October 31, 1997
The official newspaper of Yasir Arafat’s Palestinian
Authority (PA) has denounced the United States Congress as “the Council of
the Elders of Zion” and mocked the new U.S. ambassador to Israel, Ned Walker,
saying he “behaves wickedly like them .”
The anti-American article appeared in the official PA newspaper, Al
Hayat Al Jadeeda, on October 30, 1997. It was authored by the newspaper’s
editor, Hafet al-Barghouti.
Barghouti wrote: “Walker underwent a lengthy hearing in Congress,
or the Council of the Elders of Zion, in order to merit the job…Walker has
no connection with the Scottish name Johnnie Walker, though Edward
is far more damaging, for his task is to inebriate us through reassuring
statements in order that we not hear the noise of the settlement bulldozers
destroying our land…Walker revealed that he had learned Hebrew…as the
saying goes, ‘he who learns the language of a nation protects himself from
its evil’–or, in Walker’s case, ‘behaves wickedly like them.'”
Morton A. Klein, National President of the Zionist Organization of
America (ZOA), said: “Arafat’s official newspaper hurls grotesque personal
insults at the United States Congress–yet he expects to continue receiving
$100-million in American aid each year. If a spokesman for Israel’s prime
minister said such things about the U.S. Congress, there would be an
uproar. Why is the Clinton administration silent in the face of Arafat’s attacks?”
Klein called for immediate suspension of the transfer of U.S. funds to
Palestinian Arab projects via the Agency for International Development (A.I.D.), until Barghouti is fired.
Other recent PLO attacks on the United States:
-
The official PA newspaper, Al Hayat Al Jadeeda, on October 3, 1997
called U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright “vulgar and insolent” and
“has reached the stage of immorality” because “she is no longer perturbed
by Arab condemnations .” The article continued: “The lady visited
the region and spat like a snake in the face of Arab statesmen. They praised
her and would have sung love songs to her were it not for her advanced age and
the fact that she has passed her prime.” The article was authored by the
newspaper’s editor, Hafet al-Barghouti. - The PLO-appointed Mufti (top Islamic religious authority) Sheikh
Ikrama Sabri, in his weekly sermon at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque on
September 12, 1997, declared: “Oh Allah, destroy America, her agents, and her
allies! Cast them into their own traps, and cover the White House with black!” The
speech was broadcast on the PLO’s Voice of Palestine Radio, immediately
after it broadcast a speech by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Two
months earlier, in his weekly sermon at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque on July
11, 1997, Sabri declared: “Oh Allah, destroy America, for she is ruled by
Zionist Jews! Allah will paint the White House black!” -
PLO Cabinet Minister Abdel Aziz Shaheen called U.S. Mideast
envoy Dennis Ross a “son of a bitch” and said “I ask God to send him straight to
hell.” (Washington Post, August 1, 1997) - The PLO Ambassador to England, Afif Safieh, said “Capitol Hill
is that other Israeli occupied territory that needs to be liberated.”
(Jerusalem Times, July 4, 1997) - PLO Justice Minister Freih Abu Medein said that “five Zionist
Jews are conducting U.S. policy in the Middle East.” (Yediot Ahronot, April 14,
1997) - PLO Foreign Minister Farouk Kaddoumi said of U.S. envoy Dennis
Ross:
“Let Ross go to hell, because he is a biased Zionist.” (Associated Press,
March 29, 1997) - An official statement by the PLO’s Palestinian Authority
Ministry of Information denounced the U.S. Congress as “racist” for linking U.S. aid to
PLO compliance with the Oslo accords. (PA statement, Sept. 23, 1995).
