[{"contentType":"Article","lang":"en","imageUrl":"/Storage/Images/2026/front-page-actual-jpost-1.jpeg","title":"PA loses soulmate Maduro – front page JPost Magazine","id":41838,"news":false,"content":"

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PA loses soulmate Maduro – front page of The Jerusalem Post Magazine

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The Palestinian Authority is firmly and fundamentally a part of the anti-American and anti-Western Axis. In this important article, which The Jerusalem Post chose to highlight as the front-page story in its Weekend Magazine, Palestinian Media Watch Director Itamar Marcus exposes the longstanding and close relationship between the PA and the communist anti-American dictators of Venezuela. Marcus calls the relationship one of "soulmates."

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Israel rejects the creation of a Palestinian state or having Gaza placed under PA control because the PA is an anti-Semitic terror-supporting entity. The US and Western democracies must likewise reject PA rule because a PA entity will support forces hostile to the free world and erode the democratic world order Western governments seek to achieve.

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BY ITAMAR MARCUS

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January 9, 2026

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US capture exposes Palestinian Authority's hidden support for Venezuelan dictator Maduro

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The Palestinian Authority has had a special and warm relationship with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, and before him with Hugo Chavez, as one of soulmates.

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The PA has actively and openly placed itself firmly in the camp of the notorious human rights-abusing Venezuelan dictators. Following the US raid and arrest of President Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on charges including narco-terrorism and drug trafficking – with an audacious military operation in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas – the PA has remained silent for now, fearing a US reaction to its support for Maduro.

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However, the PA camaraderie with Maduro has been fundamental to PA policy.

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A few months ago, when US President Donald Trump started to threaten Venezuela, the PA held an anti-American demonstration at the Venezuelan embassy in Ramallah in support of Maduro. Ramallah Governor Laila Ghannam participated and posted her anti-American messages and pictures on her Facebook page:

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"As a sign of rejecting the American threats against friendly Venezuela, I participated in the solidarity vigil that was organized by the national forces in front of the Venezuelan Embassy building of Caracas in the State of Palestine in order to affirm our people's support for the people and government of Venezuela."

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[Ramallah and Al-Bireh District Governor Laila Ghannam, Facebook page, Sept. 18, 2025]

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Mahmoud Abbas's appointee Ahmad Assaf, who is the director of official PA TV, has a small statue of the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez prominently displayed in his office to show all visitors where the PA's ideology and values stand.

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[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 10, 2025]

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The PA has prominently supported the Latin American dictators for years. In 2024, Venezuela held an election, and according to opposition sources, 70% voted against Maduro. Many Western democracies declined to recognize Maduro's election. The PA, however, welcomed Maduro's rule, and Abbas sent his special envoy to the inauguration.

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"President Abbas' Advisor on International Affairs and Special Envoy Minister Riyad al-Maliki participated in the inauguration ceremony of President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro as the representative of President Mahmoud Abbas…

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"Al-Maliki conveyed President Mahmoud Abbas' congratulations to President-elect Maduro and wishes for success in serving his country and his people… He also emphasized that the State of Palestine is showing interest in strengthening the relations with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in all areas of common interest."

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[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 12, 2025]

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In 2024, the PA sent Fatah leader Abbas Zaki to an event in Venezuela under the auspices of President Maduro. The PA leader praised the communist dictators of Latin America and compared Maduro to Fidel Castro and Che Guevara:

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"Thank Allah who created in Latin America – which is geographically far but closest to the Palestinians' hearts – great leaders who are restoring the memory of [former Cuban President] Fidel Castro and [former Communist leader Che] Guevara, like President Maduro."

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Maduro, in turn, expressed the dictator's support for the PA. "Maduro described what is happening in Palestine as the Israeli occupation committing a genocide against the Palestinian people for 75 years," i.e., since Israel's creation.

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[Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, Facebook page, June 18, 2024]

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Ramallah-Caracas: Warm ties that stretch back

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In 2023, Mahmoud Abbas sent the Chairman of the Palestinian National Council, Rawhi Fattouh, to Venezuela to deliver a personal message from Abbas to Maduro:

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"Fattouh also laid a wreath of flowers on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas on the monument of historic leader Hugo Chavez."

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[WAFA, official PA news agency, July 27, 2023]

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The picture shows Fattouh and the wreath with the words "President of the State of Palestine Mr. Mahmoud Abbas" written in Spanish.

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[Palestinian National Council Chairman Rawhi Fattouh, Facebook page, July 28, 2023]

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In 2018, Western democracies also rejected Maduro's election victory and announced that they would recognize opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the legitimate leader. Russia, China, Mexico, Syria, Iran, and Turkey supported Maduro, while the US, EU, Canada, Israel, and some countries in Latin America backed Guaidó. Aligning with the anti-democratic regimes, the PA rallied behind Maduro.

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PA Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Maliki participated in Maduro's inauguration ceremony and brought Maduro personal congratulations from Mahmoud Abbas:

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"Al-Maliki congratulated President Maduro on receiving the presidency, wished him success in his service of the Venezuelan people, and conveyed to him the congratulations and wishes of [PA President] Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership that always stands by Venezuela and its people, as Palestine does not forget its friends."

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[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 12, 2019]

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The PA Foreign Ministry "condemned several states" for their "interference" against him:

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"The PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its concern given the events taking place in Venezuela and condemned several states' interference in the state's internal affairs and direct [interference] through support for the coup attempt against legally elected President Maduro."

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[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 25, 2019]

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PLO Executive Committee member Ahmed Majdalani, meanwhile, attacked the US and also accused it of "interference" in Venezuela's affairs while condemning the "coup attempt" against Maduro:

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"The blatant American interference in states' affairs, as is happening in Venezuela, is a direct continuation of the policy of [US President Donald] Trump's administration, whose goal is to usurp the will of the peoples... and [condemned] the coup attempt against the legitimacy of elected President Maduro."
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[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 25, 2018]

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The PA official daily reported on demonstrations supporting Maduro:

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"The Palestinian and Venezuelan peoples face the same enemy - which is the US."

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[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 25, 2019]

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An op-ed in the official PA daily ripped into US President Trump's speech at the UN about Venezuela:

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"The new cowboy (i.e., US President Donald Trump) blatantly threatened a sovereign state – Venezuela – and its president. He announced that his administration would attack [Venezuelan] President Nicolás Maduro and unequivocally incited the army to carry out a coup against a president who was legally elected. He also attacked socialism as if his capitalist system is in better shape..."

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[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 27, 2018]

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Subsequently, protesters held posters with Venezuelan and Palestinian flags at a solidarity rally in Ramallah, where PA leaders also participated. One poster showed pictures of Donald Trump with an "X" across his face and the words

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"American Imperialism, Enemy of the Nations."

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The rally participants chanted: "America is the head of the snake, blessings from Ramallah to proud Caracas."

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[Official Fatah Facebook page, May 21, 2019]

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As a sign of this friendship, the Palestinian Embassy in Venezuela erected a statue of "President Martyr Yasser Arafat in Liberator Simon Bolivar Monument Square." PA Ambassador Linda Sobeh "again emphasized Palestine's support for Venezuela in light of the situation that it is going through (i.e., violent clashes between the regime and opposition forces following Maduro's fraudulent election)."

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[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 17, 2019]

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As a further sign of camaraderie, the PA named a hospital after the dictator, which was called "the Palestinian-Venezuelan Hugo Chavez Eye Disease Hospital… according to the instructions of [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, and constitutes a source of Palestinian national pride."

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[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 1, 2018]

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The PA's next move

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With the Palestinian Authority desperate for US aid and support as it seeks a position of power in some future Gaza entity, Mahmoud Abbas is attempting to conceal his longstanding embrace of Venezuela's anti-American regime. Abbas seems petrified that President Trump might realize the PA's place squarely within the anti-American ideological axis.

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Abbas has thus ensured that the PA's official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, remained silent on the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, even as the story featured prominently in other Palestinian newspapers. The fear was so acute that Abbas's paper did not publish a single news item about Venezuela on Jan. 5, let alone an opinion piece.

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By contrast, independent Palestinian newspapers filled their pages with coverage of events in Venezuela, including columns sharply attacking the US. Al-Quds, the largest Palestinian daily, published 15 articles on the issue, seven of them openly critical of the US, and devoted an entire page to short commentary responses – all critical.

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Al-Ayyam, the second-largest daily, ran 18 articles on Venezuela, at least two of them critical, and dedicated a full page to photographs highlighting pro-Maduro protests around the world.

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The blackout in Al-Hayat is revealing precisely because it is unnatural. The paper's refusal to criticize the US over Venezuela exposes how tightly the PA's official media is controlled. The PA keenly fears the consequences of letting Washington know where it stands in the conflict between the US and the anti-American axis.

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This sudden discipline does not signal an ideological change. The PA remains aligned with anti-American regimes and worldviews. The difference is tactical: What has changed is only the PA's need to hide its essential ideologies from Donald Trump.

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$\"Itamar$

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Register Here

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Lies and Empty Promises: How Abbas fooled the West into Recognition of a Palestinian State

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Wednesday, September 3rd

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12:00 PM EST

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Several Western states, once Israel's allies, intend to recognize a Palestinian state in September at the UN. These countries see this recognition as a final stamp of legitimacy to the Abbas-led Palestinian Authority and a punishment of Israel for its war in Gaza. In our conversation, we ask: What was the lie that Abbas told French President Macron that was used to justify his call for recognition? Why should the Palestinian people, even more than the PA, be rejected for statehood? Why is a PA state bad for Israel and the West? And why the US and Israel should respond to the PA statehood farce by designating the PA as a terror organization. Itamar Marcus joins us to provide much-sought answers to all of these questions.

