It was ironic that after a Palestinian worker, Nimar Mahmoud Ahmed Jamal, killed three Israelis in the town of Har Adar and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah Party promptly praised Jamal on its official Facebook page as a “heroic martyr,” Interpol, the international police organization, voted to include “the state of Palestine” as a full member.
What’s more, Jamal’s family immediately qualified to receive the Palestinian Authority’s usual stipend provided to families of dead or imprisoned terrorists, which the Palestinians refer to as the Martyr’s Fund, since murderous acts against Israelis are deemed to be spiritual as well as heroic.
Of course, granting membership to “Palestine,” an entity that clearly does not meet long-established standards for statehood, is just another example of the willingness of much of the international community to bend the rules in order to work against Israel’s interests and shield the Palestinians from having to seriously negotiate with Israel.
But it is particularly galling that this time the perpetrator is Interpol – an inter-governmental organization ostensibly dedicated to facilitating police cooperation. Aside from what this move says about Interpol’s attitude toward crimes targeting Israelis, one is reminded of the old aphorism about inviting the fox into the chicken coop.
Can a group that makes common cause with lawbreakers – of both the violent and financial varieties – really be trusted with inside knowledge of the workings of an agency charged with facilitating the fight against such lawbreaking?
There is also the fact that all Interpol members can issue calls for the arrest and detention of alleged international criminals – albeit calls that member nations are free to honor or ignore. It takes little imagination to realize the potential for abuse of this power in the hands of those who have given new meaning to the notion of fictive reality.
Omar Awadallah, an official in the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, said the Palestinians “now have the right to sue anyone” and told the Washington Post that they could use their Interpol status to pursue legal steps against Israelis suspected of crimes in Palestinian territory.
And consider that Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Maliki welcomed the vote to grant Palestinian membership in Interpol as a “victory for law enforcement” and a “vote of confidence in the capacity of law enforcement in Palestine.”
Mahmoud Abbas’s encouragement of anti-Israel violence consists not just of the aforementioned payment of stipends to the families of terrorists. The PA has also dedicated roads, public buildings, and parks in honor of terrorists guilty of horrendous crimes against Israelis.
But it is important to note that the Taylor Force Act, a bill named for a U.S. citizen murdered in Israel by a Palestinian, is slowly working its way through Congress. The proposed law would cut U.S. aid to the PA if the PA continues the stipend program for families of terrorists.
Swift action by Congress on Taylor Force seems like an eminently good idea.
