Abbasonomics: Terrorism Beats Drug Running Hands Down

In the book Freakonomics, one chapter deals with the question "Why do Drug Dealers Still Live With Their Moms?" In providing an answer, the book touches on the sensitive relationship between drug gangs and the communities they live in. One particularly sensitive area is the murder of gang members and how it affects the expenses of drug gangs:

The miscellaneous expenses also include the costs associated with a gang member's murder. The gang not only paid for the funeral but often gave a stipend of up to three years' wages to the victim's family. Venkatesh had once asked why the gang was so generous in this regard. "That's a f****** stupid question," he was told, "'cause as long as you been with us, you still don't understand that their families is our families. We can't just leave 'em out. We been knowing these folks our whole lives, man so we grieve when they grieve. You got to respect the family." There was another reason for the death benefits: the gang reared community backlash (its enterprise was plainly a destructive one) and figured it could buy some goodwill for a few hundred dollars here and there. [pp 101-2]

No, Palestinian "Armed Struggle" Is Not Supported By International Law

According to Hamas, terrorism is not just a means -- it is a right.

Saleh Armouti, an MP in Jordan's House of Representatives last year, went a step further, claiming that the UN supported armed resistance, in general -- and terrorist attacks in particular:

[It was] the legitimate right of the liberated prisoner Ahlam Tamimi [to] resist the occupier, as the United Nations laws stipulate the right to self-determination, as ruled [by] international legitimacy [as] the right to resist the occupation.

Tamimi is the mastermind of the Sbarro massacre that murdered 15 civilians (including 7 children and a pregnant woman) and wounded 130.

Is it actually possible that the United Nations, which is supposed to be an agent for world peace, actually recognizes the right to blow people up?

Nixon Faced His Own 9/11: Palestinian Airplane Hijackings

Back in July, when Palestinian Arabs protested against the use of metal detectors to secure and protect visitors to the Temple Mount from terrorist attacks, Walter Russel Meade made an interesting point. He noted on his website, The American Interest, the key role Palestinian terrorism has played -- not only in the innovation and development of terrorist strategies, but also in the effort to protect against them:

With the possible exception of al-Qaeda, Palestinian terrorism—which pioneered the use of plane hijackings, airport attacks, and suicide bombings—has perhaps done more to force the introduction of metal detectors into our daily lives than just about any other cause.

While plane hijackings in the 1970's were just as easily associated with Cuba as with the Palestinian Arabs, it was the latter that pushed the US to increase security on airplanes.

When Arafat First Started Terrorist Stipends, It Wasn't About Inciting Hatred of Israel

Now that the smoke has cleared, we can see that Secretary of State Tillerson was wrong. His announcement that Abbas agreed to end stipends to imprisoned Palestinian terrorists was greeted with scepticism from the start. While on Tuesday Tillerson claimed the Palestinian Authority "changed their policy" about terrorist salaries, just a day later he had changed his tune and said instead there were "active discussions" and made reference to vague "assurances" given to Trump during his visit in Israel.

Official portrait of Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson
Credit: US State Department

Similarly, on June 5 it seemed that Abbas had cut off salaries to Hamas. It could be that Abbas was referring to those cuts when he spoke to Trump, but there too, Hamas ended up getting their salaries.

In any case, the payment terrorist salaries -- and the anti-Israel incitement caused by rewarding attacks on Jews -- continues.

But just how long have Palestinian terrorists been receiving these stipends?

We Do Not Speak Their Name! Why Can't The Media Identify Terrorists As Palestinians?

In the media coverage of Sunday's Palestinian terrorist attack, we are reminded yet again that the Palestinians are They Who Must Not Be Named:

Two people dead after drive-by shooting at Jerusalem tram stop https://t.co/XW7yF7IfK8

— The Guardian (@guardian) October 9, 2016

Why Israel Suspended The Three Balad MK's For Visiting The Families of Palestinian Terrorists

"After prophecy and righteousness there is no status Allah has exalted more than Shahada (Martyrdom)... ''And think not of those who have been killed in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they are alive (and) are provided sustenance from their Lord.'
...'The Shahid - his sins are forgiven with the first gush of his blood from his wound... The Shahid advocates on behalf of 70 members of his family, and saves them all from hell. The Shahid lives together with the prophets and the righteous ones.'"
[Official PA TV, Nov. 8, 2013]

Yesterday, in light of the possibility of punitive action against 3 Arab MK's who visited parents of Palestinian Terrorists, I posted about the question Are These Israeli Arab MK's No Less Deserving of Expulsion Than If They Were Congressmen?

Today, a decision was reached by the Knesset Ethics Committee to take action as Knesset Suspends Arab MKs for Meeting Palestinian Terrorists’ Families. Of the 3 members of the Balad Party, Hanin Zoabi and Basel Ghattas were suspended for 4 months and Jamal Zahalka for 2 months. While they are banned from participating in Knesset committee meetings and plenum discussions, they will be allowed to vote in them.

