At a time when Obama is reaching out to Iran, this might be a good moment to consider that pretty much everyone, around the world, would be better off with a comprehensive, Middle East peace agreement. But I say, merely, "pretty much everyone" because there are clealy extremists on all sides who would prefer war and conflict.
One of these individuals has been here, in the U.S., openly calling for the assassination of Mahmoud Abbas
Given this, and given that she represents the Israeli settlers, religiously motivated right wing thugs one and all, as far as I can see, she makes it very hard to not agree with those progressives and human rights groups calling for a suspension of military aid to Israel, at least as long as the settlement activity continues. Or, hypothetically, perhaps we look the other way if a prominent politician in the Middle East came into the U.S. and started openly calling for the assassination of Benjamin Netanyahu? After all, such a statement also is an expression of free speech.
Here is an image of would-be assassin Nadia Matar
Like Ann Coulter, Ms. Matar is not averse to making outrageous and provocative statements, such as referring to Israeli busses as "the gas chambers of the Palestinians" or comparing those Israeli officials overseeing the dismantling of the illegal settlements as "Nazis."
As further examples of her flair for the theatrical, here she is, insulting the Palestinians by both wearing Arab headdress and calling the Palestianans a group of murderers.
And here she is will her fellow activists, denouncing Bill Clinton for, as her group claimed, "treating Israel like a banana republic."
Here is a YouTube clip of her in action. This shows her aiding and abetting the settler families who were being moved out of their illegal places of residence. Notice how she attempts here to delegitimize the Israeli government.
So now, also like Ann Coulter, she is apparently calling for politically driven murder, calling Abbas a terrorist and telling a crowd at the Safra Synagogueon the Upper East Side in Manhattan that,
"today we must destroy all the terrorist organizations. We must kill all the terrorist leaders, starting with Mahmoud Abbas and all others...Nobody had any moral qualms at destroying the Nazi regime. We have to abolish the Oslo Agreements, there's no difference between the PA, the Islamic Jihad, the Hamas, whatever names you have, they're all terrorists and we cannot have peace with them."
Somehow, to extremists like Matar, Mahmoud Abbas is still a "terrorist" even though he signed off on a peace treaty with Israel way back in September 1993.
I wish to see Israel survive, but I also wish to see justice for the Palestinian people; I want to see some real compromises on all side. But I also have no desire to support hateful thugs like Matar and her followers.
UPDATE: Thanks to Tom J for his post, which provided for a link to the actual recording of Matar's assassination call (and its applause) I also want to acknowledge his diary, posted before mine, on this particular topic and also on the very important topic of the funding behind groups.