Apparently U.S. President Barack Obama is not alone in searching for a legacy. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is looking for one as well, and he, too, is doing it at our expense. Obama found himself a legacy in Iran, Abbas found it at home, in the terror business. Both are convinced these long-awaited legacies will assure them an honorary place in history. They are even convinced they will emerge righteous. Abbas has revealed his true face with the current wave of terrorism against Israeli civilians. By any sober assessment, the gambit taken by this "moderate" and "wonderful" man is political suicide and terrible for his image. But in the Palestinian reality -- past and present -- Abbas is doing precisely what is expected of him, by the Palestinian leadership and street alike. This perhaps explains his conduct, from the beginning of the current wave of violence up to this most recent trend of stabbings. He first engaged in a campaign of vilification against the Jews, explaining how our "filthy feet" were desecrating the Temple Mount. Then he graduated to outright incitement to violence and lies. In his speech of lies on Wednesday, Abbas accused Israel of executing a 13-year-old Palestinian boy in cold blood. Incidentally, this boy-terrorist, from the attack in Pisgat Zeev, is alive, kicking, breathing, and eating in an Israeli hospital. The only thing this young terrorist could perhaps complain about is that his meals come with a fork but no knife. Were it not for his deliberate lie, maybe Abbas would have believed the child rose from the dead. So why is Abbas lying? Perhaps Pinocchio was his childhood hero? No, he is lying because this has always been his way. Has anyone forgotten his doctoral thesis, which was also based on a lie? The young Holocaust denier is now the old terrorism denier. The man is a chronic liar. Truth be told, we never expected much of Abbas. True, he did manage to win the support of a small but loud Israeli chorus, but anyone who followed heard him persistently reject the idea of a Jewish state; saw him flee from the room when former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert handed him the map of Israeli concessions; and then not only object but outright negate any possibility of Jews continuing to live in the areas to be handed over to the Palestinians. According to Abbas, however, the Israelis are the racists. But while we expected very little from the PA leader, we did have expectations of the American administration, and not just because of the past and because we share the same values -- but because over the past decades we have also shared the same threats of terrorism. Washington has always had misgivings about Jerusalem, namely with east Jerusalem being under Israeli sovereignty. The location of the American Embassy in Tel Aviv is a testament to these misgivings. But to claim, as the State Department did on Wednesday, that "Israel is using excessive force" in its war against these attackers, is not only unfair but incorrect. Secretary of State John Kerry even raised the issue of settlements and went as far as to link them to the recent wave of stabbings. Would we ever have dared, even for a moment, to search for the reasons for the September 11 attacks? We didn't, and not merely because we always have and always will be on the Americans' side, but because we believe a distinction cannot be made between acts of terrorism. Targeting and hurting Jews is perhaps only legitimate among those dark ideologies we are fighting against. Indeed, Kerry did try on Thursday to make amends by explaining that "there is no justification for violence against Israelis." What concerns us, however, is the spontaneous response provided by State Department spokesman John Kirby, who said Israel was violating the status quo on the Temple Mount -- which is also a lie. Perhaps with his comments on Wednesday, Abbas tried creating another Muhammad al-Dura, one more story of a brave boy becoming a shahid. To become a shahid, however, one first has to be dead. These are difficult days for all Israelis. But let one thing be clear: We are in the right! And therefore we will win, despite the lies.
