The ‘Palestinians’, the roulette table, and HaShem

According to a brief internet search, if you gambled at a basic casino where only Blackjack, Baccarat, Craps and Roulette were played, you’d quickly learn about winning and losing. You’d learn that your best odds of winning are with blackjack. Your best odds of losing are with Roulette; and if you play roulette aggressively, you can lose everything on one spin of the wheel.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) plays an aggressive game of ‘diplomatic roulette’. It gambles that it can win with one bet--threatening US president Donald Trump.

The PA gambles by threatening violence, war, bloodshed and rage if the US chooses to move its embassy in Israel from its current location in Tel Aviv to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem.

Just days after Trump won the 2016 US election, the PA threatened to ‘make life miserable’ for Trump if he followed through with his campaign promise to move the embassy (“Palestinians Threaten Trump Over US Embassy Move”, israeltoday, November 13, 2016). A month later (December, 2016), Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat upped the ante: he threatened violence against the US (Pesach Benson, “Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat threatens violence over US embassy move”, honestreporting, December 20, 2016). Erekat added that if the US moved its embassy to Jerusalem, Arabs across the Arab world would become so infuriated they’d force all Arab-world US embassies to close (ibid).

Then, beginning early this month, the PA didn’t just up the ante. It dropped all its chips onto the diplomatic roulette table. It chose a betting number. That number had a name: ‘threaten the US and the world’.

The PA threw caution to the wind. First, it had a Fatah official threaten bloodshed (“'Bloodshed will follow if Trump moves US embassy to Jerusalem”, jerusalempost, January 3, 2017). Then on January 5, Jordan joined with Abbas: “Jordan warns of 'catastrophic' repercussions to Trump plan to move US embassy to Jerusalem”, abc.net.au.

Then, the floodgates opened:

-On January 7, US Secretary of State John Kerry caught the ‘bloodshed-catastrophe’ fever. He parroted the Arabs and declared that an embassy move would ignite the Middle East with violence (Barak Ravid, Jack Khoury, “Kerry: Trump Moving U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem Would Lead to a Mideast Explosion”, haaretz.

-On January 8, the PA announced that moving the embassy was a declaration of war against all Muslims (Robert Spencer, “PA top dogs threaten that moving US embassy to Jerusalem ‘declaration of war on all Muslims’”, jihadwatch, January 8, 2017).

-On January 10, the PA said it would withdraw its recognition of Israel (Hariet Agerholm, “Palestinian leaders threaten to withdraw recognition of Israel if Donald Trump moves US embassy to Jersusalem”, independent, January 10, 2017).

--On January 15, the PA threatened to open the gates of hell: Adam Ragson, “Fatah official: moving US embassy in Israel will open the gates of hell”, jerusalempost. A Fatah spokesman threatened everyone: “The gates of hell will be opened in the region and the world” [emphasis mine] (ibid).

-On January 19, 2017, Jack Tonhaben reported that the PA had stated that an embassy move would end Abbas’s rule in the PA (“Palestinian Authority News Agency: Trump Responsible for Spilled Blood If U.S. Embassy Relocated to Jerusalem”, breitbart). The bloodshed that would result from such a collapse would be Trump’s responsibility (ibid).

-On January 19, 2017, the PA made Trump responsible for more than bloodshed. Palestinian Media Watch reported an Arab news story from the official PA Daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida: “Fatah spokesman warns "the rage of the world will burn" [emphasis mine] if US carries out promised embassy move“.

-On January 22, 2017, William Jacobson wrote that a prominent PA leader called Trump ‘Fascist’ and ‘Lunatic’ (“Palestinian leadership launches ballistic tirades as US Embassy announcement nears”, legalinsurrection). The Fatah official said this embassy move was a declaration of war against the whole world [emphasis mine] (ibid).  

-On January 22, 2017, Abbas repeated his threat: “Abbas threatens steps against US over embassy move”, arutzsheva.

-January 22, 2017: Jack Tonhaben, “Abbas: Moving U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem Would ‘Destroy the Peace Process’”, breitbart.

 

-January 22, 2017: “WATCH: Palestinians Burn Posters of US President Trump”, israeltoday.

-January 23, 2017: Adam Ragson, “Hamas official says Trump is an ignoramus”, jerusalempost.

The threats get personal. But from what we’ve all read about Trump, this new US president doesn’t act like a wimp. He acts like a street fighter.

The PA is trying to threaten, frighten and bully Donald Trump. That’s a gamble.

The PA takes its ‘diplomatic’ life savings to the roulette table. It makes one bet.

Will that bet win big for the PA—or will the bet blow up in the PA's face?

HaShem, the G-d of Israel, has a Redemption story to show you. It’s the story of the Destiny of the Jewish nation. Will these PA antics play a role in that story?

Stay tuned.