Palestinian leaders regularly urge their people to boycott Israeli products, causing a major outrage when they slipped up and released a picture of themselves surreptitiously enjoying delicious Israeli-made refreshments at a meeting.
By: United with Israel Staff, with files from Palestinian Media Watch
The Oxford American Dictionary defines “hypocrisy” as “the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform.”
That definition perfectly encapsulates the Palestinian Authority’s campaign to force ordinary Palestinians to forego Israeli products as a sign of “resistance” to “normalization” with Israel.
But how committed is the Palestinian Authority itself to the boycott?
If photos from a PA meeting this week are any indication, the PA doesn’t believe it must play by its own boycott rules. To that end, a photo surfaced on Facebook of PA employees at the meeting enjoying Israeli refreshments, such as Tapuzina orange juice.
The photo apparently caused such an outrage that the PA Ministry of Employment, which posted the image, removed it immediately.
Anger over the PA’s hypocrisy is understandable in light of the efforts undertaken to promote boycotts of Israeli products, from programs in schools to websites and segments on PA television.
The PA’s hypocrisy should come as no surprise, however, in light of the conduct of PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
When it comes to his failing health, Abbas is certainly not in favor of boycotting anything Israeli, least of all the Israeli doctor who reportedly helped saved the cigarette-smoking 83-year-old’s life last May, according to recent reports.
Perhaps the PA should change its slogan to, “Do as we say, not as we do.”