Hanan Ashrawi falls back to implicit threats of terror in response to Bahrain peace

Old habits die hard for the PLO’s director of public diplomacy, Hanan Ashrawi.

For decades the PLO would threaten that there would be an outbreak of terrorism or war or popular uprisings if the Palestinian leadership didn’t get its way. And for decades, international diplomats believed those threats. 

But over time, as the world saw that those threats were empty and that the promised mass Arab uprisings and murderous attacks did not materialize when the US moved its embassy to Jerusalem, when it recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel, or any other time the PLO promised a strong Arab response.

But this does not stop Hanan Ashrawi from still invoking that tired formula.

In her statement in response to the announcement of an agreement between Israel and Bahrain, she said, “The false promise of prosperity and peace based on the US-Israeli approach will prove itself a destructive mirage that will only further destabilize the region.”

How, exactly, would it destabilize the region? She leaves that to Western imagination to hearken back to the 1970’s oil shock and Palestinian international terror attacks, to fears of an Arab street uprising, to Hezbollah and Iran activating terror cells.

In the end, it is simply another threat. 

This time, though, much of the world is recognizing Palestinian threats for the mafia-style shakedowns that they are.