PA sides with Islamists following 2 French beheadings, 4 murders
France is on its highest terror alert in many years following a series of terror attacks by Muslims, and the PA has chosen to be on the side of the terrorists.
The terror attacks started after a French teacher who showed his class cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad as an example of freedom of expression, was beheaded by a Muslim. Reacting to the murder in a Paris suburb, President of France Emmanuel Macron spoke in defense of freedom of expression, and said: “Islam is a religion that is experiencing a crisis across the world.” He also called the murder “a typical Islamist terrorist attack.” [The Guardian, Oct. 18, 2020] Subsequently another Muslim murdered three Christians in a church in Nice, one of them an elderly woman whom he beheaded. A few days later, yet another terrorist shot and injured a priest as he was leaving church. In addition, Muslims are demonstrating against France and against cartoons portraying Islam’s Prophet Muhammad across the world.
Significantly, the Palestinian Authority has chosen to take the side of the Islamists. The official Palestinian news sources have not published condemnations of the murders of innocent French Christians by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas or any other PA leader. In fact, no one has even mentioned the killings. Instead, while being careful not to criticize France by name, since France is one of the PA’s top financial supporters in Europe, PA religious leaders - including the Ministry of Religious Affairs - have condemned the publication of the Muhammad cartoons, saying that it is the cartoons that “fan the spirit of hatred and hostility”:
“The Ministry of Religious Affairs expressed its rejection of the affront to Prophet Muhammad… Ministry of Religious Affairs Director-General in the Ramallah District Wafiq Alawi said: ‘The ministry – with all its administrative staff and all the mosque imams, preachers, and guards – has followed with great resentment the publication of the cartoons affronting Prophet Muhammad… We warn against continuing these affronts… This fans the spirit of hatred and hostility, and contributes to burying the culture of tolerance and peace between the peoples.”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 28, 2020]
The most senior PA religious official, the Grand Mufti Muhammad Hussein, “condemned the publication of images affronting honorable Prophet Muhammad,” and said that “this affront is immoral.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 26, 2020]
Significantly, the Mufti added that “those who [showed the cartoons] are completely uncultured,” but he did not say anything about the man who beheaded a teacher being “uncultured.”
The Palestinian public followed its leadership and took to the streats protesting against the cartoons in France – but not against the horrific murders of innocents in the streets:
Text on one of the signs at a demonstration in Ramallah stated that freedom of expression only goes as far as Islam’s Prophet Muhammad:
“Not Allah’s Messenger [Muhammad]! For your sake [I would give] my father, my mother, and my life, O Messenger of Allah.”
[Al-Ayyam, Oct. 28, 2020]
Christian and Muslim demonstrators at the Church of the Nativity compound in Bethlehem held a large sign similarly condemning the cartoons, but not the killings of innocents:
Text on sign: “Bethlehem condemns the affront to Prophet Muhammad and the religion of Islam in France. Not Allah’s Messenger!”
[Al-Ayyam, Oct. 29, 2020]
Palestinian Media Watch has reported many times that extremist Islamist religious opinions are held not just by Hamas but also by the Palestinian Authority and Fatah. Abbas’ advisor on Islam, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, recently preached that the Quran commands fighting and permits killing Israelis.
Both Habbash and the Abbas appointed PA Mufti teach said that all of Israel’s land is holy Islamic Waqf and therefore Islam does not allow Palestinians to accept Israel’s permanent existence. Finally, the PA itself pays the families of all suicide bombers who murdered Israelis monthly allowances, defining the terrorists as “Shahids” - holy Islamic Martyrs. By defining suicide bombers who murdered Israeli civilians as “Shahids” – the PA is telling its people that suicide bombings as well as the murder of any and all Israeli civilians, are positive acts according to Islam.
The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above:
Headline: “The [PA] Ministry of Religious Affairs rejects the affront to Prophet [Muhammad], peace be upon him”
“During a [protest] vigil that it held this afternoon, Wednesday [Oct. 28, 2020], in front of its offices in El-Bireh, the [PA] Ministry of Religious Affairs expressed its rejection of the affront to Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him (refers to cartoons published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo –Ed.).
Ministry of Religious Affairs Director-General in the Ramallah and El-Bireh District Wafiq Alawi said: ‘The ministry – with all its administrative staff and all the mosque imams, preachers, and guards – has followed with great resentment the publication of the cartoons affronting Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.’
He added: ‘We firmly reject any affront to Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, which affront all the prophets. We view these affronts as a direct attack on our prophet, our religion, and our faith.’
Alawi continued: ‘We warn against continuing these affronts, whether against the Islamic religion or other religions, whether against our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, or any of the [other] prophets and messengers, through an official or unofficial political discourse. This fans the spirit of hatred and hostility, and contributes to burying the culture of tolerance and peace between the peoples.’”[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 28, 2020]
Headline: “The [PA] Grand Mufti condemns the publication of images affronting Prophet [Muhammad]”
“[PA] Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories and preacher at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque Sheikh Muhammad Hussein condemned the publication of images affronting honorable Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, on the pretext of freedom of thought and publication (see note below –Ed.).
In a statement yesterday [Oct. 25, 2020], the mufti said that this affront is immoral, and that those who did this are completely uncultured. He added that this is condemned by any standard, and that those doing this are a lost group that is full of hatred towards Islam, the Muslims, and their symbols.
The mufti noted that the monotheistic conventions, laws, and religious laws ban affronting religions and their symbols, and added that Islam is a religion of tolerance, mercy, and love, and that most honorable Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is too lofty to be harmed by hate-filled people, whose true racist nature is being exposed.
He again demanded to legislate international laws banning affronting religions and their symbols, and punishing anyone who affronts religious symbols.”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 26, 2020]
Muhammad Hussein also serves as Deputy Secretary-General and acting Secretary-General of the PLO Popular National Conference of Jerusalem.
Muhammad cartoons and beheadings in France, 2020 – A Muslim terrorist murdered and beheaded French middle school teacher Samuel Paty on Oct. 16, 2020, after Paty showed his students cartoons depicting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in a class on freedom of expression. The cartoons had previously been published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Another Muslim terrorist then murdered 3 French citizens, one of whom he beheaded, in a terror attack at a church in Nice on Oct. 29, 2020, and yet another terrorist shot and wounded a priest in Lyon on Oct. 31, 2020. When French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the first murder as “a typical Islamist terrorist attack,” Turkish President Recep Tayyp Erdogan criticized him. The Charlie Hebdo magazine then responded by publishing a cartoon showing Erdogan sitting in his underwear drinking beer, which is forbidden by Islam, and lifting the burka of a Muslim woman to expose her backside while saying “Ouuuh! The Prophet!”
Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in France, 2015: On Jan. 7, 2015, Muslim terrorists Cherif and Said Kouachi carried out a shooting attack at the Paris office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. 12 people were murdered in the attack, which was a response to cartoons the magazine published about Islam's Prophet Muhammad. On Jan. 8, in a connected attack, Muslim terrorist Amely Coulibaly shot and murdered a policewoman in Paris and on Jan. 9, he shot and murdered 4 Jewish shoppers at a Paris kosher supermarket. While Abbas officially condemned the terror attacks in France, PMW has documented different PA reactions to the attacks. Some have condemned them while at the same time condemning Charlie Hebdo for mocking Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Others have compared the terror attacks in France to Israeli "terrorism" against Palestinians, and some have even claimed that Israel was behind the attacks.