Palestinian Libels

IRIS Blog has an ongoing entry called Palestinian Libels which is updated regularly. Here is their latest report:

From Palestinian Media Watch:
PA Libel: Israel Deliberately Addicts PA Kids to Drugs

The head of a Palestinian Authority drug prevention program accused Israel this week of intentionally "conquering the youth" by supplying drugs to Palestinian Authority areas.

This is not an isolated example of hate speech, but part of an ongoing drug libel that has been promoted by the PA leadership for more than six years. The accusations have included the lies that "there is a unit in the Israeli intelligence that specializes in drug distribution among teenagers," and that Israelis confessed to distributing "perfumes that cause their inhalers to become addicted to drugs."

A Palestinian official has even stated that Israelis "encourage the addiction to drugs by a payment of 4,500 shekels to he who proves he's addicted to drugs."

Palestinian Media Watch has found dozens of examples of the drug libel over the years. The following is a limited selection of such libels, beginning with the most recent examples and going back to 1999.

1. "It is known that drugs are an imperialist weapon. The Occupation is not interested in conquering the land alone; it is interested in conquering the youth... The easiest way for the Occupation to control the youth is … through drugs. You can see for yourself that a drug user is a man who does not oppose the Occupation, will not throw a stone and will not do a thing."

-Issam Jwichan, Head of the Professional Program of the National Supreme Council for Preventing the Distribution of Drugs, PA TV, November 7, 2005.

2. "Drugs, they fight us with drugs. They choose various means to fight us. At times by planes and at times by drugs."

-PA TV Fictional series for Ramadan, The Canaanite, October 2005

To view the Jwichan libel of Israel "conquering the youth" with drugs, click here. To view The Canaanite clip, click here.