Palestinian Diplomats Tweet Call For Destruction Of Israel
RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — The Palestinian mission to Colombia tweeted a quote from late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat calling for the destruction of the State of Israel.
“The PLO mission in Colombia tweeted a Yasser Arafat quote: ‘Our goal is the end of Israel…We don’t want peace. We want war and victory’,” reported Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also on Twitter.
The Spanish-language message was removed from the Palestinian mission’s account, which has only 581 followers, and no explanation or apology was offered, Israeli media reported.
“This tweet reflects the true position of the Palestinians against Israel,” Marcos Sermoneta, Israel’s ambassador to Colombia, wrote shortly after in a tweet.
“For the first time, the Palestinians spoke the truth, not in Arabic but in Spanish, and that such action must be taken seriously because, otherwise why do they not accept the right of self-determination of Jews in their own state,” Sermoneta said in an interview with Diario de las Americas.
The Confederation of Jewish Communities of Colombia, the country’s umbrella Jewish organization, expressed its concern over “religious hatred.”
“We consider it extremely serious that a diplomatic mission officially accredited to the Republic of Colombia is an apologist for the destruction of a country, in this case Israel, which constitutes a violation of the protocols governing diplomacy and the minimum decency to be displayed by a diplomatic delegation, the confederation said in a statement.
Arafat’s quote appeared in The Washington Post in March 1970, long before he became Israel’s negotiating partner for peace or the head of the Palestinian Authority.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO