by Dr. Edy Cohen
In the era of social media, when processes born online have a strategic effect on the regimes around us, and at a time when those fighting radical Islamic factions in Israel's defense are portrayed as the aggressors, it is clear that Israel's security apparatus must be joined by a public diplomacy apparatus, to detect, follow, and fight the growing incitement.
Several mass rallies
have been held across the West Bank in recent days to celebrate Fatah's
50th anniversary. The festivities found their way to social media, and
their online manifestation was rife with expressions of hatred toward
Jews.
One photo, though,
posted on the official website of al-Asifah -- Fatah's mainstream
military wing -- stood out from the rest. It depicted dozens of skulls
bearing blue Stars of David and positioned against a scene of
destruction. A rifle and the al-Asifah flag were featured in the middle
of this horror, with the caption "We rest on your skulls." The only way
this image can be construed is a second Holocaust for the Jewish people.
This image was the
result of ongoing incitement promoted by the Palestinian media and in
speeches given by Palestinian Authority officials, which is compounded
by the diplomatic terrorism to which Israel is subjected in the U.N. and
other international bodies.
Hundreds of thousands
of Palestinians are exposed to prolonged incitement, but that image has
set public incitement and hatred at a new level. This was not the grave,
albeit usual, incitement calling for the murder of Jews. This was a
call for the Jewish people's genocide.
This, of course, is not
the first time the Palestinians have visited the issue of Jewish
annihilation. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Mohammed Effendi Amin
el-Husseini, who was in office in the 1920s and 1930s and headed the
national Palestinian movement, was linked to a nefarious plan to
eradicate Jews living in the Middle East, and it was only the Germans'
defeat in the Second Battle of El Alamein, in November 1942, which
prevented a Jewish Holocaust in the Middle East.
El-Husseini, an
infamous Nazi sympathizer, met with Adolf Hitler in 1941 and was
appointed to head Nazi propaganda in Arabic. He was afforded a monthly
stipend amounting to tens of thousands of dollars, as well as an office
in Berlin and dozens of aides, whose wages were paid by the Third Reich.
As part of his fight
for the Palestinians' liberation and independence, the grand mufti
spared no effort to prevent Europe's Jews from arriving in
then-Palestine, and did his best to stop them from forming a national
Jewish home in Israel. He also worked tirelessly to see Jews living in
Arab nation deported to Europe, where they would be killed.
When Field Marshal
Erwin Rommel was about to enter Egypt as part of the El Alamein
campaign, al-Husseini, with the Arab Legion of the German Army, was
poised to enter Jerusalem. His plan was to build crematoriums in Dotan
Valley, near Nablus, where he sought to see Jews from Israel and Arab
nations annihilated in the methods employed by the Nazi death camps in
Europe. His nefarious plan was thwarted by the Germans' defeat in El
Alamein.
The Palestine
Liberation Organization's incitement mechanism, which has been steadily
increasing over the past few month and has reached a new high with the
photo posted on al-Asifah's website, only fans the flames and encourages
targeting Jews.
In the era of social
media, when processes born online have a strategic effect on the regimes
around us, and at a time when those fighting radical Islamic factions
in Israel's defense are portrayed as the aggressors, it is clear that
Israel's security apparatus must be joined by a public diplomacy
apparatus, to detect, follow, and fight the growing incitement.
This apparatus should
include official state spokespeople, who should appeal to the moderate
Arab nations. Unfortunately, it seems Israel has so far chosen to avoid
dealing with the issue with earnest, as evident by state comptroller
reports underscoring the budgetary and personnel deficiencies in public
diplomacy in Arabic. Even the Foreign Ministry has forfeited having an
Arabic-speaking spokesman, and the results of that decision are evident
on the ground.
Dr. Edy Cohen is a research fellow at Bar-Ilan University.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=11133
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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