Tax Dollars for Terrorism: White House Spokesman Dismisses Abbas' Calls for Murdering Israelis as "Internal Politics"
(Note the shameless ducking of the issue of Fatah's terrorism and the dismissal of Abbas' call for killing Israelis as "internal politics", which has been a longstanding White House line to dismiss Arafat's calls for violence as just "internal" and not relevant when it came to describing him as a partner in peace and demanding more concessions from Israel)
Q Thank you, Tony. Two questions. First, WorldNetDaily's Jerusalem correspondent reports Secretary of State Rice telling reporters that the United States will ensure that weapons and the $86 million provided to militias affiliated with Fatah will not be used to attack Israel. My first question, how does the President believe this is possible when the military wing of Fatah is al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which together with Islamic Jihad has taken responsibility for every suicide bombing in Israel in the past two years, including the killing of U.S. teenager Daniel Wultz?
MR. SNOW: I believe Hamas has been fairly actively engaged, Les, in acts of terror. The other thing is --
Q I agree. So has Fatah.
MR. SNOW: Prime Minister Abbas has made it clear and guarantees what we think are sufficient and clear that it is his desire to try to be able to negotiate with Israel effectively toward a two-state solution. And as you know, the United Nations right now is providing humanitarian aid that is supposed to be used, and is guaranteed to be used by audits and other follow-ups strictly for humanitarian purposes. That's how we would expect this aid to be spent.
Q How can the Bush administration, which says it is opposed to terrorism, give $86 million, plus weapons, to any organization led by Abbas, who just told a rally in Ramallah that Palestinians should stop shooting each other and "direct our guns against Israeli occupation," who funded the 1972 Munich massacre of Israel's Olympic Team and wrote a thesis denying the Holocaust?
MR. SNOW: Again, Les, if you'll take a look at developments in recent days and conversations, the real key is to look for folks who are going to be committed to negotiating with the Israelis. And the Prime Minister has been -- I'm sorry, the President, President Abbas, has been -- well, I'm not going to get into the internal politics because that's the sort of thing that can get misquoted.
Q Do you think he has changed in the last week, since he --
MR. SNOW: I think that it is important -- we believe that President Abbas is somebody that is determined to try to work toward peace in the region, and we're going to try to facilitate that.