Israel, Jews and Christ Reviewed by Arafat

Arafat and Gibson. On the same page?

Opinion By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem----March 21….It must have been a slow day in Rahmallah on Saturday.

As PA Chairman Yassar Arafat was taking a break from directing terror suicide bus bombings, highway sniper attacks in Israel and sending millions of dollars in EU aid money to his wife Suha in Paris, Arafat received a telephone call.

"Yassar, I have two tickets for Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of Christ,' wanna join me?" the Arafat aide asked. "Sure," said Arafat. "Just make sure that Hanan Ashrawi is there, I don't understand Aramaic and have problems with English subtitles." "Fine", said the aide. "And you know that Hanan could call Reuters and tell them that you reviewed the movie."
"Fine," Arafat responded. "Also make sure that Nabil Abu Rudeneh brings popcorn and calls the Associated Press, good PR."
The Palestinian leader then watched Mel Gibson's controversial Passion of the Christ at a private screening and declared that it was not anti-Semitic.

"The president did not feel the film was anti-Semitic," Hanan Ashrawi said, a prominent Palestinian Christian who watched it with him on a DVD copy. Hanan, knew this was excellent PR and that the Israelis were not going to respond, after all it was a Saturday. "Who at the Israeli Foreign Ministry was actually going to get dressed and go to Jerusalem Capital Studios where AP, CNN, FOX, Sky and BBC are based," Ashrawi thought.

Arafat watched the film, which Jewish groups say may fuel anti-Semitic attacks, with Palestinian Muslim and Christian leaders at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Arafat's adviser Nabil Abu Rdainah told the official Palestinian news agency WAFA that the 74-year-old terror leader had hailed the film as "moving and historical".

Jewish groups say Gibson's epic of the last 12 hours of Jesus' life could foment anti-Semitism with its graphic depiction of the torture and crucifixion of Jesus.

German church leaders have also said its "overly negative portrayal" of Jews risked stoking anti-Semitic prejudice.

The Palestinians are still daily being exposed to the kind of pain Jesus was exposed to during his crucifixion," Abu Rudeneh said in a statement after he viewed the movie.

Arafat watched the film on a small TV set in his Ramallah office. The visiting Christians, Anglicans and Protestants, were from the United States, Canada and Britain, said Palestinian legislator Hannan Ashrawi, who also viewed the film. Arafat's office did not further identify the delegation. The pro-Palestinian, pro-terrorism International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was most likely behind getting the Gibson DVD and the popcorn. Instead of throwing rocks at IDF soldiers who are protecting Israel's anti-terrorism fence, the ISM were most likely throwing Gibson Christ DVD's at the soldiers. The ISM also deserves a good break from time to time.

Gibson's film graphically depicts Christ's final hours in ancient Israel. The film has been a huge box office success, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars in its first two weeks in theatres in the United States and Canada.

The film has sparked controversy, and some Jews have said the movie will fuel anti-Semitism because it unfairly portrays Jews as the main force behind Jesus' crucifixion. Other critics have said the film is overly violent.

For Yassar Arafat to review Gibson's "Passion of Christ" would be like Hitler reviewing "The Diary of Anne Frank."

Two years ago as Israel's Operation Defensive Shield bore fruits of Arafat's direct involvement in terror attacks against Israeli civilians, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Dani Naveh wrote the following report.

"This report brings some very grave facts to your attention. Israel's military operation "Defensive Shield" has obtained clear-cut hard evidence that the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat is a supporting encouraging and actively operating body of terror. Arafat and his close aides are directly responsible for the cold-blooded murder of Israeli citizens.

The main findings of this report are that Yasser Arafat was personally involved in the planning and execution of terror attacks. He encouraged them ideologically, authorized them financially and personally headed the Fatah Al Aqsa Brigades organization.

The closest aides to Arafat responsible for terrorist activity are head of General Intelligence Tawfik Tirawi and financier Fouad Shubaki, who operated the ongoing logistics of financial aide and support of terrorism actions.

