Israel Matzav: Marwan Barghouti's appeal to 'Palestinians'

Marwan Barghouti's appeal to 'Palestinians'

Jonathan Tobin takes Foreign Policy magazine to task for calling Marwan Barghouti a 'dissident.' In the process, he reminds us all of something that the Israeli Left - which is pushing for Barghouti's release - seems to have forgotten.

Rather than dismissing the atrocities Barghouti committed or treat his record as incidental to his prospects, as his apologists do, it is vital to understand that it is precisely because of his willingness to wantonly slaughter innocents on the streets of Tel Aviv that this man is a hero to his fellow Palestinians. The gruesome dynamic of Palestinian political culture rewards those who kill Jews and penalizes those who do not. Fatah’s need to compete with Hamas on this front required former leader Yasser Arafat to launch a terrorist offensive in which his own party’s stalwarts could emerge with the requisite amount of Jewish blood on their hands. Hence his decision to authorize the formation of a “new” terrorist group—the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade—and the decision to let Barghouti’s Tanzim group take part in terror attacks on Israeli civilians during the second intifada.

There's much more at work here. It's not just that the 'Palestinians' love Barghouti because he was Jewish blood on his hands. It's that they love him because they hope that he will continue to have fresh Jewish blood on his hands in the future.

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Israel Matzav: Marwan Barghouti's appeal to 'Palestinians'