Guardian falsely claims that PA official Jibril Rajoub supports non-violence

A Dec. 25th Guardian report by Peter Beaumont (West Bank risks being plunged into chaos in 2016, warn Palestinian officials), on the response by PA officials to the latest wave of terror, includes the following passages:

Jibril Rajoub, a former Palestinian security head and now leader of the Palestinian Football Association, is another figure who remains close to Abbas.

Like [Mohammed] Shtayyeh, he insists that Palestinian society should pursue a policy of non-violent resistance but cannot disavow those behind the current wave of attacks, instead arguing that Palestinians need to be patient.

Rajoub may indeed support a policy of “non-violent resistance” when speaking in English to Western journalists, but here’s what he said in October, in Arabic, on official PA TV, per Palestinian Media Watch (PMW):

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvhlU-6ysUY]

In fact, that wasn’t the first time Rajoub expressed support for violence. Here’s what he said on PA TV on Aug. 13, 2014, again per PMW:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGE45BKoVx4]

(Also, see this PMW video from 2013 in which Rajoub said that if he had a nuclear bomb he’d use it against Israel that very day.)

It’s clear that the Guardian misled readers when claiming that Rajoub “insists that Palestinian society should pursue a policy of non-violent resistance”.  We’ll follow-up on this post after contacting Guardian editors to challenge them on Beaumont’s claim.

 

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