The Gaza family of the Palestinian Authority minister who condemned the murder of an Israeli policeman by Arabs several hours before the Passover Seder has disowned him, according to Gatestone Report.
Mahmoud al-Habbash, Palestinian Minister of Religious Affairs, had told a group of Israeli lefties visiting in Ramallah, “We reject all forms of violence… Palestinian blood is like Israeli blood. It is human blood and precious and no one wants anyone killed.”
The reaction throughout the Palestinian Authority was so furious that al-Habbash later said – long after the lefties were gone – that he wasn’t being so extreme as to actually condemn the killing of the police officer, Baruch Mizrachi, whose pregnant wife and one of their children were wounded in the shooting attack. “I didn’t use the word condemn. I only said that the Palestinian leadership rejects all acts of violence,” he told a television station in Ramallah.
But the damage had been done. What Palestinian Authority in his right mind would condemn killing Jews when Mahmoud Abbas has insisted that Israel release all terrorists and other prisoners from jail?
The al-Habbash clan in Gaza said, “We are proud of the heroic operation in Hebron and of every man and child fighting against the occupation. We disown him and anyone who embraces the despicable Israeli enemy.”
Fatah leader Mansour al-Sa’di called “for lifting his [al-Habbash’s] diplomatic immunity and for prosecuting him immediately for his administrative, financial, and political corruption. We also call on President Abbas to fire him immediately from the Palestinian cabinet.”
Gatestone Report’s Khaled Abu Toameh also stated that within minutes after the al-Habbash’s condemnation, “A photograph of the minister, dressed up as a Jewish rabbi, appeared on many Palestinian websites, making him the public’s number one enemy.”