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About our Speaker: Itamar Marcus is Founder & Director of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), an Israeli research institute known internationally for its in-depth research of Palestinian society. He has presented PMW findings dozens of times in Congress, parliaments and conferences. PMW's reports led to the Taylor Force Act, Israel's "Deduction Law," and his report on the PA-ICC contacts led to the US imposing sanctions on the PA, this past July. Itamar is a frequent guest on various international news networks, and is the author of "Deception: Betraying the Peace Process" & "Teaching Terror to Tots". He was recognized among the world's "top 100 people positively influencing Jewish life or the State of Israel." by Algemeiner.

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Marcus: "There are two very important messages for the PA so that people will hate the Jews and think the Jews are irreparable. One is that evil is in our nature, in our DNA… The second is that this is in our tradition, it is in the Torah. We are commanded by the Torah to kill"
"These two messages cause deep hatred and even fear of the Jews [among Palestinians], and justifies killing Jews because if that's how the Jew is… then I, the Palestinian, have a right to kill a Jew anywhere and anytime to defend myself"

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Director of Palestinian Media Watch Itamar Marcus was interviewed on Israeli Channel 14 about the antisemitic ideology of the Palestinian Authority and its use of this ideology to legitimize murder of Israelis and create willing "Martyrs for Allah" among the Palestinian population.

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$\"Click$

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Channel 14 TV host: "Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) Director Itamar Marcus.

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We still hear that the Palestinian Authority continues to spread antisemitic blood libels and encourage death. Is this true?"

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PMW Director Itamar Marcus: "Yes, this is true. We're always talking about Hamas and what they've done, let's not forget that it's the PA that created the hatred that gave Hamas the power. This continues to this day."

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Host: "Let's watch the video that we'll comment on from the PA that portrays not only the Jews as evil and cruel in our essence, but also says this comes from Judaism itself, from the Torah"

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$\"Click$

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Official PA TV Israeli affairs "expert" Nizar Nazzal: "We have noticed that some of the [Israeli] soldiers are acting according to texts from the Torah. I have noticed that the Israelis are killing the cats, donkeys, and mules. This of course exists in the Torah texts. Since Gaza City, Nablus, and Hebron, these three cities according to the Torah – which is of course corrupted - are considered disobedient cities or cities of darkness, and everything that moves in them must be killed, starting with the animals. Therefore, we have seen the Israeli army killing the cats, animals, and human beings, bodies [and carcasses] are scattered on the roadsides, entire hospitals are burned down."
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[Official PA TV, April 11, 2025]
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Itamar Marcus: "There are two very important messages for the PA so that people will hate the Jews and think the Jews are irreparable. One is that evil is in our nature, in our DNA. We hate them and we hate everyone, and therefore we are irreparable. The second is that this is in our tradition, it is in the Torah. [The PA claims] we are commanded by the Torah to kill, even animals as you heard. These two messages that keep appearing continuously for years cause deep hatred and even fear of the Jews, and justifies killing Jews because if that's how the Jew is, then I [Palestinian] am always in danger. Therefore, I, the Palestinian, have a right to kill a Jew anywhere and anytime to defend myself."

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Host: "We have another [PMW] video of the PA. It continues to encourage the residents to aspire to die for Allah, even while most of the residents want to live."

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$\"Click$

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Official Fatah Spokesman in the Gaza Strip Mundhir Al-Hayek: "Israel wants us to clearly declare that we want to leave the Gaza Strip. We say it's an illusion. We stand before two alternatives, and they are the alternative of death or… migration. We have chosen the alternative of death in the Gaza Strip."
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[Official PA TV, April 11, 2025]
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Itamar Marcus: "Yes, this is very important tactically. We in PMW published that a survey even before Oct. 7, [2023 showed that] already more than 50% of the Gazans, the young up to age 35, wanted to leave. Today it's probably 90% who want to leave - they can't survive there. But the leadership, and this is a Fatah member who said this, demands that they stay. There are several reasons: The more they stay, there will be more killed. The more killed, Israel is more isolated in the world and our international situation worsens. There are states, like Canada, England, and France that want to impose sanctions against Israel. That's why they [PA leaders] prefer that their residents are killed. They say this as if on their behalf: ‘We prefer to die rather than to emigrate from this place.' Of course this is cruel. It's simply a crime what the Palestinian leadership is doing to its own residents."

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Host: "Indeed. Thank you very much Mr. Marcus for being with us, you made clear points. We really thank you."

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[Israeli Channel 14 TV, May 20, 2025]

\n","authorId":[435],"title":"How the Palestinian Authority valorizes murder and why it wants dead Gazans","thumbnail":"/Storage/Images/2025/PMW-Director-Marcus-Channel-14-200525_playBtn.jpg"},{"lang":"en","author":[{"id":435,"citeName":{"en":"PMW Staff","he":""},"about":"","name":{"en":"pmw staff","he":""}}],"content":"

Hear Itamar Marcus explain why:
\n1- The PA/Fatah are terror organizations; all that is lacking is “designation”
\n2- The Oslo Accords were fraudulent
\n3- For Israel which sought peace, the Oslo Accords which caused 2000 Israeli deaths was an overwhelming failure; for the PLO which sought an effective base for terror operations, the Oslo Accords which caused 2000 Israeli deaths was an overwhelming success
\n4- Funding the PA is bad for Palestinians

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CLICK TO WATCH THE VIDEO

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Itamar Marcus:

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“The Oslo Accords were a fraud. From Israel’s perspective, the Oslo Accords were a failure, but from the Palestinian perspective the Oslo Accords were a great success because it allowed them to move a terror organization right inside the heartland of Israel, which has enabled them to commit terror”
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“PMW’s report, “Teaching Terror to Tots,” is really all the proof that you need. This is Fatah’s educational magazine for ages 6–15… What we found is that every fundamental that was promised [by the PLO] in the Oslo Accords is contradicted. [Fatah teaches] that the Jewish people have no right to a state in Israel, that they are all foreigners, they [the Jews] weren’t here, not them, not their grandfathers, not their ancestors, they have no history in the land, therefore they have no right to exist in any borders, and therefore when Israel is destroyed that will be justice, and that will be inevitable”
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“You can’t tell the international community ‘We accept Israel’ while you’re teaching a whole generation of Palestinian children that ‘Israel has no right to exist, we have the right to use armed struggle,’ - meaning kill even civilians – ‘in order to achieve our goal, and eventually we will destroy them, and they will not exist.’ That’s the [PA/Fatah] message, and like I said, the Oslo [Accords] were a fraud”

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At the recent Christian Media Summit held in Jerusalem, Palestinian Media Watch Director Itamar Marcus presented PMW’s new report “Teaching Terror to Tots” on the Fatah Movement’s children’s magazine Waed and the hate and terror messages it transmits to Palestinian children aged 6-15.
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After the presentation, Marcus was interviewed by the Norwegian news agency Verdinytt. Watch the interview here:

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The following is a transcript of the interview:

