Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during his UN address

Abbas' UN Speech: A Masterclass in Historical Revisionism and Deflection

Details
Jay Engelmayer
Explainer

In his recent address to the United Nations, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, commonly known as Abu Mazen in the Arab world, doubled down on earlier remarks that have been widely condemned as antisemitic. Abbas accused Israel of desecrating Christian and Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem and made the audacious claim that Judaismā€™s most sacred locationsā€”the Temple Mount and the Western Wallā€”are solely Islamic sites, thereby erasing the indelible Jewish historical connection to the city.

Notably, Abbas accused Israel of undermining the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount by "feverishly digging its tunnels under and around" the structure. This allegation echoes a longstanding narrative within Palestinian discourse, often employed as a rallying cry to "defend" the mosque. This narrative has been advanced despite the scant evidence provided beyond archaeological work led by Israel. Ironically, it has been Palestinian actions, particularly in the late 1990s under the pretense of repair work, that have led to the displacement of tons of earth containing invaluable artifacts from the First and Second Temple periods. Israeli archaeologists have diligently sifted through these remnants for nearly two decades, unearthing objects sacred not only to Judaism but also tracing back to the Islamic era.

Sporting a key symbolizing the Palestinian ā€œright of return,ā€ Abbas lamented that the United Nations has yet to sanction Israel for its purported violations. He accused the global body of exercising ā€œdouble standardsā€ that favor Israel. What Abbas conspicuously failed to mention is that Israel is disproportionately the subject of United Nations scrutiny, being the target of criticism from bodies like the UN Human Rights Council at a rate almost three times higher than any other nationā€”a trend largely driven by Palestinian diplomatic efforts.

The Palestinian President also vowed to intensify his administration's efforts to challenge Israel in international forums. He urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to convene an international peace conference, suggesting that it might be the ā€œlast opportunityā€ to rescue the two-state solution. Yet, Abbas sidestepped any acknowledgment of Palestinian rejectionism, particularly under the tenures of Yasser Arafat and himself, in which multiple Israeli peace proposals were spurnedā€”even those viewed by U.S. Presidents as exceedingly generous.

Abbas further demanded apologies and reparations from Israel, the United States, and the United Kingdom for their support of the 1917 Balfour Declaration. This decree expressed British support for the establishment of a "national home" for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. It's worth noting that the concept of a Palestinian state or nation was not established at the time of the Declaration; rather, Arabs were primarily drawn to the area by economic opportunities generated by Jewish settlers. In fact, Arabs of that era rejected being called Palestinians according to British reocrds from the day, in their own words, "the Jews are the Palestinians" and calling an Arab who came to seize the opportunities being created in the land a Palestinian would have been met with disdain. Arab "Palestinian" Nationalism was not introduced until the early 1960s and was a construct of an Egyptian named Yasser Arafat with help from alleged Soviet KGB operatives and other communist adivisors. Arafat went on to become the leader of the "Palestinian Nation" and used the advice from his colleagues to model his movement after those of "Communist freedom fighters" like Fidel Castro and Che Guevera.

Ignoring threats posed by militant organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Abbas focused on demanding international protection against ā€œterrorist Israeli settlersā€ and the IDF. He also called for the recognition of Palestine as a full UN member state and insisted that Israel has not complied with UN conditions for membership. Disturbingly, Abbas omitted any reference to the rising wave of violence against Israelis, including the incentivization of terror through a program often referred to as "pay-to-slay."

In a peculiar contradiction, Abbas blamed Israel for the failure to hold Palestinian elections since 2006, citing supposed Israeli efforts to thwart East Jerusalem residents from voting. However, these residents are entitled to vote in Israeli elections. Moreover, analysis suggests that Abbas avoids elections for fear that his Fatah party would be defeated by the more radical Hamas faction.

Abbas also revisited the narrative of the 1948 "Nakba"ā€”the term Palestinians use to describe the ā€œcatastropheā€ that befell them upon the establishment of the State of Israel. What he conveniently left out is that the Nakba also represents the failure of Arab armies to annihilate Israel, a point Abbas himself has alluded to in past statements.

In response, Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan criticized Abbas for demonstrating that he is ā€œnot a partner for peace,ā€ branding him "irrelevant." Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli denounced Abbas as "one of the leading and most dangerous Holocaust deniers in the world," emphasizing that his primary objective appears to be supporting terrorists.

In summary, Mahmoud Abbas' UN address perpetuated a complex web of distortions, half-truths, and omissions that serve to stoke tensions rather than pave the way for meaningful peace negotiations. This perspective is corroborated by the walkout of Israeli diplomatic staff, a move that followed the uproar over Abbasā€™ prior speech, replete with antisemitic tropes, including the offensive and historically discredited claim that Adolf Hitler targeted Jews due to their ā€œsocial roleā€ as moneylenders, rather than any inherent enmity toward Judaism.

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