by Bassam Tawil, GATESTONE INSTITUTE • March 30, 2021
- [A]s far as most Palestinians are concerned, Barghouti is actually a “hero” who deserves to become president because of his convictions for terrorism.
- The message the Palestinian leadership is sending to its people is: A Palestinian convicted of financial corruption is nowhere near as worthy of public office as one who murders Jews and masterminds terrorist attacks.
- [I]t would be no surprise to see several Palestinian terrorists, including Barghouti and Sa’adat, in the next Palestinian parliament.
- Hamas and the PFLP, whose members are planning to run in the parliamentary election, have, incidentally, been officially designated as terrorist organizations by the US, the European Union, Canada, Israel and Japan.
- A terrorist convicted of murdering Jews is far more popular than a candidate who graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, such as former PA prime minister Salam Fayyad.
- The US, EU, and other countries need to make financial aid to the Palestinian conditional on not electing terrorists. This condition should be presented to the Palestinians before, not after, the election.
- This should not be a difficult task. All the international community has to do is remind the Palestinians of the three conditions set by the Quartet in 2006 for recognizing a Palestinian government: that all members of a future Palestinian government must be committed to non-violence, recognize Israel’s right to exist and accept previous agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinians.
- By turning a blind eye to terrorists who plan to participate in the Palestinian elections, the international community is legitimizing terrorism as well as pulling the rug out from under all the Palestinians and other Arabs not affiliated with terrorist groups and who might be hoping that the US would lead them to better lives and peace in the region.
The Palestinian Central Elections Commission (CEC) recently announced that any Palestinian who wants to run in the upcoming general elections “must not be convicted of a crime or felony against honor or integrity.”
That is, of course, unless the “crime” includes murdering a Jew or involvement in terrorism.
The announcement aims to prevent Mohammed Dahlan, an arch-rival of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, from presenting his candidacy for the presidential election, set to take place on July 31.
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I read the other day that THE infamous Barghouti has died in Prison of COVID. A wonderful Pesach gift But here are plenty of other monsters “nside” who can fight it out between them. Maybe even real fighting…if we’re lucky.