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Norwegian news agency Verdinytt interviewer: “Mr. Itamar Marcus, you are director of Palestinian Media Watch, and today you are releasing a new report that you say tells us that the Oslo Accords were a failure.”
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PMW Director Itamar Marcus: “I’m not saying that the Oslo Accords were a failure, I’m saying that they were a fraud. From Israel’s perspective the Oslo Accords were a failure, but from the Palestinian perspective the Oslo Accords were a great success, because it allowed them to move a terror organization that was based in Tunisia right inside the heartland of Israel, which has enabled them to commit terror. So, the interesting thing here is that there were two Oslo Accords that were signed: Israel signed the Oslo Accords hoping for peace, the Palestinian Authority, or the PLO actually, signed the Oslo Accords hoping to gain a foothold inside of the land of Israel, what they call “Palestine,” so that they could continue their terror war against Israel from the inside. So, from the Israeli perspective it was a failure, from the Palestinian perspective it was a great success.”
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Interviewer: “But how would you document the claim that you could call it a fraud?”
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Itamar Marcus: “This report, “Teaching Terror to Tots,” is really all the proof that you need. This is Fatah’s educational magazine for ages 6–15. We studied all the magazines going back 8 years, and what we found is that every fundamental that was promised [by the PLO] in the Oslo Accords is contradicted by this report. This report says [that Fatah teaches] that the Jewish people have no right to a state in Israel, that they are all foreigners, they [the Jews] weren’t here, not them, not their grandfathers, not their ancestors, they have no history in the land, therefore they have no right to exist in any borders, and therefore when Israel is destroyed that will be justice, and that will be inevitable. All of these [statements] are messages that repeat over and over again through the 8 years of education that we’ve been watching, and that’s why the Oslo Accords were a fraud, because they [the PA] tell the world it’s a process leading to peace, [but] they tell their children it’s a process leading to Israel’s destruction.”
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Interviewer: “So this magazine that you studied, which is called Waed, it’s published by the Lion Cubs and Flowers, a children’s movement within the Fatah party, the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority-”
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Itamar Marcus: “It’s not ‘within.’ This is the children’s movement, the children’s youth movement of the Fatah party. It’s run by senior people within Fatah. It’s not a small fringe thing. These magazines are given out in the school system. We have pictures of principals having big events where they hand out this magazine. It’s not fringe, this is mainstream Palestinian Authority and their ruling party, which of course is Fatah.”
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Interviewer: “Can you give us an example?”
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Itamar Marcus: “What they’ll teach for example is that ‘Our people are a 5,000-year-old Palestinian people’ – of course it’s a lie, there never were a Palestinian people until very recently – but they say “We have a 5,000-year-old Palestinian people, and we were invaded by the Pharaohs, by the Hyksos, by the Persians, by the Romans, by the Greeks, and by the Hebrews.” “We defeated all of those occupiers, and just as we defeated those occupiers, we will defeat the current Zionist occupier and he will leave too.” What they say is: In the end all of the Jews will leave “Palestine.” That’s the message, that all the Jews will leave “Palestine.” So there’s no hesitation here, there’s no trying to pretend. They tell it like they really believe, like their ideology is. That’s why I say it in a sense proves that the Oslo Accords were a fraud from the beginning. You can’t tell the international community “We accept Israel” while you’re teaching a whole generation of Palestinian children that “Israel has no right to exist, we have the right to use armed struggle,” - meaning kill even civilians - “in order to achieve our goal, and eventually we will destroy them, and they will not exist.” That’s the [PA/Fatah] message, and like I said, the Oslo [Accords] were a fraud. I believe more what they tell their children than I believe what they’re telling the president of the United States, or the prime minister of Israel, or the prime minister of Norway. Because the international community has not known about this magazine, it is a pristine example of their ideology. They didn’t hide anything, because they didn’t know people were looking. The schoolbooks they try to fix and make them look better because they know the world’s looking. Their media on TV, as bad as it is, they try… Here they thought nobody was looking. Anyway, we found it, PMW found it, Palestinian Media Watch, and now the world is going to know about it.”
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Interviewer: “What would you say would be a proper reaction to knowing this from the Western countries?”
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Itamar Marcus: “Any country that has morals and ethical values will immediately stop funding the Palestinian Authority. It’s bad enough that you [foreign governments] ignore the political implications [of the messages in Waed], but to actually pay for this, to pay the Palestinian Authority, which gives money to Fatah, which produces this, which will then guarantee that we have war, conflict and terror for another generation or more generations, is immoral. So any decent country will have to stop funding the Palestinian Authority. Beyond that they have to put all the pressure they can - all the political pressure - to have the Palestinian Authority eliminate all of those people who were involved in this hate education, get them out of power, put in new people to run the Palestinian Authority, people who actually accept Israel’s right to exist and want to live in peace with Israel. We have to find those people, the international community has an obligation to find those people, we [Israel and the international community] can’t just keep going on with momentum and supporting a terror organization.”
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Interviewer: “Do you think that Fatah should be designated as a terrorist organization?”
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Itamar Marcus: “Fatah is a terrorist organization, the Palestinian Authority is a terrorist organization, by international standards. The international community, the UN has said that glorifying terror promotes terror. The Palestinian Authority glorifies every single terrorist. The United States has passed a law that funding terror – the Taylor Force Act – funding terror, funding terrorists, rewarding terrorists promotes terror. The Palestinian Authority rewards terrorists, they promote terror. According to the United States, according to all standards they [Fatah] are terrorists. So, we’re trying to avoid designating them as a terror organization in the hope that they might change, but why? If it hasn’t helped for more than 20 years, for more than 22 years since they started the terror [campaign] in 2000, why do we think that it will change in the next 20 years? So, let’s learn from our mistakes, let’s designate them as a terror organization, let’s see if they [Palestinians] can replace them, get rid of all this terror ideology, get it out of their schools, get it out of their behavior, stop rewarding terrorists. If they stop behaving like terrorists then we have someone to talk to.”
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Interviewer: “Having someone to talk to is an argument that is often used from the political viewpoint saying that who else would we talk to?”
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Itamar Marcus: “Dialoguing with the Palestinian Authority, giving money to the Palestinian Authority is not helping Palestinians. It’s helping to enrich the upper political echelons of the Palestinian Authority. When the Palestinian Authority uses this money to teach children to be terrorists, to teach them to be Martyrs, to be Shahids, to kill themselves for Allah - if that’s what they’re using the money for you’re not benefiting the Palestinian people by giving money to the Palestinian Authority.”
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Interviewer: “Every year you speak to European governments about these subjects, and you’ve also visited Norway and met parliamentarians in our country. How is the level of understanding that you face when you meet European politicians?”
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Itamar Marcus: “The importance of Palestinian Media Watch presentations is that I don’t tell them what I think. I let them see what the Palestinians are seeing, I let them see what the Palestinians believe. I show them videos, I show them texts from schoolbooks, I show them texts from reports like this, the magazine Waed, [featured in] “Teaching Terror to Tots.” When people see this, they absolutely are convinced. Unfortunately, what happens is time goes on, then they’ll meet a Palestinian leader who will say, “Oh that doesn’t really represent us, and it’s not this, and it’s not that,” and they’ll accept these ridiculous explanations of the PA. When MPs see the material, we need the government to act on this immediately, because what happens is like anything it dissipates, as time goes on people forget the messages. We need people in every country to follow up with the governments so that they don’t forget what they saw and what they learned about the Palestinian Authority and its connection to terror.”
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[Verdinytt, Norwegian news agency, Dec. 12, 2022]
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\n","news":false,"id":32483,"description":"Marcus explains why PA/Fatah are terror organizations; the Oslo Accords were fraudulent;\nthe 2 different Oslo Accords, 1 signed by Israel and 1 by the PLO; funding the PA is bad for Palestinians\n","imageUrl":"/Storage/Images/2023/IM-picture---Terror-for-Tots.JPG","contentType":"Article","tagIds":["20","21","24","25","30","37","58","87","97","99","190","193","217","258","869","1034","1035","1036","1039","1760"],"tags":[],"date":{"type":"firestore/timestamp/1.0","seconds":1673262120,"nanoseconds":0},"title":"Interview with Itamar Marcus on PMW’s report “Teaching Terror to Tots”","indexId":"index112","published":true,"authorId":[435],"thumbnail":"/Storage/Images/2023/IM-picture---Terror-for-Tots.JPG"},{"description":"“We have seen documented evidence, provided by the Israeli NGO Palestinian Media Watch that pay-for-slay stipends continue...\"","published":true,"contentType":"Article","title":"US congressman cites PMW report in call to designate Palestinian Authority leader as sponsor of terror","indexId":"index87","imageUrl":"/Storage/Images/2020/800px-Doug_Lamborn_official_portrait.jpg","authorId":[435],"id":18144,"content":"

Rep. Doug Lamborn letter to President Trump:

\n\n

\n
“We have seen documented evidence, provided by the Israeli NGO Palestinian Media Watch that pay-for-slay stipends continue... The appropriate next step in the US war on terror is to personally sanction those PA/PLO officials involved in this incentivizing of terror … [through] designation of the Commission of Prisoners' Affairs and its Director Qadri Abu Bakr as sponsors of terror.”
\n

\n\n

Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum:

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“Rep. Lamborn has taken the next step after the Taylor Force Act and focused on the key Palestinian Authority bureaucrat who makes sure that the families of Jew-killers are amply rewarded for their crimes. President Trump should follow this wise counsel and designate Qadri Abu Bakr a sponsor of terror.”
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\n\n

Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch”

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“One of the great oversights of U.S. foreign policy in the last 20 years has been ignoring the involvement of P.A. leaders in directing terror… PMW’s report on Abu Bakr’s involvement in terror financing is intended to enable the international community to treat him as they do all others involved in terror financing. If the United States will lead the way internationally by acting against the P.A. terror-supporting leadership, it will send an important message, especially to the P.A., that no one involved in terror will have immunity.”
\n

\n\n

by PMW Staff

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US Congressman Doug Lamborn wrote to US President Trump on Thursday asking him to designate the PA/PLO’s Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs and its director Qadri Abu Bakr as sponsors of terror. Basing himself on PMW’s new report, Lamborn wrote:

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“My legislation, the Taylor Force Act, conditions U.S. direct aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) on the abolition of the PA's payment of cash rewards to terrorists and their families… The Palestinian leadership has continued to pay the terror rewards to terrorists, spending hundreds of millions of dollars every year to these monsters and their families… we have seen documented evidence, provided by the Israeli NGO Palestinian Media Watch that pay-for-slay stipends continue. Palestinian leaders proudly admit as much regularly in Arabic.
\n\n
In 2018, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said [as PMW reported]: ‘I say this to everyone... The Martyrs and their families are sacred, [and so are] the wounded and the prisoners. We must pay all of them…’ The appropriate next step in the US war on terror is to personally sanction those PA/PLO officials involved in this incentivizing of terror … [through] designation of the Commission of Prisoners' Affairs and its Director Qadri Abu Bakr as sponsors of terror, in accordance with Executive Order 13224.”
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\n\n

Although other leaders of the PA are involved in paying salaries to terrorists, including Mahmoud Abbas, PMW’s new report focused on the PA’s Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs and its director Qadri Abu Bakr because of their direct responsibility for the monthly payments to terrorist prisoners and their families.

