional demonization of the US included the statement that Trump belongs in a "mental asylum":
"This man [Trump] needs rehabilitation in a mental hospital or to be hospitalized in an asylum, because if he remains free, the world will see how he enjoys and takes pleasure like no other while the world goes up in the flames of his sadism and naivety!"
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 15, 2018]
Another writer saw the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem and the recognition of the city as the capital of Israel as yet "another" example of America's alleged history of "abuse of small peoples," describing it as a "wild aggression" against Palestinians:
"The US, in its various administrations, has never known a thing about qualities of chivalry or empathy, tolerance and human understanding. For a long time it has abused - and is still abusing - the poor and small peoples! ... The reality is that it would be hard for us to tell all the stories of 'the ugly American,' which are full of blood, systematic violence, and a violence of abuse and bullying towards small peoples. This is currently being expressed in a most ugly fashion by its abuse of our people... It is going wild in its aggression towards [our people], which is being expressed by the American administration's responsiveness to all of the Zionist activity's demands. What is more, this administration - while transferring its embassy from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem in contradiction to all the decisions of the international institutions, after it declared it the capital of the occupation state (!!) - has turned into a completely Zionist administration."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 15, 2018]
The embassy move has been strongly condemned by the PA and Fatah. Some Palestinian leaders have announced that the recognition is a "declaration of war" and that the embassy move would "open the gates of hell." Others have stated that the US has turned itself into an "enemy" of the Arab world and no longer qualifies as mediator in the Middle East peace process.
Another cartoon attacked Trump for being so focused on the embassy that he ignored or endorsed the shooting of Palestinian rioters in Gaza on May 14, at the time the embassy opened:
The cartoon shows Trump cutting a red ribbon before the gate of the new "US Embassy." The ribbon is formed by a trail of blood from a bullet that has pierced the body of a Palestinian demonstrator and holding a Palestinian flag. [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 15, 2018]
"The March of Return" refers to massive violent riots in Gaza in which thousands of Palestinians are rioting on the border with Israel and attempting to cut through the security fence, attacking with firebombs, flaming kites, and gunfire. The riots began on March 30, 2018, and were scheduled to last for 6 weeks until Palestinian "Nakba" Day on May 15. On May 14, the day the US embassy opened in Jerusalem, the attacks escalated and 62 Palestinians were killed. A senior official of the terror organization Hamas, Salah Bardawil, stated that 50 of the 62 belonged to Hamas, while Islamic Jihad identified 3 others as belonging to it.
The following are longer excerpts of the reports mentioned above:
Excerpt of op-ed by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, a regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: "Be blessed, Gaza"
"Gaza, O the flag of nationalism and its symbol; Gaza, O the glory of the people and the nation; Gaza, O the pride of the men, women, and children; Gaza, O the symbol of giving and sacrifice...
Your enemies and the robbers of the land and the homeland are vampires who are shepherded by a rebellious cowboy (i.e., US President Donald Trump). On behalf of the Zionist-like Crusaders, they are attempting to execute you, Palestine, Jerusalem, and peace...
O sister of Jericho, Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, and Jerusalem - the proud capital as history is slaughtered, the facts are turned upside down in the name of the wretched promise of the moron Trump and his staff who are obsessed with Armageddon - sprinkle your pure blood over their putrid heads that are contaminated with the conduct of capitalists, that are mired in the bog of robbing the peoples and planting the satanic Zionist plant in the inhabited home and homeland...
A curse on all the cowards from among the [Muslim] Brotherhood (i.e., Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood), the infidels, and the murderous children of Zion."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 15, 2018]
Excerpt of an op-ed by Bassem Barhoum, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: "The Zionist gang of robbers versus the illustrious people"
"Before I watched the Zionist ceremony establishing the American outpost in occupied Palestinian Jerusalem (i.e., the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018) I was very concerned like all of the Palestinians in the world watching their Jerusalem being Judaized in an attempt to eliminate our cause. However, after watching I calmed down again. The reason for this is that what I saw was nothing more than a gang of Zionist robbers celebrating its theft, just like a gang of bank robbers who just finished the robbery and are now happy with what they stole, laughing hysterically and not believing that they now have millions in their possession!
What confirms this impression - that this is the celebration of a Zionist gang of robbers who stole the history and land - is the almost complete international absence...
