IDF Weighs Ousting Abbas, Propping Up Different Corrupt Leader

Abbas was elected in 2005 after the death of the iconic and similarly corrupt Yasser Arafat, to serve a four-year term, and has held office ever since.

Tel Aviv, November 24 – To combat a mounting wave of official incitement to kill Israelis, senior figures in Israel’s defense establishment are considering plans to remove Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from power and replace him with a different leader indifferent to the actual problems of his people as he enriches himself and cronies while stamping out dissent.

Abbas was elected in 2005 after the death of the iconic and similarly corrupt Yasser Arafat, to serve a four-year term, and has held office ever since. Parliamentary elections are similarly overdue, as Abbas and his ruling Fatah faction fear the rising popularity of Hamas; they have not been held in nine years. To shore up his legitimacy among Palestinians, Abbas and Fatah have resorted to incitement to murder Jews, glorification of those who do so, and payment of pensions to the families of people killed in the attempt, all while lining their pockets with international aid money and insisting that Palestinian violence is peaceful. Many in Israel’s military and intelligence community have become increasingly convinced that Abbas represents the problem, not the solution to the ongoing unrest, and are exploring options that would entail pushing him aside in favor of someone who would take a different approach to maintaining a luxurious lifestyle while so many Palestinians wallow in squalor and dependence.

“While some of Hamas’s popular appeal is a function of their no-holds-barred militarism and commitment to violence against Israel, some Palestinians still see them primarily as a less corrupt alternative to Fatah,” said a senior IDF commander who spoke on condition of anonymity. “In fact there’s precious little that genuinely distinguishes between Fatah and Hamas, other than what they say publicly. Abbas would doom himself and Fatah to political oblivion if he ever publicly renounced the dream of eventually supplanting Israel, so it’s only strategy that separates them, not purpose, at least as far as Israel’s security is concerned. Since Abbas is no more useful in the long term than Hamas, maybe the time has come to shunt him aside, have him assassinated, or arrange a coup, and let go of the fiction that any viable alternative exists who hasn’t internalized Arafat’s deep antipathy for transparency, honesty, and dependability.”

Instead, said the officer, perhaps Israel would be better off seeking out influential Palestinians willing to couple their desire for ill-gotten gains with a genuine commitment to a peaceful resolution of the conflict. “Such people are rare, but with our military support it’s conceivable such a leader could deliver a serious peace agreement and grant international legitimacy to whatever moves we would subsequently make to defend ourselves under it,” said the commander.

The officer noted that the plan is still in its exploratory stages. “While there’s certainly no shortage of Palestinians willing to live large at the expense of the populace, we’re beginning to doubt the existence of Palestinians willing to make sacrifices for a lasting peace with Israel.”