As of last week, nineteen cases of coronavirus have been reported in the Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Bethlehem, while Israel has confirmed some 76 cases in its own territory. Meanwhile, Jerusalem has transferred some 250 coronavirus test kits to the Palestinians and is organizing joint training sessions for Israeli and Palestinian medical professionals to collaborate in responding to the virus. Yet Palestinian Authority officials have not ceased libeling the Jewish state, writes Khaled Abu Toameh:
On March 7, as Israel was helping dozens of foreign tourist groups leave Bethlehem, . . . the Palestinians revived yet another one of their old libels against Israel and Jews: the one claiming Israel uses wild boars to drive Palestinians out of their agricultural fields. . . . The report claimed that Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers have been releasing wild boars in parts of the West Bank to destroy Palestinian crops and to intimidate Palestinian villagers and farmers.
Needless to say, none of the Palestinians interviewed for the report managed to provide evidence that Israeli soldiers or settlers were behind the spread of wild boars in the West Bank.
By continuing to spread defamatory reports [about] Israel and Jews, particularly while Israel is working around the clock to save Palestinian lives from the coronavirus, the Palestinians are once again demonstrating how they repay those who assist them.
Israel is training Palestinian medical professionals to combat the spread of a dangerous disease at the very moment that Palestinian leaders are continuing to poison the hearts and minds of their people against the very people working to help them. While this sort of perverse Palestinian payback is nothing new, it nonetheless ought to interest anyone in the international community who is considering contributing to the Palestinian cause.
Read more on Gatestone: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15697/palestinians-blood-libels