Sideman: incitement from Palestinian leaders causing latest wave of violence

By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer

One day after two Palestinians from eastern Jerusalem murdered four Jews with a gun, a meat cleaver and an ax in a western Jerusalem synagogue, Israel’s consul general to the Dayton area blamed consistent incitement against Israel from Palestinian leadership as the cause of the recent wave of violence against Israelis.

“It’s cultivated and inspired by a culture that is being embedded into the Palestinian society by Palestinian leadership for a very, very long time,” said Yaron Sideman, Israel’s consul general to the Mid-Atlantic region.

The consul delivered a speech on Nov. 19 at Beth Abraham Synagogue, presenting the Israeli government’s positions on a wide range of security issues.

Sideman was referring to the wave of violence that began in October with attacks by two Palestinian drivers who drove their vehicles into pedestrians waiting at light rail stations in Jerusalem. The terror attacks left four dead — including a 3-month-old girl — and 22 injured.

“I would even go back since the military operation in Gaza,” Sideman said of Palestinian incitement. “And the examples are abundant. Over the past week or two, a letter of condolence that the Palestinian president sent to the family of one of those terrorists who shot an Israeli, tagging that murderer as a martyr and wishing the family that God will put him in a special place in heaven.”

He also cited Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ call for a day of rage in Jerusalem on Oct. 31, and statements that Jews should not be allowed at the Temple Mount, as examples of what Sideman described as the core reason for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is plain and simple,” Sideman said. “The lack of acceptance of Israel’s right to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people in that neighborhood, in the Middle East, under any set of borders.

It’s evident in the fact that he (Abbas) entered into a coalition agreement with Hamas, a terrorist organization which calls in its charter for Israel’s destruction.”

Following the summer war with Hamas, Israel faces the challenge of Gaza’s rebuilding along with the need to demilitarize Hamas, Sideman said.

“Israel cannot do this alone,” he said. “We have a partner today in the form of Egypt. Right now, the current Egyptian leadership sees Hamas as a bitter enemy of its own, and puts a lot of time, effort and energy into clamping down on the weapons smuggling into Gaza.”

With much skepticism toward a positive outcome for U.S.-led negotiations with Iran over its nuclear capabilities, Sideman said Israel’s government views all of its challenges as twofold: Iran and everything else.

“And by everything else I mean Syria, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Hamas,” he said. “All these are very serious challenges that we need to deal with. But none of them pose an existential threat on Israel and none of them are as severe as Iran acquiring nuclear capabilities.”

Sideman said that Iran with a nuclear weapon would be the same as ISIS with a nuclear weapon.

“Take a knife out of the hand of the ISIS terrorist who cut the throats of American journalists and put a nuclear weapon in his hand: that’s Iran.”

He said a good deal with Iran would be similar to the one negotiated with Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons.

“Ninety-nine percent of all the chemical weapons in Syria are dismantled and taken out of the country,” Sideman said. “That’s what should happen with Iran’s nuclear capabilities.”

Israel’s Mid-Atlantic region consulate comprises Pennsylvania, Ohio, Delaware, West Virginia, Kentucky and southern New Jersey. While in Dayton, Sideman also met with leaders of economic development projects connected to Israel.

Approximately 130 people, mostly members of the Jewish community, attended his talk, sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council.

With Israel’s resumption on that day of its policy to destroy terrorists’ homes, The Observer asked Sideman if there was evidence the policy was a deterrent to further terror attacks.

“I don’t know of statistics that relate directly to the effect of demolishing terrorists’ houses lowering the number of terrorist attacks,” Sideman replied.

To read the complete December 2014 issue of The Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.