\n\n

JNS news service reported on Congressman Lamborn’s letter to Trump and cited the following responses by Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, and Itamar Marcus:

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\n
“Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, which was involved in the initiative, commended the move.
\n\n
‘Rep. Lamborn has taken the next step after the Taylor Force Act and focused on the key Palestinian Authority bureaucrat who makes sure that the families of Jew-killers are amply rewarded for their crimes. President Trump should follow this wise counsel and designate Qadri Abu Bakr a sponsor of terror.’
\n\n
Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch, said one of the “great oversights” of U.S. foreign policy in the last 20 years has been ignoring the involvement of P.A. leaders in directing terrorism.
\n\n
“Qadri Abu Bakr is a fundamental component in the P.A. terror-supporting infrastructure. PMW’s report on his involvement in terror financing is intended to enable the international community to treat him as they do all others involved in terror financing,” said Marcus. “If the United States will lead the way internationally by acting against the P.A. terror-supporting leadership, it will send an important message to the international community, and especially to the P.A., that no one involved in terror will have immunity.”
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Click to read PMW’s new report on the PA’s Commission of Prisoners' Affairs and its Director Qadri Abu Bakr, calling to designate them as “sponsors of terror” do to their involvement in terror financing.

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Rep. Doug Lamborn’s letter:

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$\"\"$ $\"\"$ $\"\"$

\n","lang":"en","news":false,"tagIds":["190","191","233","869","1035","1036","1037","1046"],"tags":[],"date":{"type":"firestore/timestamp/1.0","seconds":1596326400,"nanoseconds":0},"author":[{"citeName":{"en":"PMW Staff","he":""},"id":435,"name":{"en":"pmw staff","he":""},"about":""}],"thumbnail":"/Storage/Images/2020/800px-Doug_Lamborn_official_portrait.jpg"},{"imageUrl":"/storage/bulletins/thumbnails/pmweye_thumb4bull.jpg","date":{"type":"firestore/timestamp/1.0","seconds":1550620800,"nanoseconds":0},"tagIds":["190","191"],"tags":[],"description":"Following PMW's director's recent briefings before MPs and government officials in Norway and Sweden, MPs from both countries said they would seek changes in their governments' funding to the PA. (Feb. 20, 2019)","indexId":"index77","published":true,"author":[{"id":435,"citeName":{"en":"PMW Staff","he":""},"about":"","name":{"en":"pmw staff","he":""}}],"contentType":"Article","news":false,"lang":"en","title":"PMW impact: Swedish and Norwegian MPs to seek funding cuts to Palestinian Authority","authorId":[435],"id":15339,"content":" \n \n

PMW impact:
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Swedish and Norwegian MPs to seek funding cuts to PA
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Swedish MP:
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"We want to do as they've done in the Dutch parliament
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to cut the funding to the PA [by 7%]."
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Mikael Oscarsson (Christian Democrats)
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Norwegian MP:
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"I do not think it's a good idea to give any funding to prisoners...
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We have to use Norwegian money to make peace."
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Ingjerd Schou (Conservative Party)
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Swedish MP:
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"Thank you Itamar Marcus for coming to Sweden. The job you're doing with Palestinian Media Watch is very important. It gives us information. We're very thankful that you're giving us the facts so that we in the Swedish parliament can use these facts in order to change Swedish attitudes."
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Mikael Oscarsson (Christian Democrats)
\n

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\nFollowing Palestinian Media Watch Director Itamar Marcus' recent briefings before members of parliament and government officials in Norway and Sweden, MPs from both countries said they would seek changes in their governments' funding to the Palestinian Authority (PA).
\n
\nMarcus provided numerous examples of the PA's escalating antisemitic messages, and its hate education to children, and detailed the PA's policy of financially rewarding imprisoned terrorists and families of purported "Martyrs."
\n
\nMarcus discussed the PA's payments of salaries to Palestinian terrorist prisoners and allowances to families of dead terrorists, the so-called "Martyrs," with government officials. He called on MPs in Norway and Sweden to follow the example of their Dutch counterparts and set the stage for a Europe-wide uniform 7% reduction in donor funds to the PA, unless and until the PA stops its "Pay-for-Slay policy" of paying salaries to terrorist prisoners, released prisoners, and families of dead terrorists.
\n
\nAppalled that Norwegian humanitarian aid could be used to reward terrorists, Norwegian MP Ingjerd Schou commented:
\n
\n\n

"I do not think it's a good idea to give any funding to prisoners... We have to use Norwegian money to make peace. We should reinforce all the good activities."

[Norwegian Parliament, Jan. 29, 2019]
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\n

Upon seeing Marcus' documentation, Swedish MP Mikael Oscarsson immediately responded:
\n
\n

"We want to do as they've done in the Dutch parliament to cut the funding to the PA [by 7%], because we need to put pressure on the Palestinian Authority."

[Swedish Parliament, Jan. 31, 2019]
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\n

MP Oscarsson was referring to recent legislation passed in Holland to cut funding to the PA by 7%, the amount of the PA's 2018 budget allocated to categories rewarding terrorists. Dutch Parliament voted 94 to 56 to cut aid to the PA just three weeks after Marcus' presentation before Dutch MPs last November.
\n
\n

\nMP Oscarsson is planning on using PMW's documentation beyond the funding cuts he seeks, to accomplish broader changes of opinions in Sweden:
\n
\n\n

"I want to thank you Itamar Marcus for coming to Sweden. The job you're doing with Palestinian Media Watch is very important. It gives us information. We're very thankful that you're giving us the facts so that we in the Swedish parliament can use these facts in order to change Swedish attitudes."

[Swedish Parliament, Jan. 31, 2019]
\n
\n

Marcus showed the MPs the PA's antisemitic messages, which have increased in recent years. Among them were for example religious figures on official PA TV who presented Jews as the source of all evil in the world, at times adding that their goal is extermination of the Jews. One of them, a lecturer on Islamic Shari'a at a Palestinian university, explained that Hitler was sent by Allah to punish the Jews, as were the Babylonians, Romans, and other Europeans. Even PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas himself has claimed that the Jews suffered the Holocaust due to their behavior, i.e. because of their "social roles" connected to "usury and banks."
\n
\n

\nUpon hearing these and other antisemitic statements, the Norwegian and Swedish MPs criticized this PA hate speech, which has a striking similarity to Nazi Germany's messages about Jews prior to the Holocaust.
\n
\nMarcus explained:
\n\n

"When PA leaders teach Palestinians that Jews are the cause of everything bad that happens in the world, and that Jews have an inherently evil nature and are threatening "all of humanity," this is a repetition of the worst Antisemitic messaging. These hate messages are also directed at Palestinian children and thus passed on to the next generation. Sports tournaments, school books, cultural events, and even music videos glorify terrorists and encourage Palestinian youth to aspire to kill and be killed."
\n

","thumbnail":"/storage/bulletins/thumbnails/pmweye_thumb4bull.jpg"},{"title":"Clarification of PMW bulletin about map in Congress","indexId":"index76","contentType":"Article","date":{"type":"firestore/timestamp/1.0","seconds":1546992000,"nanoseconds":0},"tags":[],"news":false,"lang":"en","description":"Some of our readers have questioned PMW's report about Congresswoman Tlaib's map.(Jan. 9, 2019)","authorId":[435],"author":[{"citeName":{"en":"PMW Staff","he":""},"name":{"en":"pmw staff","he":""},"about":"","id":435}],"imageUrl":"/storage/bulletins/thumbnails/2019/map%20thumb.png","tagIds":["20","21","254"],"published":true,"content":" \n
\n

Clarification of PMW bulletin about map in Congress

and PA maps
\n

$\"\"$ On Monday, PMW published a bulletin referring to the map in the office of the new member of US Congress Rashida Tlaib, in order to focus on the serious problem of Palestinian Authority maps. Through maps, the PA constantly presents a world in which Israel does not exist - such as this map in a Palestinian schoolbook which is said to represent the "geographical area" of the "state of Palestine." [PA 7th Grade Social Studies Textbook, Part A, pp. 4, August 2017] We stressed this was the point of the bulletin:

"While the map in US Congress is insulting to all those who care about Israel and peace, the map that the PA uses in its education of its children is far more problematic... How can we expect Palestinian children, who are taught that the correct map of the world has no Israel, to consider living in peace with the country they are taught should not even exist?"

Some of our readers however have questioned PMW's report saying that Congresswoman Tlaib's map may be promoting a "state of Palestine" alongside Israel.

$\"\"$ Since the danger to peace constituted by the PA maps was the message of the bulletin, PMW did not elaborate why we concluded that for Tlaib the word "Palestine" with an arrow pointing to Israel, based on her own statements and ideology, would likely mean "Palestine" replaces Israel.

However, when looking at Tlaib's expressed opinions it is clear what her ideology is. In an interview in August 2018 she explicitly said that she does not want two states side by side:

Question: "What about a two-state solution vs. one-state?"

Tlaib: "One state. It has to be one state. Separate but equal does not work... This whole idea of a two-state solution, it doesn't work."

[In These Times, Aug. 14, 2018]

When the word "Palestine" appears on a map in her office with an arrow pointing to Israel, and if she only wants one state, then a natural conclusion is that she wants "Palestine" to replace Israel.

\n
\n\n

Moreover, in that same interview Tlaib was asked about Arabs who left Israel having a "right of return" to Israel. According to PA figures there are over 5 million "refugees" - meaning people who left Israel and their descendants - for whom the PA claims a "right of return." Were those millions of Arabs to immigrate to Israel it would turn into a Palestinian state. This is what Tlaib said about the "right of return":

Question: "Where do you stand on Palestinian right of return-support or oppose?"

Tlaib: "I support right of return absolutely. I have family that left in 1967. They left, took their keys with them. They thought they could come back, and they've never been back. My uncle... had to raise his kids in Jordan."

Since Tlaib openly says "it has to be one state," and she "supports right of return" - meaning she wants her uncle from Jordan and Arabs from other countries to "return," it is again clear that the "one state" she wants is a state of Palestine.

