Ahmad Mansra is a 13 year-old Palestinian kid who is a victim of vicious, hateful brainwashing, leading him to try and stab to death Israeli Jews in Jerusalem, only because of who they are. Luckily enough for him and his family, including his uncle, who condemned his action, he was neutralized by Israelis, not before he inflicted near mortal wounds on an Israeli kid aged 13 as well. Ahmad is in a Jerusalem hospital, about to be discharged very soon, whereas the Israeli kid is fighting for his life. Somebody else is also fighting for his political life though; this is Mahmoud Abbas, the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority. He gave a speech last night to his people, claiming that Ahmad Mansra was executed by the Israelis. Then, the official Palestinian News Agency issued the English version of the speech, where it said that Ahmad was ''shot in cold blood." Thank God that Ahmad is alive, and hopefully the Jewish kid will also stay alive. It seems that Abbas does not want to live; he wants blood, and where it does not exist, he manufactures stories about it. This is dangerous. This is irresponsible, as much as it is SO dangerous to claim, as he does, that Israel wants to take over the Al-Aksa Mosque. Another lie.
No Jews want to enter Al-Aksa, or to pray there. There are Jews though who want to exercise their indisputable right to pray on Mount Temple, the site of the old Jewish Temples, the destruction of which the Jews memorize in a day of fast, which started long before the very beginning of the Islamic religion. Lest it not being clear -- this is NOT to dispute Muslim rights on Mount Temple, NOT to debate Muslim belief about the sanctity of Jerusalem to them. This is to reassert the fact, which most of the Muslims, including the Palestinians, are in denial of, that Jews also have rights in Jerusalem, have rights on Mount Temple, and they will not be intimated to give up on them. Under normal circumstances, when two sides claim rights over the same places, and they happen to be SO holy and important to them, they are not expected to renounce the claim, but they can still search for a solution in which they can compromise over the full execution of their claims. The debate should not be on who argues what and why, but who wants to coexist in peace. For that to happen, there cannot be a complete denial of the claims of one side. This is where the PA is wrong. According to them, there was never a Jewish Temple, the Western Wall is a Muslim site and even King Solomon was a Muslim. This is the core of the problem in Jerusalem, and this is where Abbas' lies are so potentially explosive. This leader is turning his own battle of political survival into a religious war between Muslims and Jews.
Abbas is challenged by the "young Turks" in Fath, people like Muhammad Dahlan, also by Hamas, both in Gaza and in the West Bank, and he is watching how the Palestinian issue is NOT the main item on the agenda of the Muslim and Arab world. They are much more preoccupied with the horrific, bloody Sunni-Shi'ite war, the collapse of Arab states, such as Yemen, Libya, Iraq and Syria (there will be more...) and the Russian intervention in Syria. There are no throngs of demonstrators in the streets of Arab and Muslim capitals. In fact, not even the Palestinian masses are in the streets; but the terrorists are, and their battle cries are based on lies which their leader tells them. This is the old Arab and Palestinian game of "beat the Jews and save the Muslims," old but not helpful, old and one which has led to disasters in the past. Leadership is what is needed now. Not to be led by the people, rather to lead them. Abbas started the fire, and as such, he bears responsibility to what is happening. He should be the one to put the flames out. Another speech is needed, one in which the truth will prevail, not blatant lies.