JERUSALEM – A television show broadcast on official Palestinian Authority TV a day before PA President Mahmoud Abbas was set to meet President Donald Trump to discuss peace last week called for a return to the “days of the Intifada” and violence against Israelis.
The incendiary remarks were made by a TV host following an interview with released terrorist Abd Al-Hadi Ghneim, who boasted that he had murdered “16 Zionists” in the first Intifada. In response, the host called him a hero and encouraged Palestinians to engage in violence against Israelis.
“We long for the days of the Intifada, the days of the revolution,” the host said according to a translation provided by Israeli monitoring group Palestinian Media Watch.
“Why are we not seeing activities like that today? We appreciate every effort of every member of our Palestinian people, but we want more from them,” she added.
Ghneim was sentenced to 16 life sentences for the murder of 16 passengers on a bus in 1989. He was released in October 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange deal brokered between the Israeli government and the ruling Gaza terror group Hamas.
In a joint statement released by Abbas and Trump following their May 3 meeting in Washington, Abbas mentioned the word peace no fewer than 14 times. The day after the PA TV show was aired, Abbas and Trump met again in Bethlehem and the PA president reiterated his commitment to fighting terror and fostering a “culture of peace, nonviolence, no incitement” among Palestinians.