Most Palestinians Suspect Israel in Paris Attacks
JERUSALEM, Israel -- A poll conducted by the Palestinian Authority's semi-official Ma'an News Agency showed nearly 85 percent of Arab respondents believe Israel may have been involved in the terror attacks in Paris that killed 17, including four French Jews at a kosher supermarket, earlier this month.
The P.A.'s official newspaper, al-Hayah al-Jadida, posted results of the survey, the Times of Israel reported.
According to the report, less than 9 percent of Arabs in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) attributed the attacks to radical Islamists.
One Fatah official reportedly said France's decision to endorse a Palestinian state somehow factored into the Paris terror attacks.
The report quoted one Arab journalist who intimated that Israeli Intelligence may have been behind the attacks since increased immigration only benefits "Netanyahu's Jewish state."
Some say rampant conspiracy theories in P.A. media linking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Mossad and other Jewish leaders to the French terror attacks influenced perceptions. Netanyahu called the Islamists who carried out the attacks part of a "global movement" requiring a "global response."
"I believe that with the strength of our resolve and the unity of our action, we can defeat this threat to our common civilization," Netanyahu said the day after the attacks. "And what the battle against terror requires is courage, clarity and consistency."