After I watched the gang of robbers I felt great relief, because what I saw was an isolated gang acting outside of the framework of time and space, outside of the framework of history and law; a gang led by [US President Donald] Trump and [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, together with blonde model Ivanka [Trump] and her little Zionist husband [Jared] Kushner. More importantly, when the dust cleared the gang was exposed in its wretched celebration, and most importantly - Jerusalem is still preserving its Palestinian Arab identity."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 16, 2018]
Excerpt of an op-ed by Yahya Rabah, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: "Donald Trump plants a settlement in our Jerusalem"
"[US President] Donald Trump, who issued the ominous Jerusalem declaration (i.e., recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital) and talks about 'the deal of the century' (i.e., Trump's as yet unrevealed Middle East peace plan), continues in his unparalleled stupidity to talk about peace.
We are continuing our just struggle. The US has no place in the Middle East peace. It has lost its position, qualification, and credibility. Donald Trump, who transformed it [the US] from a mediator into an enemy, is leading the hostility...
This outpost (i.e., the US embassy) that Trump has established in our Jerusalem will be uprooted, and what will remain is the face of free Palestine."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 16, 2018]
Excerpt of an op-ed by Muwaffaq Matar, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: "A war crime in Jerusalem"
"[US President Donald] Trump's country may be the strongest country in the world, but it is the poorest country in terms of justice, the richest in terms of injustice, and the lowest on the ladder of human values...
How can it be that Israel's future will be full of shining promises of peace, as [US Presidential Advisor Jared] Kushner said while representing his President Trump at the inauguration of an American military base (sic., the US embassy) in occupied Jerusalem? Those who were present at the inauguration ceremony of Trump's embassy in Jerusalem are partners in a war crime, because they know that any demographic change to occupied territory is a war crime according to international law...
Trump believes in the ability of the leaders of Israel to put an end to the Palestinian existence, as his ancestors did to the Indians, but did they tell him that 100 years of massacres, wars, terror, expulsion, and organized attacks against the Palestinian people have only strengthened the Palestinians' connection to their eternal homeland, Palestine, and that despite the Palestinian Nakba (i.e., "the catastrophe," Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) and Naksa (i.e., "the setback," Palestinian term for Israel's victory in the Six Day War) they are currently a majority in their historical and natural land (sic., they are a minority)?
It may be that Trump excels at math, but he is failing at history and geography. He is failing at literature and language and its human meanings, and also failing at physics, because he does not know the direction of the movement of the free peoples and the chemical properties of the Palestinian nationality. This man needs rehabilitation in a mental hospital or to be hospitalized in an asylum, because if he remains free, the world will see how he enjoys and takes pleasure like no other while the world goes up in the flames of his sadism and naivety!"
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 15, 2018]
Excerpt of an editorial of the official PA daily
Headline: "Again the ugly American"
"The US, in its various administrations, has never known a thing about qualities of chivalry or empathy, tolerance and human understanding. For a long time it has abused - and is still abusing - the poor and small peoples! At the time of its violent and bloody coming into being it abused the native peoples of the American continent, who it called 'Indians,' and this was with rifles that at the time were the most dangerous lethal weapons, and were not in the possession of the peoples of the continent. What was even more despicable was its abuse of them through criminal knowledge: It stealthily introduced blankets contaminated with the smallpox virus, which at the time was a lethal virus for many tribes among these peoples, and it destroyed millions of them...
Japan was not stronger than the US in World War II, but the violent cowboy culture dropped the nuclear bomb 'Little Boy' - and what a name! - on Hiroshima. In the first seconds it destroyed more than 90,000 of the city's residents, who were not on the battlefront! The US didn't make do with this, and dropped another nuclear bomb on Nagasaki named 'Fat Man,' which killed 80,000 of its residents...
There is not enough space to talk about the violent American military interference in the Korean War at the start of the 1950s, interference that caused American novelist William Lederer to write the famous novel The Ugly American...
The reality is that it would be hard for us to tell all the stories of 'the ugly American,' which are full of blood, systematic violence, and a violence of abuse and bullying towards small peoples. This is currently being expressed in a most ugly fashion by its abuse of our people... It is going wild in its aggression towards [our people], which is being expressed by the American administration's responsiveness to all of the Zionist activity's demands. What is more, this administration - while transferring its embassy from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem in contradiction to all the decisions of the international institutions, after it declared it the capital of the occupation state (!!) [parentheses in source] - has turned into a completely Zionist administration."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 15, 2018]