Partly taking their cue from US president Barack Obama’s former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, the Palestinians are attempting to shamefully exploit the coronavirus crisis to their political advantage.
Shortly after Obama won the presidential election in 2008, speaking to a conference of corporate chief executives, Emanuel said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” It’s been reported that he went on to say that if a crisis doesn’t exist, then one should be manufactured because a crisis is really an opportunity.
No one can deny that the Palestinians are masters of manipulation and highly skilled in the art of creating fake news to enhance their own political aspirations and public relations position. Emanuel is probably bursting with pride.
Rather than working cooperatively with Israel to help put the lid on the virus, the Palestinians are instead pointing the finger at Israel and at America. It’s another blame game but now is not the time for games. The world needs serious, professional, mature leaders who are not promoting any personal or political agendas but rather who are focused on doing their part to stop this virus sooner rather than later.
In this, the PA is failing. They are telling their people that the virus is retribution (from Allah) for President Donald Trump having formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In addition, they are using COVID-19 to give Israel another black eye and further promote BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaigns against Israel.
Palestinians have been instructed not to buy anything from a Jew or a Jewish business because it will be infected with the coronavirus. Furthermore, Palestinians who work in Israel for Jewish-owned businesses earning a desirable living with an income that far exceeds anything they could hope to earn in their own territories, are being told to stay home.
Even those who are employed by businesses considered essential by the Israeli government and who are still able to work are being discouraged by the PA from doing so and, in some cases, even threatened. They are being told that they will intentionally be infected with the novel coronavirus and will thus bring it home to their families and communities and that this is all part of an Israeli plot to harm and kill Palestinians. This is not only absurd but it is also dangerous.
Each night on the national evening news, Americans hear about research and development taking place in hospitals and labs around the world in the race to develop a vaccine. Factories that were in completely unrelated businesses are now working full steam to build medical equipment and manufacture medical supplies.
Around the world people are working to uplift and help one another yet there has not been one positive report on any Palestinian contribution to this battle but rather only a plethora of complaints.
If the Palestinians refuse to stop their lies and libels against Israel even in the face of a global pandemic, what hope is there for such a people to ever truly be viable partners for peace in the Middle East or be contributing members to civilized society?
The writer is an international broadcaster and journalist who served in senior level positions with four US presidents. He has been recognized by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a goodwill ambassador from Israel to Jewish and Christian communities around the world and named the Voice of Israel to America by former prime minister Ehud Olmert.