The Palestinian Authority-run newspaper Al-Hayyat Al-Jedida has charged Palestinian Media Watch with incitement. PMW Director Itamar Marcus says the charge is an attempt to silence PMW and prevent the group from exposing the PA's incitement to hate.
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Al-Hayyat Al-Jedida accused PMW of incitement for criticizing its editor over an article in which the latter praised a terrorist who murdered 10 people. According to Marcus, the article was particularly serious due to Al-Hayyat Al-Jedida's position as the official paper of the PA.
"Al-Hayyat Al-Jedida is the voice of the Palestinian Authority... this is representative of the messages that the leadership wants to give the people,” Marcus explained.
In PMW's 12 years of activity, the PA has never stopped preaching hate, he said. Foreign pressure on the PA could cause it to tone down its message of hate, he said, but as long as the world turns a blind eye to PA incitement, the PA will continue to incite.
PMW's immediate goal is to “let the world know the true goal of Mahmoud Abbas and the Fatah as they express it to their own people,” Marcus said. “To their own people, their messages are identical to the Hamas,” he continued.
As long as the PA incites against Jews and Israels and teaches children not to recognize Israel, it cannot be a peace partner, he warned.
The group's other goals include revealing PA incitement to the United States and to the broader Israeli public, he said. The group hopes to work closely with Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu as it did during Netanyahu's previous term as PM, he added.