The passing of arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat this week is bittersweet to me. I'm glad he's gone, because he was a vile, murderous criminal. But I'm also frustrated, if not surprised, at how so much of the world hails this wicked man as a venerable, heroic leader.
He muscled his way into world politics and diplomatic recognition through mass murder, destruction and terror. He lied, stole and destroyed. Doesn't anyone care about that? Doesn't anyone think about learning the historical facts of this man's life before lavishing praise on him?
Yasser Arafat was no hero. He was a reprehensible monster who lived longer, and who died easier, than any of the innocent people who were murdered in his ignoble name.
His real name, by the way, was Rahman Abdul Rauf Al-Qudwa Al-Husseini. He was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1929, and raised in Gaza. His uncle was Haj Amin Al-Husseini, who was the grand mufti of Jerusalem after the start of the British mandate, and the de facto leader of Palestinian Arabs -- and this is where Yasser Arafat's story really starts.
Al-Husseini hated Jews passionately. He was a cohort of Adolf Hitler himself, traveling to Europe to recruit Muslims in the Balkans to massacre Jews during World War II. He was the architect of a then nascent ideology of anti-Semitic Palestinian Arab militancy. He instigated riots and pogroms against Jews and instigated the Arabs to kill their Jewish neighbors. This included a massacre of Jews praying at the Western Wall. He wanted all Jews out of the Holy Land. In short, he was the prototypical Arab Palestinian terrorist, and he passed his pernicious legacy on to his nephew, Yasser Arafat, who became the archetype.
That is Yasser Arafat's background. Not a whole lot of people outside of Jews, history buffs and Arabs know or care about it, but we all know about his record since he became a key player on the geopolitical stage. And most seem quite content to impute to him a spurious image of statesmanship and heroism in lieu of his long career of brutal violence and inveterate dishonesty.
Why is that? Are the evil crimes this man has perpetrated so easily forgotten? Or if they are not forgotten, why then, do they appear to have been forgiven? I can't help but think he's been forgiven when I read fawning praise from world leaders like:
Jacques Chirac: After a final visit at the Paris hospital where Arafat died, Chirac proclaimed, "I came to bow before President Yasser Arafat and pay him a final homage. With him disappears a man of courage and conviction who for 40 years incarnated the Palestinians' fight for recognition of their national rights."
Nelson Mandela: "Yasser Arafat was one of the outstanding freedom fighters of this generation, one who gave his entire life to the cause of the Palestinian people."
Jimmy Carter: "He was the father of the modern Palestinian nationalist movement. A powerful human symbol and forceful advocate, Palestinians united behind him in their pursuit of a homeland." And, "[He provided] indispensable leadership to a revolutionary movement."
Kofi Annan: Arafat "symbolized... the national aspirations of the Palestinian people." (And that's actually unintentionally truthful.) In signing the Oslo accords "he took a giant step towards the realisation of this vision. It is tragic that he did not live to see it fulfilled." Mr. Annan ordered the United Nation's flags to fly at half-mast, as well. Seriously, he did.
Vladimir Putin: "...a great political leader of international significance... who devoted his whole life to the rightful cause of the Palestinians."
You're all insane, the whole lot of you. And there are more that I'm just not going to bother quoting. Five was enough. I do have to show some gratitude, however, for my man, Israeli Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, who accurately described Arafat as the "founding father of terrorism," and who said it was "good that the world is rid of him.... The sun is shining in the Middle East." At least someone had the courage to tell the truth.
Yasser Arafat was an upstart thug who contrived a country called "Palestine" from land owned by Egypt (Gaza) and Jordan (Judea/Samaria, or the West Bank). This land was taken by Israel in its 1967 defensive war against five Arab states. That's what sometimes happens when you lose an offensive war -- you have to give up land when you sue for peace. Arafat tried to seize control from Jordan's King Hussein in 1971. He failed and much of his terrorist organization, the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization), was crushed by the Jordanian military and he was expelled. He has since (up until last week, at least) dedicated his life to a committed program of Arab terror against the Jewish state. Thousands have died in his twisted vision of Arab entitlement. I lay the blame not only on him, but also on the European states and the UN, which time and again showed him and the PLO that terrorism produces beneficial results, pays dividends and earns rewards.