The Al Aqsa Brigades organization, headed by Arafat, was put under the direct authority of Marawan Barghouti, who had no compunction in using women and even children to execute terrorist activity, which killed hundreds of Israelis.

Arafat and his men used the funds donated to them by other countries, including the European Union, to finance terrorist activity. The Palestinian Authority allocated vast sums of money from its budget to pay salaries to Fatah terrorists (45 million dollars a month from Arab countries, 9 million dollars a month from the European Unity).

The Palestinian Authority established close links with the "forces of evil" - Iran and Iraq. These countries supplied funds and terrorist warfare equipment to the Authority.

Syria supplied the Hamas and Islamic Jihad with the funds, enabling them to found and operate the terrorist infrastructure in Jenin.

Saudi Arabia financially supported the families of terrorists, including families of suicide bombers who carried out mass murder attacks in Israel.

The Palestinian Authority armed itself with weapons in complete violation of all agreements signed with Israel. At the head of the arms smuggling stands Fouad Shubaki.

Arafat's headquarters took great pains in encouraging the Israeli Arab population to join the war of violence and terror against Israel.

The most prominent criminal activity carried out by the Palestinian Authority has been the stealing of Israeli vehicles and forging of documents, in collaboration with Israeli Arab citizens.

Arafat's compound in Ramallah became the central command post for the terrorist activity and suicide bombing. The "security forces" headed by Tawfik Tirawi and directly responsible to Arafat himself, initiated, planned and saw to the finest details of every action taken against Israel and Israelis.

Corruption in the Palestinian authority. Economic management by means of monopolizing and unjust division of foreign funds among the various stratas of the Palestinians society. Embezzlements of payments and unjust collection of public resources transferred to private accounts of high ranking authority officials.

In this activity there has been complete cooperation between all the terror organizations - the Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Jenin became the "haven of suicide bombers" in the West Bank, with other towns following its lead.

During Israel's campaign to eradicate terrorism, the terrorists used the civilian population as a human shield. They operated within private homes, holding their own people hostage. They blew up houses and property, laid mines and booby-traps, in the hope of afterwards accusing Israel of the devastation and destruction.

The Fatah and Arafat's intelligence network intimidated and maltreated the Christian population in Bethlehem. They extorted money from them, confiscated land and property and left them to the mercy of street gangs and other criminal activity, with no protection."

Naveh made it very clear that all of the allegations made in the report were from Israel intelligence.

And even within the last 24 hours, Arafat's terrorism has claimed the life of 20-year-old George Elias Khoury, as he was jogging in Jerusalem's French Hill neighborhood. Khoury's father, Elias, is a well-known Israeli Arab lawyer in east Jerusalem. In a radio interview he said that he wished the victims of recent days could be the last ones and bring the leaders of both sides to reason.
An embarrassed Yasser Arafat called the family to offer condolences. Khoury was mistaken for a "Jewish settler." George Khoury was a second year student in economics and international relations at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The victim's grandfather was killed in a 1975 bombing by Palestinian terrorists at Kikar Zion in Jerusalem. Arafat's terrorist activity does not discriminate between Jew, Christian or Arab.

Most of Arafat's barbaric terrorism and corruption is known by the public, but what happened yesterday in Rahmallah, is still being leaked out to news agencies in Israel. Arafat's cynical use of Christ's death used as a transparent divider between Jews and Christians illustrates his deep contempt for both religions.

After having watched Gibson's Passion of the Christ, Arafat asked his aides why there was no mention in the movie of the Palestinians. Hanan Ashrawi, not missing an opportunity to implement some great public relations, responded: "It's important that the public knows that Christ was a Palestinian, give me AP's and Reuters telephone numbers now."

And I thought Hollywood was owned by the Jews.

With Reuters and AP

ISRAEL NEWS AGENCY

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