Daily Inspiration Quote by Yasser Arafat

“Convenient” is the tell: a word that turns moral outrage into logistics, suggesting that condemnation of Israel isn’t principled so much as useful. Coming from Yasser Arafat, the line works as a defensive pivot and an offensive frame at once. He’s not rebutting any particular charge; he’s questioning the motives of the people making it. That move matters because it relocates the argument from facts on the ground to the politics of blame - who gets to speak, whose indignation counts, and who benefits from keeping Israel perpetually in the dock.

The phrasing “certain people” is deliberately elastic. It can mean Western governments needing an easy Middle East villain, Arab regimes redirecting domestic anger outward, or international institutions that Arafat often felt applied scrutiny selectively. Vagueness is strategic here: it invites listeners to fill in the culprit that best fits their worldview, expanding the coalition of agreement without committing Arafat to a named adversary he’d later have to confront.

Context sharpens the intent. Arafat spent decades trying to keep the Palestinian cause centered while navigating a crowded geopolitical stage: Cold War patronage, Arab state rivalries, U.S. mediation, the rise of televised conflict, and periodic accusations aimed at him and the PLO. By portraying accusations against Israel as a kind of political hobbyhorse, he aims to delegitimize criticism as performance - and, crucially, to recast Palestinians less as actors in a conflict than as subjects of a narrative managed by others.