15-Jul-16: Abbas, who praises vehicle rammers to the sky, has just (yes) condemned the French savagery

Leaders of many countries marched solemnly in the streets of Paris in
January 2015, condemning terrorism with their serious faces and
determined words. Except for one delighted man: Abbas. [Image Source]

There's no need to belabor the point: 

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, elected to a four year term as president of the PA on January 9, 2005 and having successfully deflected all attempts by his citizens and foes at another election since then, has this afternoon brazenly condemned the very action that he fulsomely praises when it's done by Palestinian Arabs. Here's today's report from an Arab source:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sent his condolences to his French counterpart Francois Hollande on Friday, following an attack Thursday night that left at least 84 people killed, including children, and at least 100 injured when a man deliberately drove a lorry into crowds during national celebrations in Nice, France. According to the Palestinian national news agency WAFA, Abbas declared his support and solidarity with the French people and the families of the victims, while condemning the attack which international media have deemed a “terrorist attack” reportedly carried out by a 31-year-old French-Tunisian. [Ma'an News Agency, July 15, 2016]

For a sense of how utterly devoid of sincerity and how rich in cynicism today's Abbas crocodile-tears statement is, consider just these five background items (from among many) posted by us in the recent past:

• 13-Oct-15: A bloody day and the malevolence behind it
• 23-Oct-15: When the people inciting the knifings/rammings/shootings need really good doctors, where do they turn?
• 24-Feb-16: Incitement and its harvest: What the numbers do and don't tell
• 08-Mar-16: The lethal anguish of "moderate" Abbas
• 24-Jun-16: Vehicle ramming attack in Kiryat Arba: the assailant, a young woman again, is dead

Go to that last link and you will see Abbas quoted widely and publicly in the wake of one of the many recent Arab-on-Israeli vehicle rammings, saying of the attacker to her freshly-bereaved parents:

We consider her to be someone who is with Allah, may He be exalted and elevated, as a martyr who quenched the land of Palestine with her pure soul. I share your deep sorrow and anguish, and express my most sincere condolences to you and to your distinguished family,.. [08-Mar-16: The lethal anguish of "moderate" Abbas]

Abbas is no moderate. He's not a moderate liar. He is not even a moderate kleptocrat. He formulates his views carefully and in odious ways that are frequently fig-leafed by a compliant media concerned that the man's true views and actions might accidentally get better known outside the fellowship of Pal Arab advocates.

In fact, as we see it, the only thing more loathsome than this man's actions - and especially his incitement to murderous stabbings, to vehicle rammings, to shootings and their impact on the lives lived by ordinary people in this part of the world - is the stunning ignorance of reporters and their editors. With the journalistic equivalent of a straight face, they manage to publish transparent nonsense like this afternoon's Abbas "condemnation" without falling off their stools laughing or becoming paralytic with embarrassment.