FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Morton A. Klein
Phone: 212-481-1500
http://www.zoa.org

February 17, 2012

Obama’s Refusal to Condemn/Penalize Abbas’ PA/Hamas Alliance Fits Pattern of
Non-Responses to PA Pro-Terror, Anti-Peace Acts

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), which criticized the Obama
Administration this week for its refusal to condemn or penalize Mahmoud
Abbas’ Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority (PA) for its alliance with the
terrorist organization Hamas, has pointed to a troubling, long-term pattern
of the Obama Administration refusing to condemn PA pro-terror, anti-peace
acts.

March 2011: Five members of the Fogel family, including three children, were
murdered in their beds, their throats slit. The very next day, members of
Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas’ own Fatah party
conducted a grotesque and obscene ceremony naming a square near Ramallah in
honor of Fatah Jew-killer, Dalal Mughrabi. Pleas by major American Jewish
leaders, including the ZOA’s Mort Klein, urging President Obama and
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to condemn the Fatah honoring of Mughrabi
were fruitless. Only four days later did a minor State Department official,
the acting deputy spokesman, Mark Toner, condemned the commemoration and
urged PA officials to “address it” – but didn’t condemn Abbas or his ruling
Fatah party, under whose auspices this ceremony occurred. (Shockingly, Mr.
Toner added that “all parties have an obligation to end any form of
incitement” – falsely implying that similar incitement comes from the
Israeli side as well).

March 2010: When the PA named another square in honor of the terrorist
Mughrabi, the Obama Administration said nothing for days before Secretary
Clinton falsely claimed that a Hamas-controlled municipality was behind the
naming.

January 2010: When terrorists from Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a
recognized terrorist group, murdered an Israeli, Rabbi Meir Chai, in a
drive-by shooting, the PA did not condemn the murder but did condemn the
subsequent killing of the terrorists by Israel. Abbas himself sent
condolences to the families of the three terrorists; PA prime minister Salam
Fayyad visited the terrorists' families; and Mahmoud Al-Aloul, member of the
Fatah Central Committee, also praised the dead terrorists as heroes. But the
Obama Administration said nothing, even when specifically informed of these
events by the Israeli government.

November 2009: When pressed by former Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) to
investigate the extremist, pro-terror Fatah platform adopted at its August
2009 Bethlehem conference, the Obama Administration pretended that Fatah had
done nothing of the kind. Secretary Clinton said falsely in her response to
Sen. Specter that the Conference had shown “a broad consensus supporting
President Abbas, negotiations with Israel, and the two-state solution.”

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “President Obama’s refusal to
condemn and penalize Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority
(PA) for its alliance with the terrorist organization Hamas is simply the
latest in a deeply troubling pattern of Obama Administration indulgence and
neglect of PA pro-terror, anti-peace acts.

“The ZOA is deeply concerned that a horrible message is being sent to Arabs
in general and Palestinians in particular that the United States doesn’t
care about the PA’s alliance with genocidal terrorists, or incitement to
hatred and murder and glorification of Jew-murderers. The message is that
there will be no consequences for these vile acts.

“Not only is this in itself direct and troubling evidence of bias against
Israel, but we find that, in contrast, when Israel approved construction of
twenty apartments for Jews in eastern Jerusalem, both President Obama and
Secretary Clinton personally and forcefully condemned Israel. Had Israel
named a public square after a Jew who had murdered innocent Arabs, does
anyone imagine that they would have remained silent? Of course not. Both
President Obama and Secretary Clinton have repeatedly condemned and
criticized Israeli actions with which they disagree.

“This deafening silence tells us that the Obama Administration does not
regard Palestinian anti-peace, pro-terror acts as being important. The
Congress, American Jewish and pro-Israel organizations should start
demanding to know why this is the case. This question demands an answer.”