Abbas aide: ‘Wherever you see an Israeli, slit his throat’
Comments from Fatah official spark a furious warning of repercussions from a senior Israeli officer
Dov Lieber is a former Times of Israel Arab affairs correspondent.
An aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called for gruesome violence against Israelis on Monday, sparking a scathing response from an Israeli official.
Sultan Abu al-Einein, an adviser to Abbas on civil society organizations and a Fatah Central Committee member, said during an interview with the Palestinian news site Donia al-Watan: “Wherever you find an Israeli, slit his throat.”
The comment from the senior Fatah official came in response to a question about normalization between members of his party and Israel.
When asked what he thought about normalization with Israel and Palestinian officials taking part in Israeli conferences, Abu al-Einein said: “If you ask me my blunt position, I would say — every place you find an Israeli, slit his throat. Likewise, I am against talks, negotiations, meetings, and normalization in all its forms with the Israeli occupation.”
Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major General Yoav Mordechai, blasted Abu al-Einein over the comments and warned they would be met with “repercussions” in the future.
“Such words, in the summer of 2016, in a region that wakes up and falls asleep to the news of terrorist actions similar [to the words said by Abu al-Einein], cannot be allowed to stay within the bounds of rhetoric,” he wrote on Facebook.
He also called for Palestinians — and especially the Palestinian leadership — to denounce such talk as they do when speaking against the actions of the Islamic State.
Abu al-Einein has been an outspoken critic of Israel, supporting violence and praising terrorism against Israelis. In 2013, five US congressmen wrote to Abbas to ask him to fire Abu al-Einein over his praise of terrorism, but the PA president refused, arguing he was an elected official.
Israel has consistently complained that the PA backs terror and incites its citizens to carry out attacks.