Tawfik Tirawi
The EU take on Holocaust Remembrance Day
EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton (oops, Baroness Ashton) issued a statement on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day (today). Here it is in its entirety:
Today the international community remembers the victims of the Holocaust. We honour every one of those brutally murdered in the darkest period of European history. We also want to pay a special tribute to all those who acted with courage and sacrifice to protect their fellow citizens against persecution.
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, we must keep alive the memory of this tragedy. It is an occasion to remind us all of the need to continue fighting prejudice and racism in our own time. We must remain vigilant against the dangers of hate speech and redouble our commitment to prevent any form of intolerance. The respect of human rights and diversity lies at the heart of what the European Union stands for.
Do you notice anything missing? The identity of the victims, perhaps? (h/t: Yisrael Medad).
PA official describes strategy
Senior Fatah official Tawfiq Tirawi, who serves as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ security adviser, said Sunday that the Palestinians should embark on a violent uprising in the West Bank and resume their “armed resistance.” …
Asked whether resuming violence does not counter the principles set by Abbas himself following the Second Intifada, Tirawi noted that the Palestinians “have never forsaken the path of diplomacy, just like we have never forsaken the path of armed resistance, which is an inseparable part of how we work.”
The alternation of diplomatic pressure with murder has indeed been an “inseparable” part of PLO strategy since Yasser Arafat, who paid terrorists to kill Jews while negotiating the implementation of the Oslo agreement. It’s refreshing to have an official confirmation of that.
The Palestinian strategy since Oslo has been to stimulate Israeli concessions in talks by promising relief from terrorism (which never comes). The Israeli strategy is the opposite: Israel releases prisoners, etc. Which approach works better?
Stephen Harper on the Israeli media
After the Israeli media almost entirely ignored the remarkable pro-Israel speech he gave at the Knesset, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper responded to reporters’ questions about settlements, etc., thus:
Yesterday in the Palestinian Authority … no one asked me to criticize the Palestinian Authority on matters of governance, human rights or any other subject. When I am in Israel I’m asked to criticize Israel, and when I am in the Palestinian Authority I am asked to criticize Israel.
I suppose a positive way to look at it is that Israel’s media is freer than that of the PA. Or we can note that we are our own worst enemies.
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