Teaching hate

“You’ve got to be taught to hate…” (Oscar Hammerstein, “South Pacific”)

The murder on Tuesday of five people and the serious wounding of several others while they were praying at a synagogue in Jerusalem is only the latest in a continuing pattern of violence and hatred directed against Israel and the Jewish people. It also replays a familiar scenario: terrorist act is followed by condemnation (though not as strong as when Israel is perceived to be responsible for Palestinian deaths), followed by threats of retaliation.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas associated himself with those condemning the synagogue murders, but given his past and recent statements his sincerity is about as credible as those in the Obama administration who claim never to have heard of Jonathan Gruber.

Abbas’ hands are stained with Israeli blood and cannot be washed away by statements of condemnation. He and his advisers and fellow ideologues are on record as advocating not the peace they claim to want when speaking to the West, but the complete eradication of Israel and elimination of every Jew from their prospective Palestinian state. This is an undeniable fact as even a cursory web search reveals.

In a recent speech, Yossi Kuperwasser, the director-general of Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry, charged that hateful beliefs against Israelis and Jews are ingrained in the Palestinian psyche from birth and include indoctrination by textbook, social media and cultural activities. He might have added religious mandate.

These anti-Semitic attacks were summarized by Kuperwasser: Jews are “descended (from) apes and pigs (and) Have no historical connection” to Jerusalem, are “defiling” the capital “with their presence,” and if Palestinians kill them the killers will “become a hero.” These, he said, are the core beliefs of the Palestinian “psychological infrastructure.”

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