Of all the people or entities you wouldn’t want to apologize to, Hamas must rate up there with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez and Kim Jong Il, but it seems an apology may be in order.
US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton gave a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Monday. In that speech, she condemned Hamas for renaming a square in Hamas territory after Dalal Mughrabi, calling Mughrabi, “a terrorist who murdered innocent Israelis.”
In the same speech, Clinton lauded Palestinain President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority.
Unfortunately, Secretary Clinton and her State Department advisors got it very wrong. It was President Abbas, not Hamas, who verbally defended naming the square after the terrorist – on multiple occasions.
Abbas sent Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim, his Secretary General, to speak in his name, calling the terrorist the “bridge over which we pass on the way to our freedom.”
In January this year, Abbas said “Of course we want to name a square after her.” In December last year, he sponsored a celebration of Mughrabi’s birthday.
Abbas’ communications and information technology advisor attended a cermony naming a computer center after the terrorist. The center received funds from Abbas’ office.
It was the Fatah Youth movement that prepared the square for the naming ceremony. There were many other times that Abbas and Fatah praised and defended Mughrabi the terrorist.
Palestinian Media Watch documented all those times in the story Hillary Clinton’s Unfortunate Mistake.
State Department intelligence gathering capabilities need to be reviewed.
