"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 antisemitic
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 gray area, this is antisemitism.
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 antisemitism 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 antisemitic remarks, and
hold him responsible for his dangerous incitement."