Speaking to an English interviewer, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom balked when asked if he condemned the murder of seven Jews outside a synagogue, including a newly-married couple attempting to help those who had already been shot.
The terrorist responsible for the massacre, the worst terrorist attack in Israel since 2011, was reportedly 21 years old. Hatred for Jews is routinely inculcated in Palestinian children in their education. Among the dead were Natali and Eli Mizrahi, who were newly married; Natali was reportedly doing CPR on one of the victims when she was shot to death.
Noting that the terrorist “kills seven Israelis, including a newly-married couple helping the injured,” interviewer Kay Burley asked Palestinian ambassador Husam Zomlot, “Shot outside a synagogue on Holocaust Memorial day. Do you condemn that?”
“Every life lost is absolutely a tragedy,” Zomlot deflected. “And no one works for non-violent solution to this problem more than us.”
Zomlot’s statement flies in the face of the fact that the Palestinian Authority has utilized a “pay-to-slay” program for years, remunerating families of terrorists who slaughter Israelis.
“The Palestinian Authority’s legislation and allocations of monthly salaries and benefits rewarding imprisoned and released terrorists, and the families of ‘Martyrs,’ amount to $300 million annually,” the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs has noted, adding that the money “clearly demonstrates the PA’s institutional commitment to sponsoring terror against Israel.”
“Do you condemn it?” Burley pressed.
“No,” Zomlot stated bluntly, then apparently referred to an IDF action prior to the synagogue murders in which they killed terrorists in Jenin. “I condemn the original violence. That’s what needs to be condemned.”
According to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), Islamic Jihad terrorists in Jenin were planning a major attack. A senior IDF official stated, “We eliminated a ticking time-bomb in the form of Islamic Jihad terrorists who were planning a series of attacks on the homefront.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, declared at the opening of Yad Vashem’s Book of Names exhibit at the United Nations, “There are those that are working to erase the memory and lessons that must be learned from our horrific atrocity. They question the right of the Jewish people and the Jewish State to protect ourselves. Just today, we witnessed another example — one of thousands — of Israel defending itself against terrorists in Jenin preparing to carry out an attack against innocent Jews.”
“I expect the international community to stand behind the Jewish people defending ourselves in the Jewish State, as this is one of the most fundamental lessons learned from the Holocaust. The tragedy of the Jewish people. This is the embodiment of Never Again,” he added.
Burley tried again with Zomlot: “So you don’t condemn that action?”
Hemming and hawing, Zomlot then said, “We can sit here until the morning and talk about condemnation. We must stop the cycle of violence. That’s what we need to do. And we must visit the root cause of this violence. For many, many years — and the media has been guilty of that — it’s trying to draw some parallels — is failing to focus on the actual cause of all this. Like yesterday you asked if there’s violence on both sides. What both sides? What are the ‘both sides?’”
“I’ve just given you an illustration,” Burley said simply.