Arafat oversaw the terror attack at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany, which resulted in the death of Israel's entire Olympic team. He personally ordered, by telephone, the execution of two US diplomats in Sudan in 1973. Israel has reams of confiscated Palestinian Authority documents linking him to the terrorism of Hamas, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (now renamed Martyr Yasser Arafat Brigades), Islamic Jihad and others. This man had so much blood on his hands, it would be a wonder if he'd ever seen his own fingernails over the past forty years.
So what did Yasser Arafat and the PLO receive as just punishment for these horrible deeds of violence, savagery and terror? Well, you can see the glowing terms of warm affection with which world leaders are now eulogizing him, but he got more than that. So much more. He got the PLO to become the first -- and only -- terror organization to gain UN recognition. He secured for Palestinian Arab "refugees" the world's only exclusive refugee welfare system: the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which derives the majority of its funding from the United States. He got fabulously rich -- who knows how much money he stole from the people he claims to represent and where that money is now? (Yeah, I'm looking at you, Suha. And I see Mahmoud and Ahmed hiding behind you.) He won a Nobel Peace Prize. He became the progenitor of modern Arab terror, who showed that if you lied well enough, if you killed spectacularly enough, and if you did it long enough, the world would take notice and reward you for it. He proved that a man could single-handedly invent a people, with a nonexistent nation and a history for them, and through a protracted campaign of highly publicized violence against civilians, convince the whole world that he was really just an angel with a dirty face. That's what Arafat and the PLO were given as their recompense for (very) bad behavior.
He was a bad, bad man, and I'll shed no tear for such an evil miscreant. He promoted the murder of Jews, and reveled in the commission that murder, while pretending to condemn it. He happily carved deep wounds in the hearts of thousands upon thousands of Israelis, wounds that will never fully heal. He was responsible for the deaths of plenty of Americans also. Where is the effusive outpouring of emotion for these people and their families? Where was the justice their spilled blood cried out for while this terrible man yet drew breath?
Shame on you, Jacques Chirac. Shame on you, Pope John Paul II. Shame on you, Jimmy Carter. Shame on you, Kofi Annan and Nelson Mandela. Shame on you all! You are all complicit in the continuing legitimization of the modern cost/benefit terror that Yasser Arafat pioneered and refined.
Yasser Arafat didn't conceive the idea of Arab Jew-hatred and terrorism to achieve political ends -- that's been around since Muhammad was possessed by heaven knows what to devise the hate manual known as the Qur'an. He sure did perfect it, though. And anyone who thinks that things will get any better now that he's gone is deluded, naive or hopelessly ignorant. For one thing, his heir apparent, Mahmoud Abbas, is a Holocaust denier and is on the record as supporting terror. And also of importance is the fact that two generations of Palestinian Arabs have been raised under the hellish parental guidance of the PLO and its version of Islam. These kids were brought up in a hateful culture of death, which glorifies violence and fondly holds up death as life's ultimate reward. In other words, all the pieces are in play for Arafat's cruel and bloody designs to continue unabated. It's all well and good to utter some wistful words of remembrance for the smiling killer who led these people -- nowhere -- and then thoughtlessly assume that there's a chance at peace now that he's finally dead, but those of us who are close to this whole mess know better.
The majority of Palestinian Arabs consistently support the "liberation" of Israel through murder/suicide terror attacks on Israeli civilians. That is the fact of the matter. They are thoroughly convinced that they are entitled to all of Eretz Yisrael, and that they have the right to take it by any means available to them (preferably by the indiscriminate violence sanctioned by Islam). And with the way the world rewarded Yasser Arafat, the PLO, and all other terror groups killing innocent Jews all these years for their wicked cause, it's not hard to understand why.
Yasser Arafat fooled the world into thinking that he was a man. He made everyone believe that he was a legitimate leader, a partner for peace and a noble warrior for freedom. He was really just an evil monster who made a lifelong career of killing Jews with impunity, out of racism, lust for power and plain baseness. Some of us realize that and are not afraid to say so. He was a bad man and history will bear that out.
I pity the earth that will be laden with his bones.
