Abbas, appearing emotional, slammed for attending Peres funeral

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas was criticized after a picture of him appearing emotional at former Israeli President Shimon Peres funeral surfaced on Friday.

In the image that was published by Israeli news site, i24News, Abbas is seen holding his forehead and glancing downward.

The picture of Abbas quickly circulated on the internet, where social media users slammed the Palestinian president – labeling him a ‘traitor.’

Another photo showed Abbas hugging Peres’ daughter, which provoked many who considered Peres a war criminal despite his reputation as a peacemaker in the West.

Palestinians have denounced his roles in several Israeli-Arab wars since the Jewish state’s founding in 1948, as well as for the Israeli presence in Palestinian territories.

Palestinian writer and journalist Daoud Kuttab told Al Arabiya English that while Peres was the architect of the Oslo peace process, he refused until the end to oppose illegal Jewish settlements, making him less of a peacemaker in the process.

“He continuously refused even till the last days of his life to oppose illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories which has become the Achilles’ heel of any possible two-state solution,” said Kuttab.