In summary, if there's only "one state" and "Palestine" is on the map, then "Palestine" is the one state and it replaced Israel.
\n

","id":15168,"thumbnail":"/storage/bulletins/thumbnails/2019/map%20thumb.png"},{"author":[{"id":435,"name":{"en":"pmw staff","he":""},"about":"","citeName":{"en":"PMW Staff","he":""}}],"title":"Dutch MPs call to cut Palestinian Authority funding, following PMW and terror survivor’s lectures","indexId":"index74","published":true,"tagIds":["190","191","254"],"authorId":[435],"description":"PMW director Itamar Marcus and Kay Wilson, a survivor of a brutal terror attack, addressed members of Dutch Parliament.","date":{"type":"firestore/timestamp/1.0","seconds":1541635200,"nanoseconds":0},"tags":[],"imageUrl":"/storage/bulletins/thumbnails/pmweye_thumb4bull.jpg","id":14899,"content":" \n \n

Dutch MPs respond to PMW lecture

with calls to cut funding to Palestinian Authority

PMW director Itamar Marcus and Kay Wilson, a survivor of a brutal terror attack, addressed members of Dutch Parliament
\n
Kay Wilson to MPs: “I watched in horror as a Palestinian terrorist butchered my Christian friend to death right in front of me... A second Palestinian terrorist stabbed me 13 times... The PA’s rewarding of those two killers and all the other thousands of terrorists in prison is both morally abhorrent and incomprehensible.”

Dutch MPs plan to initiate legislation to cut funding to the PA by the amount the PA spends on rewarding terrorists

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\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n

$\"\"$

Kay Wilson and PMW director Marcus

\nPalestinian Media Watch director Itamar Marcus spoke to members of Dutch Parliament yesterday documenting the many ways in which the Palestinian Authority in itself is the fundamental impediment to peace. Marcus documented PA’s vicious Antisemitism, its indoctrination of children to hatred and terror, as well as the PA's continued monthly payments to terrorist prisoners and families of killed terrorists.
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\nMembers of Dutch Parliament expressed their condemnation of these PA activities and discussed steps that should be taken to stop the funding by their own government.
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MP Kees van der Staaij: “I think it’s also important to have now further steps [by the Netherlands] and to stop each payment to Palestinians as long as there is no real progress.”
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[Parliament of The Netherlands, Nov. 7, 2018]
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\nThe MPs were also addressed by Kay Wilson, a British-born Israeli tour guide who survived a brutal terror attack in 2010. Kay was bound, gagged, and stabbed 13 times with a machete and left for dead, while her Christian friend, Kristine Luken, was murdered.
\n
\n\n

Kay Wilson: “I watched in horror as a Palestinian terrorist butchered my Christian friend to death right in front of me only because he thought she was a Jew. A second Palestinian terrorist stabbed me 13 times with his machete, snapping my ribs and shattered more than thirty bones. The PA’s rewarding of those two killers and all the other thousands of terrorists in prison is both morally abhorrent and incomprehensible.”
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[Parliament of The Netherlands, Nov. 7, 2018]
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\nFollowing previous PMW meetings and lectures with Dutch MPs, the parliament passed three different resolutions in 2013, 2015, and 2016, calling on the government to stop or condition funding of the PA until they stop rewarding terror. However the government has never implemented these resolutions. MP Kees van der Staaij addressed this issue:
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MP Kees van der Staaij: “All that’s done until now [to stop PA payments to terrorists], it’s too soft, it’s not effective, and further and stronger measures are necessary.”
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Wilson’s words left a strong impression on the MPs about the urgent need for foreign governments to stop supporting the PA’s rewarding terrorists:
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[Parliament of The Netherlands, Nov. 7, 2018]
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\nMP Voordewind was optimistic that the parliament would pass stronger legislation this time:
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MP Joël Voordewind: “We’ll try it again; we’re now part of the government, part of the coalition, so we’ll try to convince other coalition parties to support this resolution now."
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MP Voordewind wants the legislation to be very specific about how much funding to cut:
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MP Joël Voordewind: “Hopefully the other parties will agree to cut the budget from the PA, by the amount they’re spending on the terrorists.”
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\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n

$\"\"$

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From left to right: MP Kees van der Staaij, Kay Wilson,
\n \n
Itamar Marcus, MP
\n \n
Joël Voordewind
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The following are the complete statements made by the two MPs at the close of the event in Dutch Parliament:
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\nDutch MP Joël Voordewind, Christian Union Party:
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\n\n

Interviewer: “So can you tell me what is the conclusion you are taking from this lecture you got from Itamar?”
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MP Joël Voordewind: “I was very impressed with the story of Kay Wilson, that she survived 13 stabbings in her body. This makes Itamar Marcus’ appeal even stronger, that the [PA’s] paying of convicted terrorists should stop, and we’ll put this forward in our Parliament again. Now we’re part of the government, so hopefully the other parties will agree to cut the budget from the PA, by the amount they’re spending on the terrorists.”

Interviewer: “This was also a few years ago [following meeting with Marcus, MPs passed resolutions to cut payments to the PA], this was also in the legislature, so what’s new now?”
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MP Joël Voordewind, Christian Union: “That’s right. We’ll try it again; we’re now part of the government, part of the coalition, so we’ll try to convince other coalition parties to support this resolution now."
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[Parliament of The Netherlands, Nov. 7, 2018]
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MP Kees van der Staaij, The Reformed Political Party (SGP):
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\n
\n\n

Interviewer: “Can you tell me, what is your conclusion to the lecture that you just heard about Palestinian incitement?”
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MP van der Staaij: “I think it’s very important that we heard concrete, recent examples of incitement and about payments of the terrorist salaries. It’s very important for our parliament, for our government to have this relevant, important information, with details about what’s going on. We heard it earlier, we have had a lot of examples in the past (Marcus has met with Dutch MPs many times- Edit.) and I think it’s also important to have now further steps [by the Netherlands] and to stop each payment to Palestinians as long as there is no real progress on these important topics.”
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Interviewer: “And what is the news that you heard today?”
\n

MP van der Staaij: “It’s the new and more recent examples. When you compare it to what we were discussing in the past about these issues [i.e., salaries to terrorist prisoners], our government told us after deliberation with the PA, that the payments [to prisoners] were no longer coming from the side of the Palestinian Authority.”
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Interviewer: “Because they moved it to the PLO, right?”
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MP van der Staaij: “They moved it [prisoner payments] to the PLO, and they said, “but it’s not our responsibility.” But now we see that it’s moved back [to the PA] and it’s very openly on their own [PA] budget bills. So I think it’s a clear example that all that’s done until now [to stop PA payments to terrorists], it’s too soft, it’s not effective, and further and stronger measures are necessary.”
\n

[Parliament of The Netherlands, Nov. 7, 2018]
\n

","news":false,"lang":"en","contentType":"Article","thumbnail":"/storage/bulletins/thumbnails/pmweye_thumb4bull.jpg"},{"lang":"en","content":" \n \n

PMW asks the US deny Abbas entry

for UN speech

Palestinian Media Watch sent a letter last week to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asking that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas be denied entry to the US for the UN session this week due to his direct responsibility for paying salaries to terrorists and rewarding families of terrorists who were killed during their attacks.

The United States in the Taylor Force Act stated that these two payments are "incentivizing terror."

Abbas, as head of the Palestinian Authority and head of the Palestine National Fund (PNF), is the one responsible for these payments, and is therefore the one incentivizing terror. US law prohibits entry to those promoting terror:

"Aliens who are... ineligible to be admitted to the United States... (VII)[one who] endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity, or support a terrorist organization..."

[Code Chapter 8, § 1182 (3)(B)(7)]

Adam Kredo of The Washington Free Beacon reported the State Department's response to PMW:

"I can't speak to the specifics, but typically, as host nation for the United Nations, the United States is generally obligated to admit foreign nationals traveling to U.N. Headquarters in New York for official U.N. business."

[The Washington Free Beacon, Sept. 20, 2018]

In its response to the State Department, PMW has written that during the Obama Administration an Iranian UN Diplomat Hamid Abutalebi was denied entry to the United States because of his involvement in terror activity and the murder of an Iranian dissident.

Every month, Abbas rewards Palestinian terrorists who have murdered American (and Israeli) citizens and are in Israeli jails today. There's absolutely no justification to bypass American law and admit this terror supporter into the US.

PMW is turning to all American organizations to join us in asking the Administration to implement American law and prohibit Abbas' entry.

The following is The Washington Free Beacon story followed by PMW's letter to Sec. of State Pompeo:

"The Trump administration is being pressured to prevent Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from entering the United States to participate in the upcoming United Nations General Assembly, a platform Abbas routinely uses to bash Israel and foment violence against it, according to a letter sent to the Trump administration and viewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

Palestinian Media Watch, or PMW, an advocacy organization that tracks anti-Semitism and calls for terrorism in the Palestinian media, is petitioning the White House, State, and Treasury Departments to deny Abbas entry to America under new federal statutes barring international terrorist leaders from traveling to the United States.

The pressure campaign-which is being met with passivity in the State Department-comes on the heels of the passage of new legislation cracking down on the Palestinian government's use of American aid dollars to pay the salaries of convicted terrorists and their families.

That law, known as the Taylor Force Act, was approved by President Trump and recently implemented. Since that time, the Trump administration has frozen millions in aid dollars to the Palestinian government, frozen its bank accounts, and booted its top officials from the United States.

Other statutes in the law could be used to deny Abbas entry to the United States due to his position as the leader of a Palestinian government group known to be paying off terrorists, PMW argues in its letters to the Trump administration.