Are These Israeli Arab MK's No Less Deserving of Expulsion Than If They Were Congressmen?

There was an uproar when it was reported that members of the Balad Party visited the parents of 10 Palestinian terrorists who had attacked Israelis.

The three MKs who made the visit were Jamal Zahalka, Haneen Zoabi and Bassel Ghattas, and among the parents they met was the the father of Baha Alian, who, along with an accomplice, stabbed and shot to death three people on a bus last October.The MK's rebuffed Netanyahu's criticism of their visit by claiming that their goal was a humanitarian one -- to push for the return of the bodies of the terrorists to their families.

UN's Ban Ki-Moon Excuses Palestinian Terrorism As "Natural" Reaction

It was less than 2 years ago that we read that Ban Ki-moon Admits United Nations Anti-Israel Bias, going so far as to say, "Unfortunately, because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel has been weighed down by criticism and suffered from bias and sometimes even discrimination."

It should not be surprising that Ban shows the same bias when he claims It Is 'Human Nature' to React to Occupation:

Why Is the Terrorist Murderer Omar Nayef Zayed Getting World Sympathy?

Stephen M. Flatow writes about the Palestinian Authority’s dirty little secret:

A Palestinian terrorist who escaped from an Israeli prison 25 years ago is now being given shelter in the PA’s consulate in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

The terrorist is Omar Nayef Zayed, who was convicted in 1986 of murdering an Israeli yeshiva student. He started a hunger strike in 1990, which resulted in the Israeli authorities admitting him to a hospital in Bethlehem. He escaped from the hospital, slipped out of the country, and made his way to Bulgaria.

Does NBC Have An Ayman Mohyeldin Problem?

Fox News addresses the issue of media bias in its reporting of the Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israelis.

Watch:

Arlene Kushner Analysis of the Palestinian Terrorist Attack on the Jerusalem Synagogue

From Arlene Kushner:
November 18, 2014

Without Words

Sometimes a situation is so horrific that it renders one speechless.  Such was the attack by Israeli Arabs on innocent Jews praying in Jerusalem this morning.  And so, I’m going to start with photos, which provide greater impact than my words alone would. 

Once I would have apologized for provided such graphic illustrations.  No more. The world must “get the picture,” figuratively as well as literally.

Credit: preoccupiedterritory

~~~~~~~~~~

Arlene Kushner on Palestinian Celebration of Butchering Of An Innocent Baby

From Arlene Kushner:
October 23, 2014

Burning Hatred and Darkness

Chaya Zissel Braun the three-month old baby girl killed by a terrorist using his car as a weapon, was laid to rest at midnight last night.  Her death came about after the terrorist’s car slammed into her stroller, sending her flying some ten meters into the air. She landed on her head, and fractured her skull; doctors could not save her because of internal hemorrhaging.

President Ruby Rivlin, who attended the funeral said (emphasis added):

“We are standing before a tiny, silent body, before a small grave, standing against haters and murderers who hands slaughter without distinction, without mercy.  An innocent baby was butchered by burning hatred and darkness.”
http://www.timesofisrael.com/funeral-begins-for-baby-killed-in-suspected-terror-attack/

~~~~~~~~~~

Collective US/Abbas Response to Another Unity-Government Rocket Fired on Israel: Oops!

Palestinian terrorists fired another post-unity government rocket at Israeli civilians -- and the collective response of the US government and Abbas is the same: Oops!

The Jewish Press reports that US Admits: Hamas Unity Government Can Launch Rockets, and Still Receive US Funds

US State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said at a press briefing on Wednesday that the US condemns the rocket fire from Gaza, and expects the Palestinian Unity Government and PUG president to condemn those attacks. But Psaki admits that condemning, not stopping those attacks is the maximum they expect from PUG President Mahmoud Abbas.

Mideast Media Sampler 07/30/2013: Does Kerry Know Palestinians Were Supposed To Reject Terrorism 20 Years Ago?

by David Gerstman, contributing blogger at Legal Insurrection

John Kerry rejects a basic premise of the peace process

The past two days has seen the reporting on the beginning of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

First there was the reporting on the Israeli concession that made the talks possible. The New York Times reported Netanyahu agree to free 104 Prisoners:

An Israeli government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said many of those who remained in Israeli jails, like the 104 now chosen for early release, had been involved in particularly gruesome acts.

Mideast Media Sampler 7/21/13: Kerry Talks About Progress On Peace, While Abbas Honors "Pure Soul" Of Palestinian Mass Murderer of Jews

by David Gerstman, contributing blogger at Legal Insurrection

1) No peace, No justice

A decade ago Ahmed Jubarah walked out of jail a free man. Twenty eight years after he killed 13 people and wounded dozens more, detonating an explosive laden refrigerator on a crowded Jerusalem street, Israel released Jubarah and others in order to restart peace talks with the Palestinians in 2003. The New York Times reported, Palestinian Bomber, Freed After 28 Years, Talks of Peace:

"We are not murderers. We are not criminals. We are people who seek peace and freedom," Mr. Jubarah, 68, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, said. He was freed as an Israeli good-will gesture on the eve of a summit meeting in neighboring Jordan that will include Israeli and Palestinian leaders, as well as President Bush. ...

