How did PA President Mahmoud Abbas prepare for his meeting with members of the far-left Meretz party? According to a report on Kan News, Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen), took the time to make a few condolence calls, to the bereaved families of Arab terrorists recently eliminated by Israeli security forces.
Abbas, due to meet with Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz and Minister for Regional Cooperation Issawi Frej on Sunday night, called the father of a female would-be terrorist who was shot and killed after attempting to stab and murder Jews in the Old City of Jerusalem last week. Following that call, he made another call to the father of another terrorist who was killed by the IDF in Kfar Burqin last week, during an operation to destroy a terrorist cell that was planning another attack in Jerusalem.
MK Nir Orbach, chairman of the Yamina party, told Arutz Sheva of his frustration after failed attempts to convince Meretz of the futility of its position.
“In a desperate attempt to place the peace process on the agenda, Meretz is meeting with Abu Mazen,” he said. “Meretz has yet to internalize what the President of the United States already understands – that the coalition that I am part of is not going to be advancing any diplomatic process with the Palestinians.”
Meretz MK Issawi Frej remained undaunted at the criticism, saying, “I don’t understand what all the fuss is about. We are working together with the Palestinian Authority. While it’s true that we agreed that the current government would not be advancing the Palestinian issue, we never agreed that we wouldn’t meet with them.”
Frej added that, “The very fact that we are meeting with them demonstrates that there are still people who believe in the two-state solution. They are our neighbors, and there’s no escaping that fact.”
Also critical of the impending meeting was the chairman of the opposition Likud party, MK Yariv Levin, who said, “The ministers of this left-wing government are continuing to crawl on their bellies to Abu Mazen – with the blessing of Prime Minister Bennett. The Health Minister thinks it’s more important to meet with someone who finances terrorism than to deal with the health of Israeli citizens. The current Israeli government does not hesitate to debase itself and entirely destroy the position of strength that we built for Israel during the years of determined leadership.”
Levin added that, “All this is transpiring while the Palestinian Authority continues to finance terrorist operations and makes ongoing attempts to have IDF soldiers prosecuted in the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The Health Minister has abandoned our IDF soldiers to the ICC; he has abandoned the Land of Israel to the head bandit of the terrorists, Abu Mazen; and he has abandoned the health of Israeli citizens in the battle against the coronavirus. His conduct is not merely disgraceful; it is also dangerous.”