Israel draws UN attention to Presidnet Abbas’ recent inflammatory and incendiary statements – Letter from Israel

Identical letters dated 18 September 2015 from the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

I am writing to draw your attention to recent inflammatory and incendiary statements made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas targeting Jews and Israelis. Just yesterday, after Islamic operatives used force to prevent Jews and non-Muslims from visiting the Temple Mount, the Holiest site in Judaism, Abbas defended their actions, declaring, “Al-Aqsa is ours and so is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They have no right to desecrate them with their filthy feet.”

This is not the first time Abbas has used such vile language to describe Jews. The last time radical Islamic operatives tried to violently prevent Jews from visiting the Temple Mount, Abbas said of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, “They have no right to defile it. We must prevent them.” And, “We will not allow our holy places to be contaminated.”

Such descriptions of Jews as a “filthy” People who “desecrate”, “contaminate”, and “defile” by their very presence come straight out of anti-Semitic imagery which should not be tolerated in the civilized world. When a leader uses racially charged language, and falsely claims that Muslim holy sites are under attack from Jews, this is not a grey area, this is anti-Semitism.

Abbas's hateful rhetoric is not only deplorable, it is also dangerous. The situation on the Temple Mount is precarious, and the use of incendiary rhetoric only adds fuel to the fire. Yet, Abbas is all too eager to light a spark. Instead of tamping down the incitement, he deliberately uses rhetoric that he knows is sure to lead to violence. The last time he deceived the Palestinian public about the intentions of the Jews on the Temple Mount, a Palestinian terrorist shot an Israeli man whom he called “an enemy of Al-Aqsa”.

It is time to stop giving Abbas a free pass for his incitement and for his bigotry. Silence in the face of blatant anti-Semitism is hypocritical and shameful. The words of Abbas speak for themselves. Such manifest hatred is absolutely unacceptable from any world leader. You must speak out against those who engage in vilification, extremism and racism no matter who they are.

I call on you to condemn Mahmoud Abbas for these ugly anti-Semitic remarks and hold him responsible for his dangerous incitement.

I should be grateful if you would have the present letter distributed as a document of the Security Council.

(Signed) Ron Prosor

Ambassador

Permanent Representative

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