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The Nobel Peace Prize and the Mask of Terror: Why the World Must Remember the Truth
The signing of the Oslo Accords in Washington, DC, Sept. 13, 1993. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
In a world hungry for peace, symbols matter. But when symbols are corrupted, they become dangerous.
This is exactly what happened in 1994, when Yasser Arafat — the longtime leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and a man with a legacy drenched in blood — was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize alongside Israeli leaders Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.
For Israel, that moment was not one of triumph — but of betrayal.
Israel’s Costly Gamble for Peace
Israel, a democratic nation surrounded by hostility, has long sought genuine peace with its neighbors. The signing of the Oslo Accords in the early 1990s was a bold gesture — an olive branch extended even to those with a history of violence against its people. By recognizing the PLO and engaging Arafat in negotiations, Israel hoped to turn decades of conflict into a future of coexistence.
But instead of peace, Israel received more terror, broken promises, and rivers of blood.
The Oslo process, while well-intentioned, became one of the gravest strategic missteps in Israel’s history. It gave a platform — not to a peacemaker — but to a man who mastered the art of deception, cloaking terrorism in diplomatic language while continuing to incite hatred and violence.
A Bloodstained Record in a Suit
Yasser Arafat was no reformer. He was the architect of modern Palestinian terrorism. As the founder of Fatah and the head of the PLO, he oversaw decades of attacks that targeted innocent civilians — Jewish and non-Jewish alike.
Among the countless atrocities carried out under his leadership, here are some of the worst:
- 1972 Munich Olympics: Israeli athletes slaughtered by Black September, a group tied to Arafat.
- 1974 Ma’alot massacre: 25 Israelis, mostly children, killed in a school hostage crisis.
- 1978 Coastal Road Massacre: 35 civilians murdered in a bus hijacking — the deadliest terror attack in Israeli history until Oct. 7, 2023.
- 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking: An elderly American Jew, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot and thrown overboard in his wheelchair.
These weren’t acts of war. They were deliberate massacres, aimed at innocent lives, executed with a singular goal: the destruction of Israel.
Two Tongues, One Goal
Arafat played a dangerous double game. To Western media, he spoke of peace. But in Arabic, to his own people, he promised victory through violence.
This tactic is not accidental — it echoes the Islamic concept of Taqiya, which allows for concealment of intent under threat. While originally a doctrine for self-preservation, extremists have twisted it into a political weapon. Arafat exploited it masterfully, saying what the West wanted to hear while continuing to incite terrorism from the shadows.
The Nobel’s Dangerous Precedent
Awarding Arafat the Nobel Peace Prize was not just a mistake — it was a global endorsement of duplicity. It told the world that violence can be rewarded if dressed in the right rhetoric. It blurred the moral line between victim and aggressor.
If that precedent holds, how long until we see leaders from Hamas wearing suits, declaring a ceasefire, and receiving applause from the same global institutions that once legitimized Arafat?
October 7th: A Grim Reminder
Israel doesn’t have the luxury of forgetting. The barbaric attacks of October 7th—when Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, slaughtered families, raped women, and kidnapped children — proved once again that the hatred fueling these groups is not a relic of the past. It is alive, unrepentant, and as vicious as ever.
And yet, the international community stands poised to repeat history. If Hamas rebrands itself, mouths the word “peace,” and walks onto a world stage, will it too be handed a Nobel Prize?
Will the victims of Kibbutz Be’eri and Re’im be forgotten, just as the victims of Munich and Ma’alot were?
A Legacy of Lies: From Arafat to Abbas
Today, the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas — Arafat’s political heir — rules the West Bank. It wears the clothes of diplomacy, but little else has changed. Elections are suppressed, incitement continues in schools and the media, and the glorification of terrorists remains a fixture of its institutions.
This is not a peace partner. It is the continuation of the same ideology that Arafat championed.
Never Again: The Moral Clarity Israel Must Defend
Peace must be built on truth, justice, and mutual recognition — not deception. When terrorists are rewarded, when murderers are handed medals, and when the world ignores the suffering of Israeli victims, it sends a message: Israeli lives are negotiable.
We must never accept that.
The Nobel Peace Prize should stand for reconciliation — not for legitimizing those who dream of annihilation.
Let this be a call to moral clarity: Do not forget who Yasser Arafat was. Do not forget what Hamas is. And do not allow history to repeat itself with applause.
Am Yisrael Chai. The Nation of Israel lives — and it will never bow to those who seek its destruction.
Sabine Sterk is the CEO of Time To Stand Up For Israel.
The post The Nobel Peace Prize and the Mask of Terror: Why the World Must Remember the Truth first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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At Least 12 Killed in Massive Russian Attack on Ukraine
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
i24 News – Russia-Ukraine War: About three and a half years after the outbreak of the war, Russia carried out last night (Sunday) the largest air attack since it began. At least 12 people were killed, including three children, and dozens more were injured when 367 rockets and missiles were fired at Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sharply criticized US policy, which so far has taken a soft stance towards Russia, and recently hinted that it would stop mediating between the two countries: “The silence of America, the silence of others in the world only encourages Putin,” he wrote on Telegram. “Every such Russian terrorist attack is reason enough for new sanctions against Russia.”
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia launched 298 drones and 69 missiles in a night attack. According to him, they shot down 266 drones and 45 missiles. Damage was caused to several areas, including the second largest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv, as well as Mykolaiv in the south and Ternopil in the west.
