PLO report says recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is incitement

In a PLO report, Israeli “incitement” includes a statement that “Jerusalem is the capital of Israel…And it will always be the capital of Israel.” 

By: World Israel News Staff

The PLO Department of Culture and Information on Sunday released its “Incitement Report” for June 2018, which contains “examples of recent inflammatory comments and incitement” made by Israeli officials and leaders, including the allegedly horrendous statement that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital.

This monthly report is apparently an attempt by the Palestinians to counter Israeli and international charges that the Palestinian leadership is engaged in constant incitement to terrorism.

Updated regularly, the report purportedly includes samples of “recent derogatory and inflammatory comments and incitement by Israeli government officials and leaders specifically meant to distort reality and mislead public opinion.”

The Israeli “incitement” includes a statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “Jerusalem is the capital of Israel…And it will always be the capital of Israel. It’s been the capital of Israel for three thousand years. This is a description of our government under King Solomon, the son of King David, three thousand years ago.”

Another form of supposed incitement is Netanyahu’s statement that “the reason we don’t have peace is not because of the absence of a Palestinian state.”

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman was likewise accused of agitation for expressing his opinion that “whoever thinks improving the civilian and economic situation in Gaza will halt the terror kites and the violence is simply wrong. Enough with all sorts of illusions and delusions that improving the economy will end terror.”

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked provoked Palestinian ire when she stated that “there is no difference between a burning kite and a Qassam rocket, and we should not tolerate the kites.” Somehow, combatting terrorism is a form of incitement, the Palestinians assert.

Minister of Education and Diaspora Affairs Naftali Bennett offended the Palestinians by stating that “we welcome him [Prince William]. We welcome everyone who visits our capital. Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people, and only of the Jewish people.”

Construction and Housing Minister Yoav Galant disturbed the Palestinians’ equilibrium by expressing his Zionist sentiments. “The State of Israel is based on three principles that appear in the Declaration of Independence: equality of rights, democracy and a Jewish state. This means that the only national state that can exist in Israel is the Zionist state. Those who want to establish a sub-state – it cannot be in our home… I am not willing to give up our hold on the land,” he said.

Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel inflamed frayed Palestinian nerves by seeking a proper education for Bedouin children when he stated that “a Bedouin kid child who doesn’t know Hebrew won’t be going to college and will be very limited in terms of occupations.”

The list of grievances supposedly committed by the Israeli leadership goes on.

PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi summed up the charges by noting that “the real incitement stems from Israel’s military occupation of Palestine and its enslavement of an entire nation.”

She further charged that “the Israeli hardline extremist government led by Benjamin Netanyahu is responsible for generating a culture of hate and racism in Israel, inciting violence and feeding extremism.”