We Expect It From Abbas, But Why Are Newseum and the Red Cross Honoring Palestinian Terrorists?

Note: It is now being reported that Newseum to ‘Re-Evaluate’ Hamas Honorees. Good. But the fact remains that the Newseum should never have considered honoring these Hamas terrorist propagandists in the first place.


There was a time that honoring Palestinian terrorists as the sole province of the Palestinians themselves.

The Hamas specialty was using children shows, where cartoonish characters took on the very uncartoonish  task of teaching kids to hate Israel and want to destroy it.

For its part, the Abbas regime was no less busy. Reports documented the way the Palestinian Authority honored Palestinian terrorists and incited hatred of Israel --

Mideast Media Sampler 4/04/13: Media Treats Palestinian Terrorists Like Political Prisoners

by David Gerstman, contributing blogger at Legal Insurrection

1) Palestinian prisoners protest
The New York Times reported Palestinians Jailed in Israel Protest After Inmate Dies:

The office of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, said in a statement that it held the Israeli government “fully responsible” for Mr. Hamdiya’s death, which it said stemmed from a policy of “deliberate medical negligence.” 

Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the authority, also accused the Israeli prison authorities of a “policy of medical negligence,” saying in a statement that the delay in treating Mr. Hamdiya “was a primary reason for his martyrdom.” He called for international monitoring of the conditions inside Israel’s prisons. 

Prisoners in Israeli custody hold an honored place in Palestinian society, with many Palestinians regarding even compatriots convicted of deadly terrorist acts as political prisoners and fighters for the Palestinian cause. 

The New York Times earlier referred to the death of Arafat Jaradat earlier this year as occurring under "disputed circumstances." Is there any evidence that the Palestinian claims then were true? "Disputed" suggests that each side's arguments were equally valid. That's simply not true and example of deceitful reporting.

Hanan Ashrawi and MIFTAH Remove Post Praising Terrorism -- What Else Are They Hiding?

We are whole-heartedly committed to fighting racism, hatemongering, discrimination and persecution of any kind wherever it should exist, and especially in our own society.
From MIFTAH "apology" for article promoting Passover Blood Libel

After staunchly defending their right to post an article promoting the Passover Blood Libel, Hanan Ashrawi and MIFTAH did an abrupt about face and apologized, claiming that actually it was all a mistake and that in reality the blood libel article was "accidentally" posted by a junior staff member.

Their first reaction, however, was to remove the page without comment after its existence was first revealed by Elder of Ziyon.

Now we see that Ashrawi and MIFTAH have more to hide, after they now removed a page from their site praising terrorism.

New York Times Rejects Letter From Mother Of Victim of Intifada It Promotes

For a mother to bury her loving, gentle child is torture. To watch the murderer walk triumphantly free and enjoy life rubs salt into that wound every day. But to see the NY Times gloss over this travesty of justice with a cover story that showcases this woman’s many admirers in Nabi Saleh – that is journalism of the most amoral sort. You ought to be ashamed of it.
Frimet Roth, mother of Malki Roth z"l, victim of Palestinian violence New York Times tacitly endorses

The New York Times jumps at opportunities to promote a Third Intifada, but refuses to balance their reporting by presenting the other side: the suffering and death that results from Palestinian violence.

Here is a letter from the mother of one of the victims of the Sbarro bombing. Her letter was submitted to The New York Times, but was rejected because it did not fit the agenda of The New York Times.

Jerusalem
March 20, 2013
The Editors,
NY Times

Ben Ehrenreich's article ["Is This Where the Third Intifada Will Start?"] is a brazen quest for confirmation of his preconceptions about the Palestinian Israeli conflict: politics blended with fantasy and embellished with every tear-jerking cliche in the book. Smiling, frolicking children; poetic "activists"; generous hostesses plying their delicacies at every turn. It is a bucolic scene that is frequently painted in anti-Israel publications. But how does the NY Times publish a piece that plays so fast and loose with fact and history?

Sadly, I am well-equipped to offer some corrections and details omitted by Ehrenreich.

Palestinian Unemployment (of Terrorists) Is A Threat To Syria, Jordan -- and Israel

Khaled Abu Toameh writes Palestinians Exporting Terrorists to Syria: Where Next?:

The cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, which was reached after Operations Pillars of Defense three months ago, has left members of various terror groups unemployed.

Now that the jihadis in the Gaza Strip have nothing to do, such as fire rockets at Israel, they have started searching for other places to carry out their terror attacks. They have found no better place than Syria to start sending their men to join some of the radical Islamist organizations fighting against Bashar al-Assad's regime.