Ya’alon slams Abbas over ‘malicious blood libels’

Former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon slams PA President Mahmoud Abbas for citing him in his EU speech as evidence of Israel’s descent into “facism.”

Ya’alon, who was ousted from the ministry as part of Netanyahu’s coalition deal with Avigdor Liberman, left office warning that “extremist and dangerous forces have taken over Israel and the Likud movement and are destabilizing our home and threatening to harm its inhabitants.”

Abbas, in Brussels on Thursday, pointed to Ya’alon’s statement as well as recent criticism by former defense minister Ehud Barak and Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog as proof of Israel’s downward spiral. He also mentioned — as if it were real — a hoax story about rabbis urging the poisoning of Palestinian water sources.

“Not only is Abu Mazen [Abbas] blatantly lying as usual, and continuing his malicious blood libels against the State of Israel, he’s also taking advantage of the real, healthy, and democratic discourse that exists in Israeli society (and which does not exist in his), and puts words in my mouth that I did not say,” Ya’alon responds.

Abbas’s comments are “further proof that he never intended to reach a [peace] agreement that includes our right to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people,” the former defense minister continues. “We must not delude ourselves and follow the illusion blindly.”