The U.S. State Department appears to have a set style-sheet for condemning terrorist attacks around the world – but when the victims are Israelis, the style-sheet is changed, to Israel's detriment. So finds the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), based on research into State Department condemnations over the course of the past year.
Israel has suffered two vicious and lethal attacks by Palestinian terrorists over the past week; for only one of them did the State Department issue a statement of condemnation and condolences. The ZOA notes, however, that the condemnation of Hallel Yaffa Ariel does not mention that it was a Palestinian Arab who committed the heinous crime of murdering her as she slept in her bed, nor that the murdered girl was an Israeli.
This, as opposed to the general State Department pattern by which it generally identifies the victims’ nationality and expresses support for the victims’ nation, army, government, sovereignty and countrymen and women.
Furthermore, the ZOA found that many of the State Department’s “condolence” statements issued at the murder of Jewish Israelis even include hints that Israel shares in the blame. The State Department often uses these occasions, such as on March 8th of this year, to demand that “all parties... take affirmative steps to reduce tensions and restore calm."
"Why does the U.S. State Department," asks ZOA Pres. Morton A. Klein, "fail to provide the sort of public support to Israel that it routinely provides to other nations battling radical Islamist terrorists?"
The ZOA notes that the State Department of the U.S. "fails to issue any condolence statement at all in the vast majority of Palestinian-Arab terrorist attacks on Israeli and American Jews."
In five recent cases, the State Department failed to mention that terror attacks in Israel were perpetrated by Palestinian terrorists. In contrast, the announcements of condemnation of terror attacks in other countries often identify the perpetrators' affiliations – such as on April 19, Jan. 11 and Jan. 7 of this year.
In addition, the State Department often identifies the victims of terror attacks and expresses support and solidarity with the country being targeted. This is consistently not the case, however, regarding Palestinian terror attacks in Israel.
A detailed list of the statements in question can be found in the full article on the ZOA.org website.