Israeli border police officers. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas “implicitly gave the green light for renewed violence against Israeli civilians with a wink and a nod” during his U.N. address last week, setting in motion the string of Palestinian attacks against Israelis over the past week, the Anti-Defamation League said on Sunday.

Abbas’ more incendiary comments centered around the Palestinian leader’s threats to cease cooperating with Israel under the framework of previous agreements, such as the Oslo Accords struck by his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, as well as his refusal to acknowledge Jewish links to the religion’s holiest city of Jerusalem, where an attack by a Palestinian left two Jewish Israelis dead on Saturday.

“The attacks by Palestinian terrorist groups in the West Bank and Jerusalem come just days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s highly inflammatory speech at the United Nations, where he called the Oslo Accords defunct and denied the Jewish connection to Jerusalem, among other spurious claims,” declared ADL National Director Jonathan Greenblatt.

Greenblatt’s sentiments echo those of Israeli Prime Minsiter Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of his mostly right-wing coalition, who blame Abbas for inciting Palestinians to violence against Israelis, and for failing to condemn the attacks that have left five Jewish Israelis dead over the last week — the height of Jews’ holiday season.

“Such rhetoric, combined with the broader Palestinian media and political culture of incitement and slandering of Israel and Jews, promotes and advances a culture of violence. This needs to stop if Palestinians and Israelis ever have a hope for a real shot at peace. In the wake of these attacks Palestinian leaders should send a strong and clear message that violence and terrorism is morally unconscionable and completely unacceptable,” said Greenblatt.

Following a four-hour meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced emergency measures to combat the uptick in terrorist violence against Israelis, including the increased use of administrative detention, boosting security personnel in Jerusalem and its environs and readopting a policy of demolishing terrorists homes.