PA official: Europe, US ‘burning in their own fire’

In Facebook post, Palestinian Authority spokesman Adnan Damiri says terror attacks on West are result of colonialism

Adnan Damiri (YouTube screenshot)
Adnan Damiri (YouTube screenshot)

The West has brought a wave of Islamist terrorism on itself as a result of European colonialism, a senior Palestinian Authority official said on Facebook on Wednesday, a day after Islamic State-linked terrorists killed at least 32 people in coordinated blasts across the Belgian capital.

“Those who prepare the poison will taste it themselves, and now Europe is having a taste of what it prepared with its own hands,” PA security forces spokesman Adnan Damiri wrote in a post on the social media site.

“While we condemn acts of terror acts everywhere in the world, we the Arabs are the ones who have been burned worst in the fire of terror that was made and exported by Europe and America,” Damiri charged.

“Today, Europe’s airports and squares are burning in their own fire,” he wrote.

Damiri also slammed the West for “supporting and justifying” the “export of Jewish terror to Palestine.”

He called for a global effort to fight terrorism, but “first and foremost in Palestine, since the [Israeli] occupation is the ugliest form of terror.”

A woman cries as people gather in front of the Bourse of Brussels on March 22, 2016 in tribute to the victims of Brussels following triple bomb attacks in the Belgian capital that killed about 35 people and left more than 200 people wounded. (AFP / BELGA / Aurore Belot)
A woman cries as people gather in front of the Bourse of Brussels on March 22, 2016 in tribute to the victims of Brussels following triple bomb attacks in the Belgian capital that killed 32 people and left more than 200 people wounded. (AFP / BELGA / Aurore Belot)

In 2014, Damiri claimed that Israeli racism toward Palestinians is a worse threat than the Islamic State and compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the leader of the jihadist group.

In response, Israel revoked Damiri’s VIP pass, a permit that allowed him to move through the West Bank, and to enter Israel proper more easily.

Damiri’s latest remarks come in stark contrast to the outpouring of condemnation by world leaders, including PA President Mahmoud Abbas, in the wake of Belgium’s deadliest terror attack.

On Tuesday, Abbas strongly condemned the bombing attacks, and offered his sympathy to families of those killed and injured, the Wafa Palestinian news agency reported. He also “affirmed that the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people abhor terrorism and reject attacking civilians.”

At least 32 people were killed and dozens injured on Tuesday morning in the twin bombings at Zaventem Airport and at a metro station in central Brussels. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying they were in response to Belgium’s participation in the US-led coalition fighting against the jihadist group.

Dov Liber contributed to this report.

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