Shin Bet Ex-Chief Defends Abbas
Former Shin Bet security service director Yuval Diskin defended Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday, saying that Abbas is against terrorism.
“[Abbas] is against terrorism, although not because he loves us,” Diskin told a student conference in southern Israel.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman severely criticized the Palestinian president, telling reporters that Abbas was the “greatest obstacle” to regional order and it would be a “blessing” if Abbas were to resign.
“Since 2007, [the Palestinian Authority] in the West Bank has made great efforts to fight terrorism,” Diskin said on Wednesday. ” As someone who was involved for many years in what was happening there, from 1993, I don’t remember a time during which the Palestinians have fought terrorism as seriously as they are today.”
Diskin said that Abbas is “not inherently a leader, but rather a statesman.”
Diskin also said that Israel is losing international support by not conducting peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
