PA condemn US removal of Kahane group from terror list

The Palestinian Authority (PA) yesterday condemned the United States’ decision to remove the radical Jewish Kach group from its terror list, considering the American move a “reward for the group’s activists who are leading an aggression against Palestinians.”

“The US Congress insists on punishing the Palestinians by removing the Kach movement from the list of terror groups and considering the Palestine Liberation Organisation as a terrorist organisation,” the PA said in a statment, adding that Washington was “turning a blind eye and rewarding enemies of peace and stability in the region.”

The PA stressed that the US’ insistacnce to keep the PLO on terror lists was a “constant grievance, double standards, and a victory for injustice.”

In a similar context, Basem Naim, head of foreign affairs in Hamas, said the ultranationalist Israeli group Kahane Chai was responsible for “dozens of terror attacks against the Palestinian people,” holding the US administration responsible for what he described as “terrorism practiced by Kach against Palestinians.”

Naim pointed out that the decision reflected the “US’ double standards and inability to be an honest mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”

“With this decision in place, the US is denying the Palestinians’ basic rights of resisting the occupation, independence and return,” the Hamas official reiterated.

Kahane Chai was founded in 1988 by Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was assassinated in the United States in 1990. It is classified as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and in Israel.  The group is accused of killing and displacing Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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