A few weeks ago, I met for a lengthy talk with director-general of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Yossi Kuperwasser, and with one of his assistants, who is in charge of dealing with the “Palestinian incitement index.” They came to the meeting with a laptop, and invited me to watch a presentation prepared by the ministry.
As it turns out, this presentation is being distributed to all the foreign embassies in Israel, and it is regularly shown to American congressmen and senior commentators around the world. For a long time I watched video clips taken from the television broadcasts of the Palestinian Authority (PA), as well as interviews with senior PA officials, and home recordings of teachers and schoolchildren.
The passages that are most difficult to watch are taken from the Facebook page of a girls' high school in the West Bank Palestinian city of Tulkarm. It presented the picture of Hitler and, next to it, a quote from his words: “I could have killed all the Jews in the world, but I spared some of them so that you understand why I killed them.” Subsequently, a series of photos of masked Fatah activists doing the Nazi salute was shown. Another video clip, of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades which followed, provides no boost to the peace camp in Israel either. “Blow up the wrath of your revolution amidst them, blast them with your fire and shoot at them,” the announcer declares, going on to threaten: “We will kidnap Zionist soldiers to settle the score with the Zionist enemy, … with these rockets we will liberate our Jerusalem and crush the Zionist enemy.”
“True,” Kuperwasser concedes, “We, too, have extremist rabbis who spread hatred against the Palestinians, and ‘price tag’ offenders who physically attack Palestinians. However, there is no comparing this to the content broadcast on the official TV channel of the PA.” In conclusion, Kuperwasser cited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as acknowledging that the Palestinian media and education system were guilty of incitement against Israel. Let us remember that the Palestinian leader did reiterate his call for the resumption of activity of the American-Palestinian-Israeli committee for the prevention of incitement, and for a shared effort to promote education for peace. Unfortunately, as yet, the committee has not convened.
AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.
