The Palestinians' Other Jihad Against Israel

The latest attempt by Iran and its Palestinian terror proxies to kill as many Jews as possible just ended with another "ceasefire" between Israel and the Palestinians that was brokered by Egypt. During the five days of fighting, the Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip, in particular Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), fired more than 1,200 rockets at Israel -- a country the size of New Jersey -- killing two people and damaging several homes and other buildings.

Yet, while the Jihad (holy war) waged by the Iranian-backed terror groups against Israel may have ended for now, Israel continues to face another type of war that is not less dangerous than the rockets and projectiles that are periodically fired into the country. This war is being waged by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its leaders, including Mahmoud Abbas, with the aim of vilifying and isolating Israel in the international community.

The PA wants the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants against Israeli leaders and punish them for speaking out against, or combatting, terrorism.
Instead of demanding that ICC punish the terrorists -- who are intentionally firing rockets at Israeli civilians -- the Palestinian Authority is asking the court to prosecute Israelis for launching operations to counter terrorism.

The war the PA is waging against Israel is not new. It is, in fact, a war that has been fought since the establishment of the PA, which followed the signing of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO in 1993-1995.

In this war, the Palestinian Authority is not using rockets and missiles to attack Israel. Instead, the PA, which according to the Oslo Accords is officially supposed to be Israel's peace partner and to prevent terrorism and violence, is using various platforms, especially the media, to spew hatred against Israel and level all manner of libel against it, such as false accusations that it is practicing "apartheid" and committing "massacres" against the Palestinians.

While the rockets were raining down on Israel from the Gaza Strip this month, Palestinian Authority leaders and spokesmen were using every available platform to spread lies and delegitimize Israel. At the heart of the PA's campaign against Israel is the argument that Israel has no right to target terrorists in the West Bank or Gaza Strip who are directly and indirectly involved in terrorism against Jews. Instead, Israel should agreeably allow its citizens to be killed.

As far as the PA is concerned, Israel should have no right to defend itself against a radical Islamist jihadi group that rejects Israel's right to exist and has been responsible for countless terror attacks against Jews for decades.

A series of statements made by senior Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinians, illustrate that Mahmoud Abbas and his associates, instead of denouncing the terrorists for indiscriminately firing rockets at Israeli civilians, is actually supporting the terrorists -- both financially in a pay-for-slay "jobs program," as well as verbally. In this regard, the PA is not only abrogating its commitments under the Oslo Accords and international law, but is acting as an enemy of Israel -- not a peace partner.

The Palestinian Authority has proven that it cares more about the terrorists than about the civilians they injure and kill. Shortly after Israel eliminated three top PIJ commanders in the Gaza Strip on May 9, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesperson for Mahmoud Abbas, was quick to condemn Israel for "the dangerous escalation against our people." Abu Rudaineh described the airstrike that killed the PIJ commanders -- who had instigated the attacks against Israel -- as a "crime" and warned that Israel was "dragging the region toward tension, violence and instability." His complaint, in other words, is that "It all started when he hit me back.”

Abu Rudaineh, however, "forgot" to mention that the Israeli airstrikes had come in response to more than 100 rockets that terrorists had fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel a few days earlier. He also "forgot" to mention that the three commanders belonged to PIJ, a group that rejects Israel's right to exist and is opposed to any peace process.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19651/palestinians-jihad-against-israel