Copyright 2004 Patrick D. O'Brien cannot be copied, published, or otherwise used (except for brief quotes) without express permission of author.
He muscled his way into world politics and diplomatic recognition through mass murder, destruction and terror. He lied, stole and destroyed. Doesn't anyone care about that? Doesn't anyone think about learning the historical facts of this man's life before lavishing praise on him?
Yasser Arafat was no hero. He was a reprehensible monster who lived longer, and who died easier, than any of the innocent people who were murdered in his ignoble name.
His real name, by the way, was Rahman Abdul Rauf Al-Qudwa Al-Husseini. He was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1929, and raised in Gaza. His uncle was Haj Amin Al-Husseini, who was the grand mufti of Jerusalem after the start of the British mandate, and the de facto leader of Palestinian Arabs -- and this is where Yasser Arafat's story really starts.
Al-Husseini hated Jews passionately. He was a cohort of Adolf Hitler himself, traveling to Europe to recruit Muslims in the Balkans to massacre Jews during World War II. He was the architect of a then nascent ideology of anti-Semitic Palestinian Arab militancy. He instigated riots and pogroms against Jews and instigated the Arabs to kill their Jewish neighbors. This included a massacre of Jews praying at the Western Wall. He wanted all Jews out of the Holy Land. In short, he was the prototypical Arab Palestinian terrorist, and he passed his pernicious legacy on to his nephew, Yasser Arafat, who became the archetype.
That is Yasser Arafat's background. Not a whole lot of people outside of Jews, history buffs and Arabs know or care about it, but we all know about his record since he became a key player on the geopolitical stage. And most seem quite content to impute to him a spurious image of statesmanship and heroism in lieu of his long career of brutal violence and inveterate dishonesty.
Why is that? Are the evil crimes this man has perpetrated so easily forgotten? Or if they are not forgotten, why then, do they appear to have been forgiven? I can't help but think he's been forgiven when I read fawning praise from world leaders like:
Jacques Chirac: After a final visit at the Paris hospital where Arafat died, Chirac proclaimed, "I came to bow before President Yasser Arafat and pay him a final homage. With him disappears a man of courage and conviction who for 40 years incarnated the Palestinians' fight for recognition of their national rights."
Nelson Mandela: "Yasser Arafat was one of the outstanding freedom fighters of this generation, one who gave his entire life to the cause of the Palestinian people."
Jimmy Carter: "He was the father of the modern Palestinian nationalist movement. A powerful human symbol and forceful advocate, Palestinians united behind him in their pursuit of a homeland." And, "[He provided] indispensable leadership to a revolutionary movement."
Kofi Annan: Arafat "symbolized... the national aspirations of the Palestinian people." (And that's actually unintentionally truthful.) In signing the Oslo accords "he took a giant step towards the realisation of this vision. It is tragic that he did not live to see it fulfilled." Mr. Annan ordered the United Nation's flags to fly at half-mast, as well. Seriously, he did.
Vladimir Putin: "...a great political leader of international significance... who devoted his whole life to the rightful cause of the Palestinians."
You're all insane, the whole lot of you. And there are more that I'm just not going to bother quoting. Five was enough. I do have to show some gratitude, however, for my man, Israeli Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, who accurately described Arafat as the "founding father of terrorism," and who said it was "good that the world is rid of him.... The sun is shining in the Middle East." At least someone had the courage to tell the truth.
Yasser Arafat was an upstart thug who contrived a country called "Palestine" from land owned by Egypt (Gaza) and Jordan (Judea/Samaria, or the West Bank). This land was taken by Israel in its 1967 defensive war against five Arab states. That's what sometimes happens when you lose an offensive war -- you have to give up land when you sue for peace. Arafat tried to seize control from Jordan's King Hussein in 1971. He failed and much of his terrorist organization, the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization), was crushed by the Jordanian military and he was expelled. He has since (up until last week, at least) dedicated his life to a committed program of Arab terror against the Jewish state. Thousands have died in his twisted vision of Arab entitlement. I lay the blame not only on him, but also on the European states and the UN, which time and again showed him and the PLO that terrorism produces beneficial results, pays dividends and earns rewards.
