This past week served as a stark reminder that no matter what the world is focused on at any given moment, our adversaries do not relent and there is no lie they will not tell to advance their agenda. Since the most ludicrous item of the week came from Ramallah, let’s start there.
Never Missing an Opportunity
As the world was focused on the news that President Trump had contracted COVID-19, and believers were praying for all those afflicted and affected by this virus, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) official newspaper ran a front page editorial claiming that President Trump’s COVID diagnosis was “fabricated.” Their logic – if we can be permitted to so demean the word – is that this is all a Trump campaign effort “to win sympathy, and to avoid future debates with his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.”
The PA lies. Duplicity is their primary method of communication. So we won’t bother you with a readout of the rest of the editorial (which, frankly, gets even more disgusting). Rather, we would ask all our friends on the Hill to remember that when a sitting President of the United States was taken to the hospital due to a viral infection, the PA just started fabricating garbage out of thin air. They do the same to Israel on a near daily basis. Perhaps the next time the choice is between trusting our friends and allies the Israelis or Ramallah’s propagandists, even the fringes on the right and left will remember this moment and choose to trust the
Middle East’s only functioning democracy.
And While They’re at It….
Whilst the PA was lying in their newspaper about the President of the United States, they were also lying to their children about Israel. A new report from Institute for
Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se) details the extent to which the PA continues to teach children (in schools run by both the PA and UNRWA) to hate Jews.
This starts quite early, with first graders learning the word shahid (martyr) in their vocabulary studies, and then in fourth grade, students are asked to count the number of shahid coffins at a funeral (this is under the guise of math education).
According to IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff, “it is disastrous that over 1 million Palestinian children are condemned to yet another year of sitting in P.A. and UNRWA schoolrooms being fed hate and incitement on a daily basis.”
We agree with Mr. Sheff. And we’d note that for years Palestinian officials have been saying that the textbooks will improve, and they’re lying about it to this day.
Talking Turkey (Again)
We
learned this week that following a late-August joint military exercise between Greece, France, Cypress and Italy, the Turks activated their Russian made S-400 surface to air missile systems in an effort to track American-made Greek F-16 fighters returning home.
Turkey is in NATO. It claims to simply want stability in the region. But every time we turn around they’re threatening or killing their neighbors, including America’s Kurdish allies. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Cyprus in late September, according to reports this trip was apparently prompted by the deteriorating situation in the Easter Mediterranean.
The CUFI Action Fund is proud of our diligent work in support of the Eastern Mediterranean Security and Energy Partnership Act and believe the administration should swiftly implement the sanctions outlined in this and other legislation as it pertains to Turkey’s acquisition of the S-400.
With your continued support, we will continue to press for ratcheting up the economic and diplomatic pressure on Ankara until Erdogan comes to grips with the fact that Ottoman empire will never rise again.
Likewise, we’re proud to have led the fight to advance the Taylor Force Act – which prevents the PA from cashing in on American aid while paying terrorists. And with your continued support, we will continue to press the PA until that entity comes to grips with the fact that Israel lives, and is here to
stay.
Sincerely,
