Palestinian mother goes off script

Suhair Halabi is very proud of her son, Muhannad. Mrs. Halabi is so proud, in fact, that she recently displayed her pride by visiting the site where Muhannad became famous. We know about her visit because she posted, on Facebook, a photo of herself at the site, flashing “V” for “Victory” signs with both hands.

But Muhannad’s “accomplishment” was not a 4.0 grade point average in school or a game-winning goal in a soccer field. It was the cold-blooded murder of an Israeli rabbi on the streets of Jerusalem, the slashing of the rabbi’s wife and 2-year-old child, and the fatal stabbing of a bystander who tried to assist the victims.

At a press conference on May 7, 2002, president George W. Bush said, “I deeply hurt when there is a lack of hope for moms and dads of anybody — Palestinian moms and dads — it bothers me.”

President Barack Obama has made similar statements about “Palestinian moms and dads.” It’s a bipartisan myth—the notion that “Palestinian moms and dads” are just like moms and dads anywhere, that they have the same hopes as anybody else.

Not Mrs. Suhair Halabi. She has made very clear what her hope is. Flashing a V-for-Victory sign at the blood-drenched spot on Haggai Street where Muhannad committed his atrocity was a statement that she hopes for many more murders of Jews.

Her husband has made it very clear that he feels the same way. In the aftermath of the murders, Mr. Shafiq Halabi told reporters, “Muhannad has led the way and I feel that all those young people rising up are joining him. His attack was the wake-up call that Palestinians needed to act and break the current deadlock.”

If Mrs. Halabi were a little more sophisticated in the realm of public relations, she would have stuck to the script that the State Department and J Street would prefer she read from. She would have said how she condemns her son’s murderers, and how he was motivated by personal problems rather than ideology, and how the overwhelming majority of Palestinians just want peace like everybody else. 

But Mrs. Halabi went off script. She was honest. She wanted the world to know how she really feels.