In the New Republic Martin Peretz writes of his recent visit to Hebron: “Conflicts of interest.” As always, what Peretz has to say is of interest, but it was his P.P.S. that especially caught my eye:
I’ve written about Condoleezza Rice’s visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah. News has trickled out about details of her demands on Israel, which apparently include that it supply the Palestinian Authority with weapons and ammunition. And who exactly will guarantee that these will not fall into the hands of the legions of habitual terrorists who nestle in the PA’s militias or that they won’t simply be passed on to the pious murderers of Hamas and Islamic Jihad? My guess is that the secretary of state has no persuasive answer to these questions, and it is probably the case that there are none.
And another thought: The PA has so many times obliged itself to Bill Clinton, George Bush, and the Israelis to stop official incitement against Jews and Israel. But the most grotesque and genocide-provoking hatred for the Jewish people and their state continues to flood the official marketplace of what you might not want to call ideas. I’ve known this for years, and American journalists have known it for years. But it’s not their kind of story. So it has gone largely unreported, like the abandonment of traditional Christian communities in nascent Palestine over the last decade (come to think of it: since the 1993 handshake on the White House lawn) by half of the Palestinian Christians. Both of these facts ruin the story of Palestinian moderation, to which so many reporters, columnists, and editorialists are wed. As I was reflecting on Rice’s demands on Israel, ones that assume a radical change not only in Palestinian behavior but in Palestinian thinking, I came across a sermon broadcast on PA government television on May 13, 2005. It was preached by Sheik Ibrahim Mudeiris who is paid by the Abbas regime to preach in Gaza, that is, paid by us or paid by the EU. Google “Ibrahim Mudeiris”; this particular sermon is currently the first entry. It was posted by the Middle East Media Research Institute, a group that monitors many realities of the Middle East and can also be relied upon to monitor inflammatory Islam, including Mudeiris’s malicious mouthings. The organization has also posted the sermon in true sound and color here. Tell me if I’m wrong to be appalled.
I hope that you will watch the video, and that if you do your reaction lies somewhere north of “appalled.”
PAUL adds: Mine does. But they must be thrilled at the State Department. It’s like having Colin Powell back, but this time with the president’s ear.
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