If they love Palestine, they should thank him, not attack him, and some have made him a target to reach his brother the Lebanese General [Ashraf Rifi]
An official of the Fatah movement in Australia, Abdelkader Karanouh, responded to the Telegraph about what is being done to Dr. Jamal Rifi for attending the Rozana project in Sydney.
“Dr. Jamal Rifi did not make a mistake and we, as Palestinians, are grateful for his hands [assistance] and we are at his side. He has been working since 2012 to help the Palestinian children between Gaza and Ramallah and is working to collect donations to buy four buses to transport cancer patients from their homes to Hadassah Hospital through the Israeli checkpoints. The Rozana Foundation is an Australian institution 100% has nothing to do with the Palestinian Authority or Israel. “
Karanouh was astonished at what happened to Rifi because the Palestinian Authority had no problem with Rozana and that the Palestinians in Australia attended the event in Sydney, including a Palestinian Ambassador. Why is this prejudice against Dr. Rifi as long as the people of the issue have no problem with them?
“I think the problem with the Lebanese is that when it rains in Moscow, they carry a sunshade in Beirut,” Karanouh said [a saying suggesting Lebanese over react – RP]
He added: «All that is brought against Dr. Rifi today is void, and if they really stand with the Palestinian issue should be thankful instead of attacking them, but it is clear that their purpose of all this is to access the target to his brother, Major General Ashraf Rifi in Lebanon».
Karanouh clearly identified a coordination between the two groups of «Hamas» and [Palestinian Islamic] «Jihad» and the Lebanese al-Akhbar newspaper, which meditated in a fabricated news. I personally contacted the author of the article, Leah Azzi, asking them to correct it because the Palestinian Workers’ Union did not attend the event. The newspaper also reported that Ambassador Ezzat Abdel Hadi [PA representative in Australia] had contacted him and promised to correct it, but this did not happen. He confirmed that the newspaper had a certain agenda, refused to issue a correction or an admission of the error.
“I have contacted the [Palestinian] authority in Ramallah and they are aware of everything and everything that Rozana is doing and know that it is an Australian institution. I know who the people in Sydney gave the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar this information and confronted them individually and heard harsh words they deserve”.
In conclusion, we are standing with what Dr. Rifi is doing and we refuse to make him a bridge to reach his brother .
This article appeared in the main Arabic language publication in Australia ‘El Telegraph’ and was translated by Dr Ran Porat.
[Dr. Ran Porat is researcher and lecturer at the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, Monash University and a research fellow at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Centre, Herzliya, Israel.]