web analytics
May 22, 2013 /13 Sivan, 5773
At a Glance ▼
InDepth
Sponsored Post
The Tosfos Yomtov was convinced that the death of 300,000 –600,000 Jews during the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648-49 were because of improper Tefila. Communicated: Tefilla

Chillul Tefila Bifarhesia, as well as halachicly challenged verbiage and dress, are external manifestations of a critical lack of personal yiras shomayim which has lethal consequences.



In The Matter Of The United States Of America Against Abu Abbas

Published: May 25th, 2003
tell a friend

The Palestinian Authority’s call for the United States to release captured Achille Lauro thug Abu Abbas is not only the height of cynicism but is also a virtual declaration that they are free to target anyone and anything, at a time and place of their choosing, in the name of Palestinian nationalism.

With straight faces, Senior PA official and Arafat confidant, Saeb Erekat and others, argued last week that since President Clinton was a signatory to an interim Oslo amnesty agreement covering unlawful acts committed by PLO members before the signing of the Oslo treaty in 1993, Abbas cannot be prosecuted for the 1986 killing of American Leon Klinghoffer on the Achille Lauro.

Surely this is not the first time that Arafat and the Palestinians have tried to gain the benefits of the Oslo agreements on the one hand while having scuttled them by refusing to comply with their substantive terms. But it is the most outrageous. In view of the history of persistent Palestinian noncompliance, the breakup at Camp David and the continuing intifada, the notion of the continuing applicability of Oslo is just laughable. And the Arafat crowd knows it.

Moreover, Leon Klinghoffer was an American citizen killed on the high seas on an Italian ship! What can that conceivably have to do with an amnesty agreement covering acts against Israel? If Abbas had gone to New York City in 1985 and murdered an American citizen on line at an American Airlines terminal, could he now not be prosecuted because of some interim Oslo agreement?

This also cannot not elude Arafat, et al., who usually go to great lengths to at least publicly deplore terrorist violence.

Why then the obviously foolish call for the release of Abbas?

Abbas was caught last week in Iraq, where he has lived for years under the protection of Saddam Hussein. Israeli intelligence reports, based upon information gathered through interrogations of prisoners taken during Operation Defensive Shield, say he continued as head of the Palestine Liberation Front and regularly interacted with other expatriate terrorists given safe harbor in Iraq. In addition, the reports maintain that the PLF was employed by the Iraqi government with the aim of carrying out terrorist attacks in Israel. And, although little known, Abbas remains on the PLO Executive Committee, its highest body.

It would seem that Mr. Arafat has a real need to stay on the good side of Mr. Abbas, a former and doubtless still, comrade-in-arms, with quite a story to tell. Say, as in turning state’s evidence?

tell a friend

About the Author:


You might also be interested in:


no comments

You must log in to post a comment.

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Current Top Story
He's back, family and all.
In 140 Second Video, Anthony Weiner Jumps into Mayoral Race
Latest Indepth Stories
Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani enters Iran's presidential race
InDepth → Op-Eds

Ahmadinejad may plan to reveal proof that the 2009 elections were rigged if his candidate’s registration for presidential candidacy is not accepted.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
InDepth → Analysis → Rubin Reports

With a ‘friend’ like Erdogan, Obama’s policy toward Syria, Iran, the advance of revolutionary Islamism, and the Israel-Palestinian “peace process,” is in serious trouble.

obama_tv-420x01
InDepth → Columns → Daniel Greenfield

The media loved Obama, but it discovered early on that he did not love it back.

Holocaust
InDepth → Columns → America's Rabbi / Shmuley Boteach

Are we to believe that these Jews who were devout and pious were being punished?

News → Antisemitism

How far the PA will go to present the lie as the truth and the truth as a lie? Its claim that Jesus was a Palestinian is old hat. But now the “resurrection” also refers to “the Palestinian state.”

InDepth → Columns → Daniel Greenfield

The progressive consolidation imagines that organization can contain the messier side of man.

