Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been accused of inciting Palestinians in his first televised speech since the recent outbreak of violence.
In his evening address, Abbas referred to “the summary execution of our children in cold blood, as [Israel] did with the child Ahmed Manasra and other children in Jerusalem and other places”.
He received much criticism for wrongly claiming that Ahmed Manasra was killed by Israeli police, when in reality Manasra is being treated at Israel’s Hadassah Medical Center. 13-year-old Manasra was run over and shot by Israeli police as he tried to escape after stabbing two young Israelis in Jerusalem with his cousin Hassan, who was shot dead by police.
A photograph of Manasra recovering in hospital was tweeted yesterday by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, with a caption: “The ‘murdered Palestinian martyr’ a few minutes ago at Hadassah Hospital”.
A video of the young attacker being fed by a nurse was later released by the Israeli Government Press Office. He sustained light injuries, and is expected to be discharged in the next few days.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Abbas of spreading “incitement and lies”. He said that “while Israel protects the status-quo on the Temple Mount, Abbas has used religion to incite more acts of terror”.
Tourism Minister Yariv Levin described Abbas’ speech as being “filled with incitement and burning hatred”.
Israeli politician Yair Lapid, chairman of Yesh Atid, echoed this sentiment, saying that Abbas’ speech “fuels the terrorism and hatred”. “Instead of calming down the situation and condemning the terrorist criminals who try to kill innocent Israelis, Abu Mazen chose a poor performance showing a lack of leadership and cowardice at the lowest level”, he added.
Abbas’ speech followed two stabbing attacks earlier yesterday in Jerusalem, including one that wounded a 70-year-old woman.
