American Jewish Committee Ad Campaign Singles Out Arafat for War Against Jews

American Jewish Committee
Tuesday, 14 August 2001

The American Jewish Committee today launched a national ad campaign singling out Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat for fostering an atmosphere that glorifies suicide-bombing attacks in Israel.

"Palestinian political and religious leaders teach that a glorious "paradise" awaits those who have killed themselves while killing Jews," states the American Jewish Committee. "How many more people in Israel will have to pay with their lives while Arafat fails to imprison the terrorist masterminds under his authority – and pursues a two-faced strategy of talking peace while encouraging violence?"

The ad appears in today's New York Times, on WCBS NewsRadio 88, and will appear in the next issue of The New Republic, as well as in other publications.

The full text of the ad follows:

Palestinian War Against Jews

In recent days, Palestinian suicide bombers struck again in the heart of Israel. In the worst attack, in Jerusalem, 15 Jews were killed, including seven children, and 130 others were injured, some critically.

This was the latest in a series of targeted, brutal terrorist attacks on restaurants, discotheques, shopping malls, open-air markets, and public buses throughout Israel.

Victims have included children and the elderly, hawks and doves, the religious and secular, Israelis and foreigners.

To the perpetrators, young Palestinians, it doesn't matter who the victims are – as long as they are Israelis, as long as they are Jews.

Indoctrinated by Palestinian political and religious leaders, they have been taught that suicide attacks are the highest form of martyrdom.

They have been infused with the belief that a glorious "paradise," including the company of virgins galore, await those who have killed themselves while killing Jews.

They have been assured that their families will receive generous cash payments for their sacrifice from the Palestinian Authority and from Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

Trained to kill, they have been taught to believe that the world would be a better place without Israel, without Jews.

How many more people in Israel will have to pay with their lives while Chairman Arafat fosters an atmosphere that glorifies suicide attacks?

How many more people in Israel will have to pay with their lives while Arafat fails to imprison the terrorist masterminds under his authority – and pursues a two-faced strategy of talking peace while encouraging violence?

How many more people in Israel will have to pay with their lives while Palestinian media incite hatred, Palestinian schools and camps teach the "virtues" of martyrdom, and religious leaders call for jihad?

And how many more people in Israel will have to pay with their lives while the world overlooks Israel 's outstretched hand of peace that could have laid the foundation for an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, only to be rebuffed by Arafat, who, once again, refused to say "yes" to peace.

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org