Guardian: Not clear if ‘rock throwing dolls’ were heading to Palestinian Authority

The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont yesterday reported on the seizure, by Israeli Custom officials, of thousands of stone-throwing dolls with keffiyahs saying “Jerusalem is ours” and “Jerusalem we are coming.” 

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Just in time for Christmas

The shipment, noted Beaumont, “was found last week hidden among other goods coming into the port at Haifa”, and was purportedly “shipped from a supplier in the United Arab Emirates.” 

The report quoted Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Tzipi Hotovely thusly:

These dolls were making their way to the Palestinian Authority with one clear purpose, and that was to poison the minds of innocent children. The Palestinians are continuing to incite their youth using any means necessary to educate them about violence and hatred. Here, it’s in the form of a doll.” 

Beaumont then responded:

Despite her claim, it was not entirely clear who the recipient was intended to be.

However, multiple news reports on the incident cited Haifa Customs inspectors’ comments confirming that the dolls were indeed heading to the PA.

A report in USA Today on the row noted that Haifa Customs inspectors “found the dolls in a container that was supposed to hold rugs and plastic items shipped from the UAE to the West Bank via Israel.

Additionally, a NBC News report on Dec. 9th, more than a week before Beaumont’s piece was published, quoted the Head of Enforcement for Haifa Customs (Doron Samara) saying that “this shipment was intended to reach the Palestinian Authority

Indeed, nobody even vaguely familiar with the PA’s ongoing campaign of incitement would be at all surprised to learn that Palestinian children were the intended recipient.

Commenting on the dolls, Palestinian Media Watch observed:

The rock-throwing doll fits the PA and Fatah’s policy of promoting violenceand glorifying terroristsin general, and its clearsupport for the current wave of terror attacks and murder of Israelis in particular. One PLO official honored murderers of a young couple as performing a “national duty” and a PA official openly praised all the recent murderers.
 
Throughout the current wave of violence, the PA and Fatah have continuously promoted rock-throwing in the official PA daily, on Fatah’s Facebook page and Fatah’s Twitter.
Beaumont’s skepticism over the intended recipient of the dolls should be seen in the context of a larger pattern by which the Guardian downplays or ignores antisemitism and the glorification of violence within Palestinian society. 
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