Is Fatah, the Palestinian political organization responsible for the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, delivering a bloody “thank you” to the 14 U.N. Security Council members who voted to condemn Israel last week?
That’s a question raised by Palestinian Media Watch, which monitors media in the Middle East.
The worrying change happened on Fatah’s official Facebook page, PMW reported, where before a recent U.N. vote to condemn Israel, an image showed a hand holding a blade stabbing the word “settlement.”
It was over the top of an image of “Palestine,” which was drawn to include all of Israel.
Then, after the vote, at which the U.N. Security Council decided 14-0 to demand that Israel return to its early 1960s borders, the image was re-posted, with modifications.
The vote sparked an eruption of outrage among freedom-loving groups worldwide as the Obama administration deliberately let the resolution proceed even though experts all agreed that it will now make the peace process more difficult and handicap Israel. The U.S. could have simply vetoed it.
Obama’s critics charged he stabbed the Middle East ally in the back.
The new image includes the same hand, the same blade and same word, “settlement,” and the same image of “Palestine.”
But now there are listed the names of the 14 nations that voted in favor, and there’s a pool of blood at the bottom.
“Is Fatah thanking the 14 countries for their U.N. vote because they interpret the U.N. as granting Fatah permission to kill Israelis? Or is Fatah thanking them because now that the U.N. declared settlements ‘illegal’ it sees itself free to kill more Israelis?” PMW asked.
“Either way Fatah is saying more Israelis will pay with their lives as a result of the U.N. vote,” PMW reported.
Fatah, which stands for Harakat al-Tahrir al-Watani al-Filastini, was launched in the 1950s by Yasser Arafat with the aim of wresting Palestine from Israeli control. Its strategy was guerrilla warfare.
It gained attention worldwide in 1972 when its members, under the name Black September, murdered Israeli athletes in Munich.
The U.N. resolution, among other things, demands Israel stop all settlement activity.
It also demands Israel give up vast regions it captured in the 1967 war when it was attacked by Arab neighbors and restrict itself to the pre-war borders. And it demands Israel grant Palestinians nearly unlimited rights to whatever territory they claim, notwithstanding its actual legal status.
The nations that approved the resolution are Russia, Angola, Ukraine, Japan, Spain, Egypt, Malaysia, Venezuela, New Zealand, Senegal, Uruguay, France, China and Britain.
