MK Sarsour: Obama killed bin Laden to get reelected

Knesset member questions US president's motives in killing of al-Qaida leader, saying he may have been trying to raise low approval ratings.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
ibrahim sarsour 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
ibrahim sarsour 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
MK Ibrahim Sarsour (United Arab List-Ta'al) on Tuesday questioned the motives of the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden, saying the assassination may have been meant to bolster US President Barack Obama's low approval ratings.
Sarsour said that he "does not rule out the possibility that the assassination of bin Laden marked the beginning of Obama's campaign for a second term as president, especially since the Republican majority lie in wait for him in Congress."
RELATED:Video: It doesn't get much better than thisHamas denounces killing of a ‘Muslim warrior’In Islamic world, joy, grief eclipsed by official silenceThe MK stated that the assassination of bin Laden should raise questions about what pushes al-Qaida and other jihadist organizations to become so extreme. Sarsour offered that the radical groups are merely the symptoms of a disease caused by oppression and subjugation of Arabs and Muslims, "especially in relation to Palestine and Jerusalem."
Sarsour called on the US  to completely withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq,  to work on establishing a Palestinian state with full sovereignty and end Israeli occupation of Palestinian national soil, including Jerusalem, and not to hinder popular revolts in the Arab world.
The statement did not mark the first time Sarsour had attacked Obama. In February, following the US veto of the UN Security Council resolution condemning settlements, Sarsour accused Obama of betraying the Palestinians.
“After the exposure of lies from the US, we must say frankly to Obama: You no longer scare us and you can go to hell,” Sarsour wrote in an open letter to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
“Obama cannot be trusted. We knew his promises were lies. The time has come to spit in the face of the Americans,” he added.
Gil Hoffman contributed to this report