Palestinian President attacks Hamas, calls U.S. ambassador 'son of a dog'

[webfact]

Palestinian President attacks Hamas, calls U.S. ambassador 'son of a dog'

By Ali Sawafta

 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures as he speaks during Fatah congress in the West Bank city of Ramallah November 30, 2016. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman/Files

 

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday called the U.S. ambassador to Israel a "son of a dog" because of his support for Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.

 

Abbas, speaking at a Palestinian leadership gathering, also blamed Hamas for a bomb attack last week on the convoy of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in Gaza, remarks that threatened reconciliation efforts with the Islamist group.

 

The Palestinian leader accused Ambassador David Friedman of defending Israeli settlers in the West Bank by saying that they were building on "their land". The slur drew rebukes from the diplomat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

In an angry tone, Abbas said: "The son of dog says they build on their land? He is a settler, and his family are settlers, and he is the U.S. ambassador in Tel Aviv. What should we expect from him?"

 

Friedman, a strong supporter of Israel's settler movement, was an early and enthusiastic advocate of U.S. President Donald Trump's Dec. 6 decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move the U.S. embassy there.

 

Friedman responded during a speech in Jerusalem to a conference on combating global anti-Semitism, saying: "His response was to refer to me as son of a dog. Anti-Semitism or political discourse? Not for me to judge, I leave that all up to you."

 

U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt issued a statement calling Abbas' comment "highly inappropriate." He said the Palestinian leader needed "to choose between hateful rhetoric and concrete and practical efforts to improve the quality of life of his people."

 

Trump's announcement on Jerusalem delighted the Israeli government but infuriated Palestinians, who have staged regular protests since then.

 

Israel regards Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital, although that is not recognised internationally. Palestinians feel equally strongly, saying that East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future Palestinian state.

 

Peace talks aimed at finding a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict have stalled, while Israeli settlement expansion has continued.

 

Netanyahu said Trump's decisions on Jerusalem appeared to have brought Abbas to the point of making a verbal attacks on a U.S. official.

 

"For the first time in decades, the U.S. administration has stopped spoiling the Palestinian leaders and tells them: enough is enough," Netanyahu said on Twitter. "Apparently the shock of the truth has caused them to lose it."

 

BLAME FOR BOMBING

 

Addressing the rancour between Hamas and Fatah, Abbas said there had been "zero" progress in reconciliation, citing efforts to bring a power-sharing deal to bear on the crossings out of the Gaza Strip and on security within the enclave.

 

Relations have grown even worse since Hamdallah and Palestinian security chief Majid Faraj's convoy was attacked by a roadside bomb in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on March 13. They were uninjured.

 

"We congratulate the two big brothers (Hamdallah and Faraj) that they are safe after the sinful and despicable attack that was carried out against them by the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip," Abbas said.

 

He offered no evidence of Hamas' involvement but said he did not trust Hamas to investigate the incident honestly.

 

"We do not want investigation from them, we do not want information from them and we do not want anything from them because we know exactly that they, the Hamas movement, were the ones who committed this incident," he said.

 

Abbas said Hamas would have to give up control of Gaza or risk taking full responsibility for the enclave and its two million residents without any help from his Western-backed Palestinian Authority.

 

"In my capacity as the president of the Palestinian people I have tolerated much in order to regain unity and unite the homeland and I was met with rejection by Hamas and their illegitimate authority," he said.

 

Hamas called his comments irresponsible and said they aimed to "burn bridges and reinforce divisions." The group has previously denied involvement in the bombing.

 

Fatah and Hamas have tried for years to come to an accommodation over running the Gaza Strip, but have repeatedly failed to implement deals mainly brokered by Egypt.

 

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta and Nidal al-Mughrabi, Writing by Ori Lewis, Editing by William Maclean and Sandra Maler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-03-20

[HLover]

How is being called a son of a dog anti-Semitic?

Since the breed of dog and subsequent nose size was not mentioned, it's just a normal insult.

[YetAnother]

28 minutes ago, webfact said:

called the U.S. ambassador to Israel a "son of a dog"

love it, we need to know, by their speech, who the morons are

[nausea]

Don't they realise how comic and ridiculous these insults sound to Western ears; talk about reinforcing western stereotypes of arabs.

Edited March 20, 2018 by nausea
Punctuation

[Morch]

50 minutes ago, HLover said:

How is being called a son of a dog anti-Semitic?

Since the breed of dog and subsequent nose size was not mentioned, it's just a normal insult.

 

I don't know that it was or asserted to be one. As far as I understand the Friedman's comment was made in the context of an address given at a convention on antisemitism, hence the reference. Not that Abbas got issues with this sort of thing, though.

 

The main thing isn't really whether it's antisemitic or not, but the tone and departure from diplomatic norms. I'd say it is a calculated response, and more directed at Abbas's home crowd. A large part of the OP deals with the Palestinian political divide and the failures to mend it. When this happens, one of the default courses of action by the Hamas side is to paint Abbas as weak vs. Israel and/or the US. As this was already aired in this instance, and as Hamas is about to start a month long protest campaign, Abbas went for some balancing act to get his street cred up.

[nobodysfriend]

Why insult the dog ?

 dogs don't breed politicians ...

[halloween]

I can only assume S.O.B was lost in translation.

[klauskunkel]

"You son of a dog!", said the son of a camel.

[Jack Mountain]

Wondering or he meant that both his parents are dogs or just the father or mother.

[HLover]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

, saying: "His response was to refer to me as son of a dog. Anti-Semitism or political discourse

 

[HLover]

1 hour ago, nobodysfriend said:

Why insult the dog ?

 dogs don't breed politicians ...

He should have called him rabid.

[Cats4ever]

I always thought that semitic peoples included Arabs and ors. as well as Jewish peoples. So, I suspect they are not anti semitic.

Jason Greenblatt seems to have all the grey matter you would expect from a Trump appointee.

[Morch]

8 hours ago, Cats4ever said:

I always thought that semitic peoples included Arabs and ors. as well as Jewish peoples. So, I suspect they are not anti semitic.

Jason Greenblatt seems to have all the grey matter you would expect from a Trump appointee.

 

Not that semantic BS again, please. Been done to death on this forum.

As for Greenblatt's "grey matter" - not a master negotiator, but actually somewhat better than expected. Out of the high profile lot involved, he's probably the less toxic and more focused.