'The reason to prohibit Abbas' entry is that he is head of an organization that according to American designation 'incentivizes terror,' PMW director Itamar Marcus wrote in a letter to the administration and provided to the Free Beacon.

'The Taylor Force Act, which passed the U.S. Congress and was signed into law by Pres. Trump, declares that paying salaries to terrorist prisoners and Martyrs' families is an 'incentive to commit acts of terror,' the group argues.

'The Palestinian Authority, through the Palestine National Fund, makes these terror-promoting payments,' the letter states. 'Mahmoud Abbas is the head of the Palestine National Fund.'

'The recipients of these payments include murderers of U.S. citizens and members of U.S. designated terrorist organizations,' the group states. 'So according to American law Abbas is head of an organization that incentivizes terror and which provides "material support" to terrorists, terrorism, and designated terrorist organizations, contrary to [federal laws codified under] 18 U.S.C. §2339A and §2339B.'

The State Department, however, when asked for comment on the matter by the Free Beacon, declined to take a position on the letter and its contents.

A State Department spokesperson told the Free Beacon that, in most situations, foreign nationals must be admitted to the United States due to its role as the U.N.'s host nation.

'I can't speak to the specifics, but typically, as host nation for the United Nations, the United States is generally obligated to admit foreign nationals traveling to U.N. Headquarters in New York for official U.N. business,' the official said.

'The State Department's response is alarming because allowing Mahmoud Abbas into the U.S. is in direct violation of the letter and spirit of U.S. law,' Marcus told the Free Beacon. 'U.S. law is very clear on protecting its borders from terrorists and includes prohibiting entry to those involved in incentivizing terror.'

'Mahmoud Abbas is the head of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian National Fund-both of which make monthly payments to Palestinian terrorist prisoners and to families of killed terrorists,' Marcus said.

PMW rejects this argument in the letter sent to top administration officials.

'There is no doubt Abbas will use his U.N. address to continue these attacks,' the letter states. 'While it may be argued that the United States is committed to allow the entry and free passage of certain persons into the U.S. to participate in meetings of the United Nations, that commitment is limited to the "Representatives of Member" States. Since Palestine is not a member state of the United Nations, Abbas does not enjoy these privileges and his entry into the U.S. must be specifically granted.'

PMW, in materials provided to U.S. officials, further argues that Abbas' role as the head of an organization paying convicted terrorists-some of whom have killed U.S. citizens-designates him as a global terror leader, thus making him ineligible for entry to America.

'Noting its involvement in terrorism, Israel declared the Palestine National Fund a terror organization,' PMW writes in its letter to the Trump administration. 'According to Israeli law, Mahmoud Abbas is the head of a terror organization. It should also be noted that Abbas and other organizations he heads are using every platform to attack and insult the U.S.'

Earlier this month, the Palestinian Fatah political party, headed by Abbas, 'mocked the 9-11 tragedy by depicting President Trump about to fly a plane into a building shaped like the PA map of "Palestine" that includes all of Israel and is painted in the colors of the PA,' the group notes.

Perhaps even more concerning as it relates to U.S. law, Abbas has publicly advocated for the '''destruction of the house" of President Trump, and [he] uses almost every opportunity to attack the U.S., the current administration and its policies,' PMW writes to U.S. officials."

[The Washington Free Beacon, Sept. 20, 2018]

PMW's letter to Secretary of State Pompeo:

US Secretary of State Mr. Mike Pompeo

U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street,

N.W. Washington, D.C. 20520,

September 13, 2018

Dear Mr. Secretary,

Re: Deny entry to the US to terror incentivizer, Mahmoud Abbas

Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, will be traveling in the coming days to New York to participate in the 73rd UN General Assembly. A crucial question facing the US government at this time is whether it should allow Mahmoud Abbas to enter the United States.

The reason to prohibit Abbas' entry is that he is head of an organization that according to American designation "incentivizes terror." The Taylor Force Act, which passed the US Congress and was signed into law by Pres. Trump, declares that paying salaries to terrorist prisoners and Martyrs' families is an "incentive to commit acts of terror." The Palestinian Authority, through the Palestine National Fund, makes these terror promoting payments. Mahmoud Abbas is the head of the Palestine National Fund.

The recipients of these payments include murderers of US citizens and members of US designated terrorist organizations.

So according to American law Abbas is head of an organization that incentivizes terror and which provides "material support" to terrorists, terrorism and designated terrorist organizations, contrary to 18 U.S.C. §2339A and §2339B

Noting its involvement in terrorism, Israel declared the Palestine National Fund a terror organization. According to Israeli law, Mahmoud Abbas is the head of a terror organization.

It should also be noted that Abbas and other organizations he heads are using every platform to attack and insult the US. On Sept. 11 Fatah, headed by Abbas, mocked the 9-11 tragedy by depicting President Trump about to fly a plane into a building shaped like the PA map of "Palestine" that includes all of Israel and is painted in the colors of the PA flag. [Official Fatah Facebook, Sept. 11, 2018]

Abbas has also called for the "destruction of the house" of President Trump, and uses almost every opportunity to attack the US, the current administration and its policies. There is no doubt Abbas will use his UN address to continue these attacks.

While it may be argued that the United States is committed to allow the entry and free passage of certain persons into the US to participate in meetings of the United Nations, that commitment is limited to the "Representatives of Member" States. Since Palestine is not a member state of the United Nations, Abbas does not enjoy these privileges and his entry into the US must be specifically granted.

As a public act to demonstrate America's earnestness in fighting Palestinian terror, PMW is urging you Mr. Secretary to prohibit Abbas' entry due to his position as leader of a terror incentivizing and funding organization, under both Israeli and American designation.

Sincerely,

Itamar Marcus

Director, Palestinian Media Watch

Maurice Hirsch

Director of Legal Strategies

\n
\nNote: See more coverage on this issue here","news":false,"author":[{"citeName":{"en":"PMW Staff","he":""},"name":{"en":"pmw staff","he":""},"about":"","id":435}],"id":14716,"description":"PMW sent a letter last week to the US Secretary of State asking that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas be denied entry to the US for the UN session this week due to his direct responsibility for paying salaries to terrorists. ","imageUrl":"/storage/bulletins/thumbnails/pmweye_thumb4bull.jpg","contentType":"Article","tagIds":["190","191"],"tags":[],"date":{"type":"firestore/timestamp/1.0","seconds":1537660800,"nanoseconds":0},"title":"PMW asks the US to deny Abbas entry for UN speech","indexId":"index73","published":true,"authorId":[435],"thumbnail":"/storage/bulletins/thumbnails/pmweye_thumb4bull.jpg"},{"imageUrl":"/storage/bulletins/2018/rajoub%20calls%20im%20goebells_1.jpg","description":"PMW has been using every legal means available to challenge Rajoub ever since he incited to murder Israelis during the 2015-2016 Palestinian terror wave.","content":"

Rajoub: PMW's director is "the Goebbels of the 21st century"

\n\n

Jibril Rajoub, one of the top Palestinian Authority leaders, attacked Palestinian Media Watch yesterday, calling PMW's director "the Goebbels of the 21st century." At a press conference, Rajoub blamed PMW for his being fined and suspended by FIFA, adding that PMW is "waging this war [against me] on all fronts":

\n\n

\n\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n

$\"\"$	$\"\"$
$\"\"$	$\"\"$

\n\n

"They are waging this war on all fronts. There's Palestinian Media Watch, whose director is Goebbels - Goebbels, Hitler's ideological theorist... He is the Goebbels of the 21st century. He prepared an indictment against me... I traveled to Latin America, and every place I go, believe me, he spreads these accusations. He submitted a complaint to the Olympic Committee, he submitted a complaint to FIFA, and when I traveled to the US - he also spread [his accusations] in the US. The only thing he does is to deal with me."

\n\n

[Official PA TV Live, Sept. 3, 2018]

\n\n

In fact, PMW has been using every legal means available to challenge Rajoub ever since he incited to murder Israelis during the 2015-2016 Palestinian terror wave in which 44 Israelis and others were murdered. Rajoub publicly glorified the murderers, calling them "heroes and a crown on the head of every Palestinian" and said that the Fatah Movement "blesses and encourages" the terrorists. Rajoub also openly called for the targeting of "settlers and soldiers."

\n\n

Since then, PMW has submitted the following complaints against Rajoub:

\n\n

1- A complaint to the International Olympic Committee to have Rajoub removed as head of the Palestinian Olympic Committee;

\n\n

2- A complaint to FIFA to have Rajoub expelled and fined;

\n\n

3- A complaint to the US State Department to have Rajoub's entry into the US prohibited;

\n\n

4- A complaint to the Israel Police to have Rajoub arrested and investigated for incitement to murder.

\n\n

During his press conference yesterday, Rajoub cited these legal actions against him undertaken by PMW as part of a "war on all fronts." Rajoub called the press conference in response to FIFA's suspending him for one year from his position as head of the Palestinian Football Association and fining him 20,000 Swiss francs. The PA blames PMW for FIFA's punishing Rajoub, saying FIFA's decision was "based on the claims of an Israeli organization... Palestinian Media Watch." [WAFA, Aug. 24, 2018]

\n\n

Today, Palestinian Media Watch, together with families of terror victims, added pressure on Rajoub by submitting a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court asking the Court to order the government to respond to PMW's police complaint and investigate him for incitement to murder.

