NEW YORK – American Jewish groups have slammed Interpol for granting ‘Palestine’ entry to the international police organization as a full member state.
“We are disappointed by the Interpol vote to admit the ‘State of Palestine’ as a full member state,” Anti-Defamation League Senior Vice President for International Affairs Sharon Nazarian said in a statement. “We believe this admission is premature.”
“Today’s vote must be seen as the latest step in the ongoing Palestinian campaign to seek international recognition as a state outside the context of bilateral negotiations with Israel,” she continued. “Issues such as statehood, borders, security and related mechanisms can only be resolved through direct negotiations, and the international community should refrain from rewarding Palestinian efforts to circumvent this process.”
“There is also legitimate concern expressed by Israel that the Palestinians could use their membership in Interpol to mount unwarranted legal challenges, including travel bans and extradition requests, against Israeli military and security officials,” Nazarian concluded.
President of the American Zionist Movement Richard D. Heideman said, “The Palestinians have clearly not met the standards set by Interpol in contributing to make the world a safer place, in fact the opposite remains true. The murderous terrorist attack in Har Adar yesterday, which has yet to be properly condemned by the Palestinian leadership, is just another example of the unconscionable conduct of the PA/PLO’s use of sanctioned violence through an ongoing campaign of hatred, incitement and the providing of financial incentivization and rewards by the Palestinian Authority.”
“Accepting the Palestinians as the newest member of Interpol under such circumstances is a travesty for justice,” he continued. “Interpol now has an absurd situation where member states will share sensitive information with Palestinian police, whose members have been accused of involvement in countless murders and heinous attacks throughout the years. This is a dark day in the fight against global terrorism.”
Following the vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. According to his office, Netanyahu told the two that “the actions of the Palestinian leadership in recent days severely impair the chances of achieving peace,” and added that “Palestinian diplomatic warfare would not go unanswered.”
Former Israeli diplomat Alan Baker, who resides in Har Adar – the settlement near Jerusalem that was hit with a triple murder on Wednesday by a Palestinian employee – wrote that the terrorist attack was a “reminder of the cynical blindness and naïveté” of “members of Interpol.”
He said that Interpol’s action was “indicative of the total insensitivity of the international community, which out of political correctness and an incomprehensible eagerness to coddle the Palestinian leadership, fails to realize that in so doing they are giving the Palestinians a green light and license to incite and to reward terror.”
Breitbart Jerusalem’s Aaron Klein compiled a list of reasons why Interpol’s decision to allow the PA full membership is dangerous, beginning with the fact that the Ramallah-based government will now have access to sensitive information regarding terrorists and terror groups that the PA itself supports.
By joining the international police organization, the PA has now been armed with a legal weapon to arrest IDF soldiers and officials and demand their extradition from overseas. The move also disregards any need for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians regarding a final status solution to the conflict, instead recognizing a de facto Palestinian state in all of the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.