Arafat oversaw the terror attack at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany, which resulted in the death of Israel's entire Olympic team. He personally ordered, by telephone, the execution of two US diplomats in Sudan in 1973. Israel has reams of confiscated Palestinian Authority documents linking him to the terrorism of Hamas, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (now renamed Martyr Yasser Arafat Brigades), Islamic Jihad and others. This man had so much blood on his hands, it would be a wonder if he'd ever seen his own fingernails over the past forty years.
So what did Yasser Arafat and the PLO receive as just punishment for these horrible deeds of violence, savagery and terror? Well, you can see the glowing terms of warm affection with which world leaders are now eulogizing him, but he got more than that. So much more. He got the PLO to become the first -- and only -- terror organization to gain UN recognition. He secured for Palestinian Arab "refugees" the world's only exclusive refugee welfare system: the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which derives the majority of its funding from the United States. He got fabulously rich -- who knows how much money he stole from the people he claims to represent and where that money is now? (Yeah, I'm looking at you, Suha. And I see Mahmoud and Ahmed hiding behind you.) He won a Nobel Peace Prize. He became the progenitor of modern Arab terror, who showed that if you lied well enough, if you killed spectacularly enough, and if you did it long enough, the world would take notice and reward you for it. He proved that a man could single-handedly invent a people, with a nonexistent nation and a history for them, and through a protracted campaign of highly publicized violence against civilians, convince the whole world that he was really just an angel with a dirty face. That's what Arafat and the PLO were given as their recompense for (very) bad behavior.
He was a bad, bad man, and I'll shed no tear for such an evil miscreant. He promoted the murder of Jews, and reveled in the commission that murder, while pretending to condemn it. He happily carved deep wounds in the hearts of thousands upon thousands of Israelis, wounds that will never fully heal. He was responsible for the deaths of plenty of Americans also. Where is the effusive outpouring of emotion for these people and their families? Where was the justice their spilled blood cried out for while this terrible man yet drew breath?
Shame on you, Jacques Chirac. Shame on you, Pope John Paul II. Shame on you, Jimmy Carter. Shame on you, Kofi Annan and Nelson Mandela. Shame on you all! You are all complicit in the continuing legitimization of the modern cost/benefit terror that Yasser Arafat pioneered and refined.
Yasser Arafat didn't conceive the idea of Arab Jew-hatred and terrorism to achieve political ends -- that's been around since Muhammad was possessed by heaven knows what to devise the hate manual known as the Qur'an. He sure did perfect it, though. And anyone who thinks that things will get any better now that he's gone is deluded, naive or hopelessly ignorant. For one thing, his heir apparent, Mahmoud Abbas, is a Holocaust denier and is on the record as supporting terror. And also of importance is the fact that two generations of Palestinian Arabs have been raised under the hellish parental guidance of the PLO and its version of Islam. These kids were brought up in a hateful culture of death, which glorifies violence and fondly holds up death as life's ultimate reward. In other words, all the pieces are in play for Arafat's cruel and bloody designs to continue unabated. It's all well and good to utter some wistful words of remembrance for the smiling killer who led these people -- nowhere -- and then thoughtlessly assume that there's a chance at peace now that he's finally dead, but those of us who are close to this whole mess know better.
The majority of Palestinian Arabs consistently support the "liberation" of Israel through murder/suicide terror attacks on Israeli civilians. That is the fact of the matter. They are thoroughly convinced that they are entitled to all of Eretz Yisrael, and that they have the right to take it by any means available to them (preferably by the indiscriminate violence sanctioned by Islam). And with the way the world rewarded Yasser Arafat, the PLO, and all other terror groups killing innocent Jews all these years for their wicked cause, it's not hard to understand why.
Yasser Arafat fooled the world into thinking that he was a man. He made everyone believe that he was a legitimate leader, a partner for peace and a noble warrior for freedom. He was really just an evil monster who made a lifelong career of killing Jews with impunity, out of racism, lust for power and plain baseness. Some of us realize that and are not afraid to say so. He was a bad man and history will bear that out.
I pity the earth that will be laden with his bones.
Copyright 2004 Patrick D. O'Brien cannot be copied, published, or otherwise used (except for brief quotes) without express permission of author.