In an interview in Hebrew with Israel National News-Arutz Sheva, Middle East scholar, Dr. Mordechai Kedar refers to an outrageous statement made by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). Abu Mazen declared that the State of Israel committed "Holocausts" against the Palestinian people. In addition, he refused to express remorse for the 1972 massacre of 11 members of the Israeli athletic team at the Munich Olympic Games.
Dr. Kedar is not at all surprised by these statements, "On the contrary, I wondered when this thing would blow up because as he gets older, he is losing his mental capacities and he starts saying what he really thinks. If until now he restrained himself, now he's losing it."
According to Kedar, "Abbas’s doctorate deals with Holocaust denial, but more than that, he understands that the entire Palestinian idea rests upon denial of the Israeli and Jewish story. He knows that the re-establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was, in one way or another, a result of the Holocaust, that after the Holocaust, the world decided that there was no choice but to establish a state for the Jews. In other words, if he undermines the story of the Jewish Holocaust, he undermines the reason for the existence of the State of Israel, and that is his whole purpose in life. That is why he tries to either minimize it or deny it, especially in the presence of Germans so that they stop basing their policy toward Israel on the Holocaust and its horrors."
Kedar points out that, until recently, Abu Mazen "tried to be politically correct because he realized that disputing the existence of the Holocaust or minimizing it makes him look ridiculous, especially in Europe and even more so in Germany. But as he is getting old, he is losing his ability to control what he says. Arafat demonstrated a similar phenomenon, that in his old age he started to say what he truly thought as his ability to control himself deteriorated.” Kedar explains that what Abu Mazen now says is a true reflection of what he thinks.
Discussing the Munich Massacre, Dr. Kedar refers to the disagreement over Abu Mazen’s possible personal involvement in the event. "There is a big question regarding how involved the PLO was in this matter, and whether or not the Black September organization that carried out the act was connected to the PLO. These are questions that are debated to this day."
"Many national movements have had to deal with organizations that were with them and those that were opposed. Some embraced Black September with enthusiasm and some rejected it; some rejected it secretly only. Therefore, the connection between the PLO and what happened in Munich depends on who is asking."
“Today,” says Dr. Kedar "Abu Mazen provides for the martyrs and their families.” Known as pay-for-slay, terrorists who murder Jews receive a salary for the rest of their lives according to the number of Jews they kill. If the terrorists die in the act, their families get the salaries.
“In some cases,” Kedar continues, “this encourages them to engage in terrorism. Therefore, on the one hand, he condemns terrorism -- as he did during the second intifada, and many Israelis like to quote that -- but on the other hand, he finances terrorism. So is he against terrorism or for terrorism? In words, he is against, while in actions, he is in favor. For me, what he does is much more important than what he says. In the Middle East, talk is cheap. Actions are worth much more."
According to Dr. Kedar, the right thing to do is “to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, which was founded in sin, which conducts itself immorally, and all its actions are a crime.” He recommends "establishing on its ruins emirates in the Arab cities in Judea and Samaria, such as Hebron, Ramallah, Jericho, and more, while Israel always remains in the countryside. In the Arab world, the only system that works is an emirates structure based on the local families. In contrast, countries that are comprised of a number of different ethnic groups find themselves looking like Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, and Yemen."