PA recalls diplomat from Canada over Twitter entry

Chargé d’affaires expresses regret for "unintentional" retweet of video of Palestinian girl reciting poem deemed offensive to Jews.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
PA diplomat Linda Sobeh Ali 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
PA diplomat Linda Sobeh Ali 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The Palestinian Authority has recalled a top diplomat based in Canada after she tweeted a link to a video that was considered offensive to Jews, a senior PA official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post over the weekend.
The official expressed hope that the controversy surrounding the video would not harm relations between the Palestinians and Canada.
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“We have decided to launch our own investigation into the incident,” the official told the Post.
The decision to recall Linda Sobeh Ali, the chargé d’affaires to the Palestinian delegation in Ottawa, was taken after the Canadian government announced that it would “limit communications” with her because of the video until a replacement is selected.
According to reports in Canadian media outlets, Linda Sobeh Ali recently tweeted a link to a YouTube video of a Palestinian girl reciting a poem in Arabic.
The video is accompanied by subtitles that call on millions to join “a war that raze the injustice and oppression and destroy the Jews.”
Some, however, have questioned the English translation of the video, saying the girl is only calling for a “war against the soul of Zionism.”
In an interview with CTV, a tearful Sobeh Ali confirmed that the PA government had called her home. She said she would have never retweeted the link had she known what it contained.
“I regret the unfortunate incident and it was a retweet – unintentional and very unfortunate,” the PA envoy said in a statement.
She said that the incident had been “intentionally magnified and misinterpreted by certain lobbying groups.”