\n\n

The following is an excerpt from Rajoub's speech at the press conference:

\n\n

Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association and Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: "First of all, they are waging this war on all fronts. There's Palestinian Media Watch, whose director [Itamar Marcus] is Goebbels - Goebbels, Hitler's ideological theorist... He is the Goebbels of the 21st century. He prepared an indictment against me, believe me, [starting] from 1968 when I went into [an Israeli] prison the first time, until today. I traveled to Latin America, and every place I go, believe me, he spreads these accusations. He submitted a complaint to the Olympic Committee (to remove Rajoub from heading the Palestinian committee - Ed.), he submitted a complaint to FIFA (to have Rajoub suspended and fined - Ed.), and when I traveled to the US - he also spread [his accusations] in the US (submitting a complaint to the State Department to have Rajoub's entry prohibited- Ed.). The only thing he does is to deal with me."

\n\n

[Official PA TV Live, Sept. 3, 2018]

\n\n

FIFA suspended Jibril Rajoub, Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association, from attending games for 12 months on Aug. 24, 2018 and fined him 20,000 Swiss francs. This followed complaints by PMW and the Israel Football Association after Rajoub's actions to prevent a football friendly match between Argentina and Israel in Jerusalem in June 2018. Rajoub called to target the Argentinian Football Association and burn jerseys and pictures of Lionel Messi, which caused Argentina to cancel the match. FIFA ruled that Rajoub violated article 53 (Inciting hatred and violence) of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.

\n\n

Jibril Rajoub holds the following positions: Head of the PLO Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs, Chairman of the Palestine Olympic Committee, and Chairman of the Palestinian Scout Association (PSA).

\n","contentType":"Article","title":"Rajoub: PMW’s director is “the Goebbels of the 21st century”","indexId":"index73","news":false,"lang":"en","author":[{"name":{"en":"pmw staff","he":""},"id":435,"about":"","citeName":{"en":"PMW Staff","he":""}}],"date":{"type":"firestore/timestamp/1.0","seconds":1536019200,"nanoseconds":0},"published":true,"tagIds":["190","237","254","285","294","858","869","870","1024","1026","1034","1381"],"authorId":[435],"id":14641,"tags":[],"thumbnail":"/storage/bulletins/2018/rajoub%20calls%20im%20goebells_1.jpg"},{"imageUrl":"/STORAGE/Bulletins/2018/Meira thumb.jpg","description":"PMW’s Egyptian Translator Meira grew up in Alexandria not knowing she was a Jew. Only when extremist Muslims tore her family’s house apart, screaming “Jews out,” did her parents disclose the family secret. (July 27, 2018)","content":"

\n\n

From hijab and abuse in Egypt to freedom
\nin Israel
\n The Amazing Story of PMW's Egyptian Translator

\n\n

PMW's Egyptian Translator Meira grew up in Alexandria not knowing she was a Jew. Only when extremist Muslims tore her family's house apart, screaming "Jews out," did her parents disclose the family secret.

\n\n

Attending a Muslim Brotherhood school, Meira grew up believing that "Jews are the descendants of apes and pigs, and that they have horns, a tail, and a large nose." When she arrived in Israel as a teenager she looked to find where the Jews were hiding the horns and tails.\n\n\t
$\"\"$
\n\t

\n\n

When Meira realized she herself was a Jew and had to flee to Israel, she was plunged into a severe identity crisis, and felt her whole life had been a lie.

\n\n

Read the story of PMW’s Egyptian translator Meira, who was interviewed by the Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon:
\n
\n"Until recently I was crying over terrorists"

\n\n

"Maisa was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1989.

\n\n

A happy and contented girl who lived with her parents
\n in a largeand spacious estate in the city's
\nAl-Maamoura neighborhood. She spent most of her days
\nat the sea. Every evening she would walk with her friends
\non the 'Corniche' across from her home,

\n\n

the famous promenade of the ancient coastal city"
\n
\n

\n\n

"'We had a private villa with a garden, pool, and horse ranch. It was a very large place where we lived - my family together with my uncle's family and my grandfather and grandmother,' she says, and the pleasant memories bring a smile to her face. 'Our family had a large factory for manufacturing furniture. They built special closets, tables, and dressers for wealthy people. The doors with the wood engravings were a household name. We were a special and united family. My father's brother married my mother's sister; I grew up with my three brothers, and also cousins. My grandfather and grandmother educated us from a young age. It was an open and liberal home. We lived as Muslims, but we did not mingle with the neighbors around us.'
\nMaisa remembers strange ceremonies that were held in the home whose meaning she did not understand. 'On Friday my grandmother would go to a table in the corner of the room, light two candles, and cover her face. Afterwards we would gather for a large family meal. Sometimes grandfather would say a few words that I did not understand over a special cup, and pass around for everyone to drink. From my perspective it was another one of the family events that we customarily held. At the beginning of the winter there was a meal in which they passed around an apple in honey. It was very tasty. I did not complain and I did not ask unnecessary questions. The family was unified. We children played; we grew up and learned together at the elementary school of the Muslim Brotherhood in Alexandria.'
\nShe tousles her long hair and plays with it a lot during the interview. Perhaps it is an expression of the freedom that she currently enjoys and that was foreign to her in the past. At the school she wore - as did all her friends - a hijab (i.e., religious headscarf) that covered her hair, and listened to lessons on religion and Islam about Egypt's history and the Prophet Muhammad. 'Every day when I returned home, even still on the street, I would take off the hijab and let my hair loose. I hated the school and the lessons on religion. The violence there was a routine thing. For every little thing like a mistake, a word out of place, or just when the teacher felt like it, we would get a beating. They did not explain to us what was allowed and what was forbidden. Instead of teaching us they would hit and pull by the hair and ears, and would even throw chairs at the students. The children learned from the teachers and during recesses they would hit instead of trying to talk to resolve problems. I learned there until the fourth grade. I told my parents about the severe treatment, but there wasn't really a choice. It was the school closest to home, and my parents were busy with the factory.'
\nAlexandria, which was established in 334 C.E. by Alexander of Macedon (i.e., Alexander the Great), has been a central trade city for thousands of years. In ancient times the city had a magnificent Jewish community, which was also described in the writings of the Jewish sages. Over the years it dwindled, but in the 19th century it grew again. In the 1940s approximately 15,000 Jews lived in Alexandria, but in the years following the establishment of the State [of Israel], most of them immigrated to Israel. In the neighborhood where Maisa's family lived there are almost no Jews left. The only Jews who remained in the city lived alone. In the 1990s, during which Maisa grew up in Alexandria, the famous 'Eliyahu Hanavi' synagogue and the community's school were empty.

\n\n

$\"\"$

\n\n

In the Muslim school, Maisa learned about the height of evil in the world: Judaism and Zionism. 'We learned that the Jews are the descendants of apes and pigs, and that they have horns, a tail, and a large nose. I really and truly believed this. Even when I grew up and went to study at a Coptic Christian school, which was more open, from my perspective the Jews remained the devil incarnate. I did not know that my parents, my grandfather and grandmother, had connections with the few Jews in Alexandria. They hid that so that we would not tell friends at the school and endanger ourselves.'
\n
\nA black night
\nIn 2005, Maisa's life changed after her father's younger brother secretly immigrated to Israel, studied in a yeshiva (i.e., religious studies academy), and enlisted in the [Israeli army] paratroopers. She knew nothing about this until the day when fanatic Muslims came to settle accounts with the Jewish family. 'The rumor about my uncle somehow reached the Salafists, an extremist Muslim movement with a significant presence in Egypt. At an early hour of the night, when the whole family was sitting at home, shouts were suddenly heard from outside. I remember it to this day. I peeked from the window and saw them. Thirty people dressed in white, with long beards and large white skullcaps. They held burning torches, shouted "Death to the Jews," and began to approach the house. My grandfather, my father, and his brother ran away through a back door; my brothers and the cousins went up to the attic to hide. We women stayed down below thinking that they would not harm us - members of the weaker sex.
\n'The riled up Salafists hit the door with sticks, boards, and everything they could, until they broke it down. When they entered the house they destroyed everything. They broke glasses, tables, closets, and chairs, and caused great destruction while shouting "Jews out." We were certain that they would lynch us. My mother tried to talk with them and explain to them that the men were not at home. They hit her on the head until she lost consciousness. I remember seeing her from the upper floor lying on the ground motionless, her head covered with blood. I was certain that she was dead.
\n'And then they went up to the attic and found my brothers and the cousins. They brought them downstairs while shouting. I had hidden in a room very well, and then I heard shots from a handgun. I was certain that they were dead too. I cried in silence, so that they would not hear and discover me. After a time that seemed to last forever the rioters left the house. I left the hiding place, and then I saw that they were all right. The Salafists had dragged my mother out into the yard and left her lying there. I started to shout for help. The men returned home together with the police. The police officers listened to our complaints, investigated and checked, and of course did not find the guilty ones.
\n'At the end of that black night my grandfather gathered all of us, the children, inside the tumult and mess that a moment earlier had been our beautiful home, and told us why they had persecuted us. He revealed to us that we were Jews. My world collapsed on me. All of the education that I had received in school, in the society I was in, and in the songs that I heard on the radio and television, was that the Jews are animals and not humans. I remember that during the time of the [second] Intifada (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005), after [Israeli politician] Ariel Sharon went up to the Temple Mount, we participated in demonstrations for the Palestinians. We sang the song that was written for Muhammad Al-Dura from Gaza (a Palestinian boy who was supposedly killed in September 2000 in a staged televised crossfire in Gaza -Ed.), and cried together with him. And suddenly I am a Jew. I felt my nose to check if it was long. I looked at myself in the mirror and did not believe that this was happening to me. A 15-year-old girl who understands that her entire life is a lie.'
\n
\n'They called me Pharaoh'
\nFollowing the pogrom, Maisa's parents decided that they had to leave Egypt and immigrate to Israel. They did not feel safe staying in a place where people wanted to murder them just for being Jewish. 'We stopped going to school because we were afraid that they would harm us,' she continues with her story. 'My uncle raised the idea to immigrate to Israel, and my grandfather and father supported it. We children, and particularly me and my cousin who is a year younger than me, opposed it. We were angry at them that they did not tell us before this. We wanted to stay at home; we wanted the lives we had before we knew that we were Jews. When they said "Israel" to me, I imagined the worst reality: People walking around in green uniforms with helmets and weapons, or people with peot (i.e., Jewish traditional sidelocks), long noses, and black beards. Jews walking in the street with horns and a tail between their legs. As foolish as it is to think that this could be realistic, the brainwashing that one undergoes there is so strong that you really believe this is how Jews look.'

