We prefer our villains to act and look like villains. When villains dress in a suit, talk about peace and act like a diplomat it confuses us.
Saeb Erakat, the Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the PLO, died today.
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His death has brought a range of emotions to the fore around the world. As the chief negotiator for the Palestinians Erakat was a diplomat, polite and friendly with Israeli and American diplomats. Erakat fooled a great many people – but he was never interested in peace.
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He sought an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict not through peace, but through the deligitimization and weakening of Israel as a Jewish state. His words were slanderous, and hate filled.
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Whether it was his Jenin blood libel, his advocacy for a right of return of Palestinians to Israel, his approval and support for “Pay for Slay” his refusal to stop Palestinian terror, or refusal to allow his own people to vote, Erakat was a villain in a diplomat’s costume.
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I understand why diplomats like @Martin_Indyk and @aarondmiller2 are praising him today – they worked with him and had a personal relationship with him. I can’t understand how Rabbis and Jewish leaders are fooled by him and praising him today.
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Erekat was an evil man who stood for evil objectives. His end came after taking medical care at an Israeli facility – a privilege he denied his own people and advocated other people should boycott. He was a hypocrite.
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Erekat's legacy is in his failures at achieving anything for his people – failure that was self-inflicted.
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