Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler defends “Palestinian” payments to jihad terrorists

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The Washington Post whitewashed terror inciter and Jew-hater Linda Sarsour. Now this.

The Washington Post’s tagline is “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”

Oh, the irony.
There is only darkness is when there is no diversity of thought.
There is only darkness is when genocide is sanctioned.
There is only darkness is when one opinion is allowed.
There is only darkness is when there is no debate.
There is only darkness is when truth is censored, forbidden.
There is only darkness is when the Washington Post does not allow us to rebut the lies and libel.
There is only darkness is when propaganda is sold as “real journalism.”
There is only darkness at the Washington Post.

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“Washington Post Defends PA Martyrs Fund,” by Daniel Pomerantz, Honest Reporting, March 14, 2018 (thanks to W):

What is the Palestinian Martyrs Fund? Is it a reward for terrorists or a system of social welfare for those in genuine need?

A Washington Post fact-checking analysis attempts to make the case that the fund is not primarily a reward for terrorism but a misunderstood social welfare program, unfairly maligned by Israeli and American researchers:

A big problem is definitional. Netanyahu refers to “terrorists and their families.” In the Palestinian Authority’s budget, one can find $350* million in annual payments to Palestinian prisoners, “martyrs” and injured, but can one with certainty say they are all terrorists?

(*The Martyrs Fund has recently been increased to $403 Million.)

To this end, journalist Glenn Kessler repeats Palestinian arguments that the fund is a kind of social welfare, cherry picking examples that would appear to support the claim. He also criticizes rigorous Israeli and US research.

Finally, Kessler completely avoids examination of the one thing that would utterly topple his dubious case: Palestinian law itself.

Palestinian Law

  • Palestinian law requires seven percent of the PA’s annual budget be paid to the so called, “Martyrs Fund.” About this fact, there is no debate: it is the plain language of existing law.
  • The Palestinian Budget Book (2017) specifically states that payments to killed or imprisoned Palestinians and their families from the Martyrs Fund are not social welfare but a salary, paid because the recipients constitute a “fighting sector.”
  • The salaries referenced above increase directly in proportion to the severity of the crime involved.  For example, murder earns the perpetrator a higher salary than committing bodily injury, which earns a higher salary than possessing a weapon. Again, this not mere opinion or conjecture, this is the Palestinian law.

With no attempt to verify, Kessler repeats the following Palestinian claim:

…the PLO says martyr payments go not only to people who were killed or injured by Israeli forces but also to victims of other events, such as a fiery 2012 bus accident that killed seven children and a teacher.

This, and other similar devices, are the fragile scaffolding upon which Kessler attempts to build his case that the Martyrs Fund is not actually designed around terror, all while ignoring what the law itself actually says, and how it actually works.

I debated this very topic on i24 News with PLO Executive Committee member Mustafa Barghouti. (This is a highlight clip, the full segment can be found here.)

“One Man’s Terrorist…”

The Post goes on to draw a disingenuous moral equivalence between modern Palestinian terrorism and the Irgun’s bombing of the King David Hotel in 1946, using the tired and long discredited refrain:

As the cliche goes, one man’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter.

This phrase originated in the aftermath of 9/11, when Stephen Jukes, then the Reuters’ head of global news, implemented an official  policy of not using the word “terrorism,”saying in a leaked memo, “We’re trying to treat everyone on a level playing field.” Jukes caught a lot of flak for the news service’s terror-free policy.
Jukes later admitted that he had another, more cynical motivation for the memo:

…we don’t want to jeopardize the safety of our staff. Our people are on the front lines, in Gaza, the West Bank and Afghanistan.

It seems Jukes decided to forbid using the word terrorism…because of his fear that he might offend terrorists. (Terrorists who might then target his staff with…you guessed it: acts of terror.)

This is not a matter of mere semantics: combating terrorism begins with defining it. Numerous scholars and media personalities criticized Jukes’ turn of phrase, explaining that its long-term impact makes it increasingly difficult to face, much less to combat, global terror. In 2004, Reuters and Canada’s Canwest media chain even had a standoff over terror when editors unilaterally added the t-word to Reuters content.

King David Hotel Bombing

Kessler’s description of the bombing at the King David Hotel is highly misleading. The Jerusalem hotel was a headquarters of the British military command and the British Criminal Investigation Division (CID), making it a military target. Before targeting this military headquarters, the Irgun called ahead to warn of their plan, urging the hotel’s evacuation. I’m not aware of any Palestinian terrorist ever making such a warning.

Both in 1946 and still today, many Israelis have mixed feelings about whether the Irgun was right to act as it did. Yet right or wrong, there was a clear reason: the British military was arresting and preparing to deport Jewish refugees who had fled from the Holocaust. The world’s horror over precisely these type of deportations led to formation of the modern international law on refugees.

By contrast, the Martyrs Fund pays people who kill civilians in pizza parlors and coffee shops, and butcher entire families to death in their homes. Whether you call that “terror” or “freedom fighting,” it bears absolutely no comparison to the Irgun’s attack….

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Kalambong Kalambong
Kalambong Kalambong
5 years ago

Glenn Kessler is such an obvious supporter of islamic terrorism the fella is a danger to the American society

He should be locked up inside Gitmo

AR154U☑ᵀʳᵘᵐᵖ DEPLORABLE 2020
AR154U☑ᵀʳᵘᵐᵖ DEPLORABLE 2020
5 years ago


“Washington Post Defends PA Martyrs Fund”,….. They are heroes to the Palestinian people, and only terrorist to ‘some’ Western elites !!
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IzlamDownpressesHumanity
IzlamDownpressesHumanity
5 years ago

I read these unarmed kids fought to the death before the armed muslums killed them.

Nannette
Nannette
5 years ago

I do hope that Israeli lawyers sue him for everything he’s got

Suresh
Suresh
5 years ago
Reply to  Nannette

They will shill for anyone who pays them.

Just as Dems supported Iran nuke deal after getting paid by Iranian lobbyists https://tinyurl.com/mcake4d

Not one MSM covered it and nobody bats an eye . They sold out American/israeli interest for few 10,000’s dollars.

Bennie Sprouse
Bennie Sprouse
5 years ago

Once again the WIDELY KNOWN FACTS are not enough for the warpedpo! What a disgusting person who even questions the palestinians’ motives! The USA should end ALL funding until the pals make incredible changes in their laws and intentions – it will never happen as long as they are being propped up by the “swamp”! I do believe if the pals were told that their next attack on Israel will not be stopped by International actions and Israel has the FULL backing of the USA to settle the matter! Attack at your own peril!!

pfwag
pfwag
5 years ago

Maybe we need to fund some crazy Muslim to do jihad on Glenn Kessle.

Drifter12
Drifter12
5 years ago

They were American payments, WP fool! This madness needs to be stopped, dead in its tracks!

Mahou Shoujo
Mahou Shoujo
5 years ago

Another in the ongoing saga of why the lame stream media is not even considered a joke anymore, it is ignored and ridiculed, deservedly.

IzlamDownpressesHumanity
IzlamDownpressesHumanity
5 years ago

Muslums commit terrorism in order to impose their ideology on everyone not a muslum. They’re not trying to free anyone from anything.

John Forbes
John Forbes
5 years ago

WHEN is the US going to GET RID of the LEFTIST MEDIA??????

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