Welcome to the Unreal World
You have to wonder what kind of world we live in when satirical news sites are virtually indistinguishable from reality.
The fabulous satire site Preoccupied Territory ran an article titled "Abbas Appeals For Calm, More Killing." The article presented Abbas as simultaneously telling his followers that he wants peace and that they should kill as many Jews as possible. But the only satirical aspect of this is that it has him telling two contradictory things to the same people. In reality, he tells two contradictory things to different people.
The UK Daily Mail writes that "Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has spoken out against violence and in favour of 'peaceful, popular resistance'." It's true, he has. He told Ha'Aretz that “I support a popular, nonviolent struggle and oppose all violence and use of weapons. I’ve made clear a number of times that I don’t want to return to the cycle of violence.”
Yet at the same time, Abbas stated that “Al-Aksa is ours and so is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They have no right to desecrate them with their filthy feet. We won’t allow them to do so and we will do whatever we can to defend Jerusalem... We are in Jerusalem and we will stay in it to defend our Islamic and Christian holy sites. We’re not going to leave our country... Each drop of blood that was spilled in Jerusalem is pure blood as long as it’s for the sake of Allah. Every shahid will be in heaven and every wounded person will be rewarded, by Allah’s will.”
So, yes, Abbas had, quite ludicrously, simultaneously appealed for calm and more killings. (It should also be noted that all the talk about "defending holy sites" actually refers to violently blocking Jews who simply want to pray at their own holy site, just as Moslems do.)
Another Preoccupied Territory article likewise was more actuality than satire. "Now That Jews Have Also Attacked Arabs, BBC To Report Violence." The world press did not report the dozens and dozens of attacks over the last week by Palestinians with rocks and knives. It's only when Israelis respond that it makes the news, so that the roles of aggressor and victim can be completely inverted. Take the following notorious headline from the LA Times: "Four Palestinians are killed in Israeli violence." The so-called "Israeli violence" was actually security forces stopping the said Palestinians in their killing spree! You might as well describe the planes crashing into the Twin Towers as "Saudi Arabians killed in American violence"!
As I once wrote in a post entitled "Drawing Strength From Blood Libels," I personally draw inspiration from the extraordinary irrationality of the world's attitude to Israel. But we all have a duty to assist in any way possible. In the world that we live in, that means working hard to clarify the reality of the situation to anyone that might listen.