In parallel, a prisoner of war exchange deal was concluded. In Russia, reports said that 303 prisoners were transferred from each side. In total, over the last three days 2,000 prisoners, 1,000 Ukrainians and 1,000 Russians, have been returned to their countries. Zelensky thanked the servicemen of the armed forces, and promised to bring all the prisoners home. “Today, our armed forces, the national guard, the state border service, and the special state transport service are returning home.”
“I am grateful to the team that worked around the clock to successfully execute these exchanges,” he added. “We will certainly bring back each and every one of our people from Russian captivity.”
Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that the Russian army may reach a severe shortage of manpower and weapons in the next year. The Ukrainian army is also in trouble, and it is offering generous economic grants to new recruits.
The post At Least 12 Killed in Massive Russian Attack on Ukraine first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UN Says More Food Needed in Gaza as Looting Hampers Deliveries
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks to members of the Security Council during a meeting to address the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, at UN headquarters in New York City, New York, US, April 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Israeli airstrikes killed at least six Palestinians guarding aid trucks against looters, Hamas officials said on Friday, as the head of the United Nations warned that only a “teaspoon” of aid was getting in following Israel’s 11-week-long blockade.
The Israeli military said 107 trucks carrying flour and other foodstuffs as well as medical supplies entered the Gaza Strip from the Kerem Shalom crossing point on Thursday, for a total of 305 since Monday when the blockade was relaxed.
But getting the supplies to people sheltering in tents and other makeshift accommodation has been fitful and U.N. officials say at least 500 to 600 trucks of aid are needed every day.
So far, an umbrella network of Palestinian aid groups said, 119 aid trucks have got past the Kerem Shalom crossing point and into Gaza since Israel eased its blockade on Monday in the face of an international outcry.
Despite the relaxation of the blockade, distribution has been hampered by looting by groups of men, some of them armed, near the city of Khan Younis, an umbrella network representing Palestinian aid groups said.
“They stole food meant for children and families suffering from severe hunger,” the network said in a statement, which also condemned Israeli airstrikes on security teams protecting the trucks.
The U.N. World Food Program said 15 trucks carrying flour to WFP-supported bakeries had been looted, which it said reflected the dire conditions facing Gazans.
“Hunger, desperation and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming is contributing to rising insecurity,” it said in a statement.
A Hamas official said six members of a security team tasked with guarding the shipments were killed.
Israel imposed the blockade in early March, accusing Hamas of stealing aid meant for civilians. Hamas rejects the charge, saying a number of its own fighters have been killed protecting the trucks from armed looters.
“Hamas constantly calls the looters ‘guards’ or protectors’ to mask the fact that they’re disturbing the aid process,” an Israeli military official said.
‘DESPERATION’
With most of Gaza’s 2 million population squeezed into an ever narrowing zone on the coast and in the area around the southern city of Khan Younis by Israel’s military operation, international pressure to get aid in quickly has ratcheted up.
“Without rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access, more people will die – and the long-term consequences on the entire population will be profound,” said U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
A German government spokesperson said the aid was “far too little, too late and too slow,” adding that delivery of supplies had to be increased significantly.
Israel has announced that a new system, sponsored by the United States and run by private contractors, will soon begin operations from four distribution centers in the south of Gaza, but many details of how the system will work remain unclear.
The U.N. has already said it will not work with the new system, which it says will leave aid distribution conditional on Israel’s political and military aims.
Israel says its forces will only provide security for the centers and will not distribute aid themselves.
As the aid has begun to trickle in, the Israeli military has continued the intensified ground and air operation launched last week, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would end with Israel taking full control of the Gaza Strip.
The military said it had conducted more strikes in Gaza overnight, hitting 75 targets, including weapons storage facilities and rocket launchers.
The post UN Says More Food Needed in Gaza as Looting Hampers Deliveries first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Swiss Authorities Exploring Probe Into US-Backed Gaza Aid Group
Displaced Palestinian children wait to receive free food at a tent camp, amid food shortages, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Swiss authorities said on Sunday they were exploring whether to open a legal investigation into the activities of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization that plans to oversee aid distribution in the Palestinian enclave.
The move comes after a Swiss NGO submitted a request for a probe into GHF’s aid plan, which the United Nations has opposed, saying it is not impartial or neutral and forces further displacement and exposes thousands of people to harm.
The GHF, which has said it hopes to start work in Gaza by the end of May, told Reuters it “strictly adheres” to humanitarian principles, and that it would not support any form of forced relocation of civilians.
Israel has allowed limited aid deliveries to resume this week after having stopped all aid deliveries to Gaza on March 2.
TRIAL International, a Switzerland-based NGO, on Friday said it had filed two legal submissions asking Swiss authorities to investigate whether the Swiss-registered GHF complies with Swiss law and international humanitarian law.
The submissions were made to the Swiss Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) on May 20 and 21.
The FDFA on Sunday confirmed to Reuters that both authorities had received the submissions.
TRIAL International said it asked the Swiss FDFA to explain if the GHF had submitted a declaration, in accordance with Swiss law, to use private security companies to distribute aid, and if it had been approved by Swiss authorities.
The FDFA told Reuters it is investigating whether such a declaration would be required for the foundation.
It said that the Federal Supervisory Board for Foundations cannot review whether foundations comply with their statutes until they start their activities.
The GHF told Reuters that though using private security firms represents a change from prior aid delivery frameworks, it would ensure aid is not diverted to Hamas or criminal organizations.
The post Swiss Authorities Exploring Probe Into US-Backed Gaza Aid Group first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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