InDepth → Op-Eds

The Russian Yakhont missiles already delivered to Syria threaten Israel Navy ships carrying out vital missions in the Mediterranean.

InDepth → Op-Eds

Islamism represents the transformation of Islamic faith into a political ideology.

InDepth → Analysis → Rubin Reports

America could be said to be building a united front against Iran, but at what price?

InDepth → Op-Eds

The Japanese do not feel the need to apologize to Muslims for the negative way in which they relate to Islam.

InDepth → Columns → Khaled Abu Toameh

Palestinian youths from Hebron, though, who met with Israelis near Bethlehem to share their problems and insights have been forced to issue a statement distancing themselves from the meeting.

InDepth → Columns → Daniel Greenfield

Benghazi isn’t likely to keep Hillary out of the Democratic field in 2016, but after 2008, she is justifiably paranoid.

InDepth → Op-Eds

The contractors received the land at a bargain basement price, moved the prices up to 1.8 million NIS and pocketed one million NIS per apartment.

InDepth → Op-Eds

Many of my fellow college students are quick to voice their acceptance of their LGBT friends, but they turn up their noses and frown slightly when they speak of a Hasid.

InDepth → Columns → America's Rabbi / Shmuley Boteach

The growing revelations that the Obama State Department watered down public statements on the attack in order to cleanse them of any mention of al Qaeda and terrorism is a travesty.

InDepth → Op-Eds

We must confront Islamist groups with what Prime Minister David Cameron referred to as “muscular liberalism.”

More Articles from Editorial Board
InDepth → Editorial

Two recent revelations have raised serious questions about the kind of government President Obama is running.

InDepth → Editorial

We were dismayed by the announcement last week from Google that it was changing the name “Palestinian Territories” to “Palestine” across its products. In explaining the action, a Google spokesman said that “We consult a number of sources and authorities when naming countries…. In this case, we are following the lead of the UN, ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and other international organizations.”

InDepth → Editorial

It seems clear that there is a lot more to the current developments regarding Syria than Israel’s bombing some sites there, though staunching the flow of Iranian weapons to Hizbullah through Syria is plainly a significant objective.

InDepth → Editorial

Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent embrace of the Arab Peace Initiative is, to say the least, unnerving. Certainly the response of Arab leaders to his action reflects the dangers for Israel inherent in the plan. President Obama seems to be preoccupied these days with Syria and Iran as well as serious domestic issues and is largely leaving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Mr. Kerry. But the secretary of state seems poised to roil things up without any prospect of real progress.

InDepth → Editorial

Syria’s civil war is fast becoming one of the Obama administration’s greatest foreign policy challenges, for the moment even surpassing Iran’s march toward nuclear weaponry in its urgency. Together, both issues have effectively derailed the president’s long-range intention to focus on Asia and the emerging economic and military developments in China and other nations in the so-called Asian Pivot.

InDepth → Editorial

The investigation into the Boston bombings is still in its early stages but what seems to be emerging is that the presumed perpetrators were not directly linked to any foreign terrorist infrastructure. Rather, they were individual Americans radicalized by jihadist teachings and guided in their weapons-making by jihadist websites.

InDepth → Editorial

During the run-up to the confirmations of Secretary of State Kerry and Secretary of Defense Hagel, we and others forcefully challenged the latter over statements he had made about Iran and Israel, and were more favorably inclined toward the former.

InDepth → Editorial

This week Jews around the world celebrated Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel Independence Day. Sixty-five years ago on the day before the British mandate over Palestine was set to expire, the Jewish People’s Council, comprised of the political leadership of the Jewish residents of Palestine, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel.

    Latest Poll

    Which is the most beautiful location in Jerusalem?









    View Results

    Loading ... Loading ...

Printed from: http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/editorial/in-the-matter-of-the-united-states-of-america-against-abu-abbas/2003/05/25/

Scan this QR code to visit this page online:

No related posts.

Close