Liaison to Palestinians says PA crossing ‘red line’ with accusations Israel spreading virus

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Kamil Abu Rukun issues a statement blasting Palestinian Authority officials for their rhetoric against Israel in recent weeks that have included repeated claims that the Jewish state is intentionally spreading the coronavirus in Palestinian areas of the West Bank.

“To our great disappointment, in recent weeks we have witnessed, and experienced, a variety of baseless complaints from senior figures in the Palestinian Authority, extending even to misleading and slanderous remarks against the IDF, the security establishment, the State of Israel, and the Israeli public,” Abu Rukun says.

“Statements such as ‘soldiers are trying to spread viruses on car windshields, and it’s a result of being educated to racism and hatred; these are people who wish for the death of others,’ and other wild and racist accusations against Israel and the Jewish people, claim falsely that we are responsible for the spread of the epidemic and are even interfering with Palestinian efforts to halt it.”

Such shameful remarks, baseless and indefensible, completely contradict the plain fact that Israel has prepared and engaged itself to give all possible assistance in the regional effort to halt the spread of the epidemic both in Israel and in the Palestinian territories.

“We see those remarks and accusations as crossing a red line and disparaging the enormous efforts that Israel is making in the face of the shared challenge and crisis besetting the entire region. I call upon the Palestinian leadership to retract its baseless declarations — and I warn that there could be repercussions in various spheres,” he concludes.

PA officials have stood by their assertions in recent days, pointing to the fact that roughly two-thirds of the confirmed cases in the West Bank are of Palestinian workers employed in Israel and those who have come in contact with them. Ramallah has called on Israel to test workers before allowing them to return to the West Bank.