\n\n

$\"\"$

\n\n

Leaving was sudden. Because there was no possibility of leaving Egypt with possessions, each family member put several items into their suitcase and got on the plane. The first stop was Turkey. 'We thought that our parents would go back to take the rest of the things, so we packed a few items and got on the plane for Turkey. We were there four months without going out of the house much. One rabbi who was in contact with my uncle and dealt with helping new immigrants guided us.'
\n
\nFrom Turkey they came to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, and here her name was changed to Meira. 'We rented a house in Armon Hanatziv (i.e., a neighborhood in southeast Jerusalem), and from there we moved from place to place in the city. It was very difficult. From a reality in which there was always everything, and from a life in which you ask your parents to buy something and they immediately bring it to you - we lived in a small apartment, in poverty and scarcity. I really wanted to return to Egypt. I swore that when I grew up and was independent I would return to live there. I did not like the people in Israel, and I looked at them strangely. The only normal period was at ulpan (i.e., Hebrew language school), because there were people there who spoke all kinds of languages and I felt that I was abroad. When I heard Hebrew and saw religious people I became anxious and fearful. I remember shortly after we came to Israel I saw an ultra-Orthodox Jew with a shtreimel (i.e., a traditional fur hat) and a long black coat. Out of fear I crossed to the other side of the street. I looked for his horns and tail, and I was certain that he was hiding them under the hat and suit.'
\n
\n'My parents put me and my cousin in a religious school. It was very difficult for me. I did not speak Hebrew, and the girls would laugh at the two of us all the time. They called us Pharaoh, and I was very offended. My only consolation was that they did not hit at the school in Israel. I remember that on the first day of studies the teacher came in and I immediately stood at attention. The girls looked at me and started to laugh: "Pharaoh, that is not customary here."'
\n
\nIdentity crisis
\nAt the religious high school for girls Meira studied in the Arabic study track. One day, one of the staff at the Palestinian Media Watch research institute came to the school to give a lesson in Arabic. 'He gave us a text to read, and when he reached me and heard me read in Arabic he opened his eyes wide. After the lesson he asked who I was and where I came from. I told him that I was from Egypt, and he immediately offered me work at the institute. I and my cousin began to work almost immediately. Later on she enlisted in the army, and I - being too old to enlist - continued to work at the institute, and I have been there for 11 years.'

\n\n

$\"\"$

\n\n

The Palestinian Media Watch institute is involved in locating expressions of incitement from official and unofficial Palestinian sources, and incorporating the collected information into reports that are transferred to decision makers in Israel and the world. It is never-ending work, because in order to reach the required material one must rummage through newspapers, official media outlets, social networks, and websites.
\n'When I began to work here I had a deep identity crisis,' admits Meira. 'It was a continuation of the general identity crisis that I had experienced, but when I was exposed to Palestinian TV programs here that dealt with prisoners - or more accurately terrorists - in the Israeli prison, I would cry. One of these programs is called " In a Fighter's Home." As part of the program they go to the homes of prisoners and interview their family members. The idea is that the prisoners watching TV in prison will see the program and through it receive greetings, love, and strengthening from the family they left behind. When the mother of a prisoner would cry, I would cry with her. When Itamar Marcus, director of the [PMW] institute, would come to my [work] station, I would immediately wipe away the tears and hide my feelings.
\n'After a period in which I gained confidence, I said this to someone from the institute and he was shocked that I was so close to the Palestinian narrative. He advised me to be more connected to the Israeli media, and that is what I did. At the institute they showed me the crimes that these prisoners did, and I understood why they never say in the Palestinian programs why they are in prison. I saw articles describing how Israel treats wounded from Syria, and that proved to me that everything that I had learned about the cruelty of the Jews was simply incorrect. I understood what the State of Israel is and how it helps those who treated it like an enemy. For the first time in my life I heard the other side, the Jewish and Israeli arguments. I was exposed to the true picture, instead of the lie that the Palestinians sell to the world.'
\n
\nHow do you view your future in Israel?
\n'Until recently I was in a relationship, and I broke it off. I still have a hard time with the Israeli mentality, with the endless freedom to which I was not accustomed. On the other hand, I also have a hard time with my parents and my 86-year-old grandfather, who even at my age still watch when I go out and when I return. Recently I moved to live with my cousin in a settlement near Jerusalem, and I am still trying to formulate for myself my Jewish and Israeli identity and personality, and to find my way.'
\n
\nThe dream of returning to Egypt has not disappeared, but according to Meira it will not be realized anytime soon. 'I hope to return to Egypt, but I think I will wait to do so until the Arab states stop inciting against Jews and Israel and we will all live in peace together. Unfortunately I see every day at work how this dream is growing ever more distant.'"

\n\n

[Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon, July 15, 2018]
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

\n","contentType":"Article","title":"The Amazing Story of PMW’s Egyptian Translator","news":false,"indexId":"index72","lang":"en","author":[{"citeName":{"en":"PMW Staff","he":""},"name":{"en":"pmw staff","he":""},"id":435,"about":""}],"date":{"type":"firestore/timestamp/1.0","seconds":1532649600,"nanoseconds":0},"published":true,"tagIds":["190","193"],"authorId":[435],"tags":[],"id":14504,"thumbnail":"/STORAGE/Bulletins/2018/Meira thumb.jpg"},{"date":{"type":"firestore/timestamp/1.0","seconds":1530576000,"nanoseconds":0},"tagIds":["190","191"],"tags":[],"description":"MP Avi Dichter, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee: \"Palestinian Media Watch provided us with authentic data that enabled productive and professional deliberations, nuances that are very difficult to achieve without precise data.\" (July 3, 2018) ","imageUrl":"/STORAGE/Bulletins/thumbnails/pmweye_thumb4bull.jpg","author":[{"citeName":{"en":"PMW Staff","he":""},"about":"","id":435,"name":{"en":"pmw staff","he":""}}],"contentType":"Article","news":false,"lang":"en","content":" \n \n

Israeli MPs thank PMW
\n

as Israel passes law to deduct terror money
\n from the PA
\n
\n

MP Avi Dichter, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee:
\n

"Palestinian Media Watch provided us with authentic data that enabled productive and professional deliberations, nuances that are very difficult to achieve without precise data"
\n
\n

MP Elazar Stern:
\n

"I want to thank... [PMW Director] Itamar Marcus ... and everyone who has pushed and accompanied this committee for a long time"

\nPalestinian Media Watch first exposed that the PA pays salaries to terrorist prisoners in May 2011, and presented this documentation to the US Congress in June of the same year. The Israeli Parliament yesterday voted overwhelmingly, 87-15, to deduct the amount that the PA pays to terrorists and families of "Martyrs" from tax money that Israel collects for the PA.
\n
\nThe two Israeli MPs who sponsored the law each thanked PMW during the parliamentary voting session, noting the unique importance of PMW's input and documentation.
\n
\nPrior to the vote, MP Avi Dichter, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee said:
\n\n

"The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee received much help in its deliberations, from the families of terror victims and those wounded by terror attacks who came to the discussions and shared their views with us, and with them were people from Palestinian Media Watch who provided us with authentic data that enabled productive and professional deliberations, nuances that are very difficult to achieve without precise data."
\n

[Israeli Parliament website, July 2, 2018]
\n
\n

\nFollowing the vote and the passage of the law, MP Elazar Stern said:
\n\n

"I want to thank... [PMW Director] Itamar Marcus ... and everyone who has pushed and accompanied this committee for a long time."
\n

\nClick to read more about PMW's 7-year long efforts to bring the PA policy of rewarding terrorists with salaries to the attention of parliaments around the world, and PMW's involvement in the process of the passing of the new law.
\n
\nThe new law
\nAccording to the new law, the Israeli Defense Ministry each year will calculate how much the PA has spent to pay terrorist prisoners and families of so-called "Martyrs", and this will be deducted from the money Israel collects in taxes on behalf of the PA. In 2018 the PA has budgeted 1.2 billion shekels for these terror reward payments (approx. $350 million). The money Israel deducts will be frozen and held indefinitely. Should the Defense Ministry report that the PA did not pay terrorist salaries or allowances to families of "Martyrs" for a full year, the Israeli government would have the option of giving all or part of the frozen money to the PA.
\n
\n
\n

","id":14402,"title":"Israeli MPs thank PMW as Israel passes law to deduct terror money from the Palestinian Authority","authorId":[435],"indexId":"index71","published":true,"thumbnail":"/STORAGE/Bulletins/thumbnails/pmweye_thumb4bull.jpg"}]

Pmw Staff