Skip to main content

Pal. Authority Wages Diplomatic War against Israel

Share This article

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Despite a recent flare-up on the northern border, Israel has been relatively quiet since the Gaza war ended last summer.

But the Palestinians are now waging a diplomatic war against Israel, one they hope will end with a Palestinian state and war crime charges against Israeli leaders.

For months now, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has been firing a barrage of diplomatic volleys against the Jewish state.

He began last fall with a fire and brimstone speech at the U.N. General Assembly.

"I affirm here that we will not forget, nor will we forgive or allow war criminals to escape punishment. I affirm before you that the people of Palestine hold steadfast to its legitimate right to defend itself against the Israeli war machine and through its legitimate right to resist this colonial racist occupation," Abbas said.

Next he pushed for a Palestinian state in the U.N. Security Council without Israel's agreement, falling just one vote short late last year.

He then turned to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands, successfully calling for a war crimes probe for Israel's action in Gaza last summer.

For the Palestinians, the diplomatic war against Israel is more important than the one with rockets and bombs. In that war, Israeli leaders have few friends. Perhaps their best friends are in the U.S. Congress, with some lawmakers doing what they can to help the Jewish state.

"The international organizations that are basically declaring war on Israel's existence are going to be met head on by the Congress," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters in Jerusalem.

"We already have legislation in being that would cut off aid to the Palestinians if they filed a complaint," he continued. "I'm having that law looked at right now to see if membership is enough. I don't know but there will be a full effort by Democrats and Republicans to stop this before it gets out of hand."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn't sitting still for the Palestinian offensive in the courts. Both political and military leaders in Israel face possible arrest when they travel abroad.

"We see here something truly tragic; the lofty goals of the ICC are being turned upside down," Netanyahu said. "The court was founded to prevent a repeat of history's worst crimes -- foremost among them the genocide of 6 million Jews." 

"Now the Palestinians are cynically manipulating the ICC to deny the Jewish state the right to defend itself against the very war crimes and the very terror the court was established to prevent," he charged.

There is bipartisan concern in Congress that Palestinians aren't paying a price for their unilateral moves against Israel, America's strongest ally in the Middle East.

And some have threatened a cutoff of billions of dollars in U.S. aid, both for the Palestinian Authority and for U.N. groups that coddle terrorists.

The White House and Congress may be headed for a collision course over the U.S. role in this diplomatic war. But with Israel facing elections in mid-March, both sides are holding much of their fire -- for now.

Share This article

About The Author

John
Waage

John Waage has covered politics and analyzed elections for CBN New since 1980, including primaries, conventions, and general elections. He also analyzes the convulsive politics of the Middle East.