The speed of developing events in the Middle East often means that substantial events are quickly dropped from the media cycle. However, some of the events have long-lasting repercussions, and after some of the dust settles, they deserve further attention.
The recent decision of the governments of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway to impose sanctions on Israeli Cabinet ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, just days before Israel’s monumental attack on Iran, is one of those events.
Whether you agree or disagree with the opinions of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, it is impossible to ignore the hypocrisy of those governments.
Explaining the move, the joint statement of the governments said they made the decision because Ben-Gvir and Smotrich “have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights. These actions are not acceptable. This is why we have taken action now—to hold those responsible to account.”
While pretending to focus on actors who promote “extremist violence” and “hold those responsible to account,” the deceit of these decisions is glaring.
Commonly known as the Palestinian Authority’s “Pay-for-Slay” policy for three decades, the PA and its leadership have openly run the most elaborate policy to pay financial rewards to terrorists. The policy costs the PLO-PA hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
Terrorists have cited the terror reward payments as a substantial driving force behind terror activities. The funds paid by the PLO-PA to the terrorists did not stop with them alone. Rather, on many occasions, they were used to fund more terror.
This is not a clandestine policy; it is entrenched in a PA law from 2004 and the whole world knows about it. PA leader Mahmoud Abbas is not only personally responsible for the entire policy but has, in fact, repeatedly increased the terror reward payments.
Responding to criticism of the policy—which never came from the hypocritical Brits, Australians, Canadian, New Zealanders or Norwegians—Abbas even openly told the world, as exposed by Palestinian Media Watch, that even if the PA is left with just one penny, he would pay it first to the terrorists.
This was not merely posturing. Abbas put his proverbial money where his mouth is and prioritized paying the terror rewards to terrorists over paying salaries to PA teachers and doctors, and even over cancer treatments for Palestinian children.
Since this policy fundamentally undermines any prospect of peace and obviously drives “extremist violence,” one could ask if the U.K., Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway took any steps to sanction those involved. The answer is no.
In fact, instead of sanctioning the Palestinian leaders for their nefarious policy, the now sanctimonious governments sanctioning Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have donated hundreds of millions of British pounds, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars and Norwegian kroner to the PA and its leadership.
Since money is fungible, through their aid—whether directly or indirectly—the Brits, Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians and Norwegians, have partnered with the PA to reward terrorists for murdering Jews.
But the hypocrisy does not end there. The second part of the explanation released by the governments said, “We will strive to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the immediate release of the remaining hostages by Hamas, which can have no future role in the governance of Gaza, a surge in aid and a path to a two-state solution.”
While it is of course correct to negate any future involvement of Hamas in the governance of Gaza, the sanctimonious governments conveniently “forget” that it is the PA, led by Abbas, that claims that Hamas is a legitimate “Palestinian faction” and demanded that Hamas participate in the last PA elections held in 2006. The result was a Hamas landslide victory.
According to every Palestinian opinion poll, if Abbas makes good on his recent promise to French President Emmanuel Macron and holds elections, Hamas will win again.
A recent Palestinian poll showed that 50% of Palestinians believe that Hamas was right to carry out the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. In Judea and Samaria, under the PA, support stood at 59%. This sentiment is a direct result of the daily incitement and promotion of terror, not only by Hamas, but more dominantly from the PLO-PA.
In these circumstances, the question begs, what “two-state solution” are these governments promoting? The answer is simple: A terror-supporting state that openly showcases its drive to destroy Israel.
The reality is that while professing to oppose “extremist violence,” in the eyes of the Brits, Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians and Norwegians, only the Jews are at fault.
Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are just low-hanging fruit, since they do not shy away from expressing their rejection of any option to empower genocidal Palestinian terrorists and reject the possibility of creating a Palestinian state that will, as repeatedly confessed and promised, carry out the Oct. 7 massacre over and over again.
Try as they will to present a bona fide explanation for their decision, the truth of the matter is that not only do these governments support the “extremist violence” of the Palestinians, they also fuel and fund it.
Their decision to sanction Smotrich and Ben-Gvir has nothing to do with honestly fighting terror and promoting a “two-state solution”—and everything to do with placating the Palestinian terrorists who seek to murder Jews and destroy Israel.