Gov't to discuss Palestinian incitement
PA reportedly cancels ceremony to name public square after terrorist.
A security cabinet discussion on establishing a formal government mechanism to monitor Palestinian incitement was put off Wednesday for at least a week, a day before a ceremony scheduled in Ramallah to formally name a public square after Dalal Mughrabi, the terrorist who led the 1978 Coastal Road massacre.
The security cabinet is likely to discuss the incitement monitoring mechanism in the near future.
Israel has complained to the US administration about the naming ceremony, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reportedly asked US Middle East envoy George Mitchell to convince Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to cancel it.
The ceremony is scheduled to take place on the 32nd anniversary of the attack, the worst terrorist incident in Israel’s history, in which terrorists commandeered a bus and murdered 37 people, including 10 children. Mughrabi was killed during the attack.
According to a media reports quoting Palestinian sources Wednesday night, the PA has ordered the cancellation of the ceremony.
Itamar Marcus, the director of Palestinian Media Watch, which has been monitoring incitement in the PA for years, said that under the new initiative, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, currently the director-general of the Strategic Affairs Ministry and formerly the head of Military Intelligence’s research and assessment division, will every three months issue an incitement “report card.”
“One of the biggest problems is the incitement, and how it creates heroes and role models for kids. The naming of the square is a clear message that whoever kills most Israelis is the greatest hero,” Marcus said.
Marcus said his organization has been in contact with Kuperwasser, the director-general of the Strategic Affairs Ministry, and discussed creating an index that would quantify the incitement.
“The message that is important to get across is that without peace education there cannot be peace, and if you teach and promote hatred there cannot be peace,” he said.
A security cabinet discussion on establishing a formal government mechanism to monitor Palestinian incitement was put off Wednesday for at least a week, a day before a ceremony scheduled in Ramallah to formally name a public square after Dalal Mughrabi, the terrorist who led the 1978 Coastal Road massacre.
The security cabinet is likely to discuss the incitement monitoring mechanism in the near future.
Israel has complained to the US administration about the naming ceremony, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reportedly asked US Middle East envoy George Mitchell to convince Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to cancel it.
The ceremony is scheduled to take place on the 32nd anniversary of the attack, the worst terrorist incident in Israel’s history, in which terrorists commandeered a bus and murdered 37 people, including 10 children. Mughrabi was killed during the attack.
According to a media reports quoting Palestinian sources Wednesday night, the PA has ordered the cancellation of the ceremony.
Itamar Marcus, the director of Palestinian Media Watch, which has been monitoring incitement in the PA for years, said that under the new initiative, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, currently the director-general of the Strategic Affairs Ministry and formerly the head of Military Intelligence’s research and assessment division, will every three months issue an incitement “report card.”
“One of the biggest problems is the incitement, and how it creates heroes and role models for kids. The naming of the square is a clear message that whoever kills most Israelis is the greatest hero,” Marcus said.
Marcus said his organization has been in contact with Kuperwasser, the director-general of the Strategic Affairs Ministry, and discussed creating an index that would quantify the incitement.
“The message that is important to get across is that without peace education there cannot be peace, and if you teach and promote hatred there cannot be peace,” he said.