PA top officials support terrorist murderers
PA top officials support terrorist murderers: They are "before all" and second only to Allah
Bahrain discusses ways to make the PA economy prosper, but the PA stubbornly insists on prioritizing terrorists and their pay-for-slay salaries
Head of PA General Intelligence: "After our faith in Almighty Allah, we bow before the Martyrs and prisoners"
PA Mufti: "We prioritize them over ourselves... The prisoners, the wounded, and the Martyrs too, are before all"
Abbas' Fatah deputy: They are "a laurel wreath on the forehead of this homeland"
While 39 countries are gathered in Bahrain to discuss how to bring economic prosperity to the Palestinian Authority, the PA itself is in fact the greatest obstacle and reason for its own financial crisis. Uncompromisingly, PA Chairman Abbas keeps prioritizing financially rewarding murderers and terrorists with "pay-for-slay" salaries rather than spending PA money where it is needed and would do good. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that PA leaders are backing the decision to continue the payments - even at the expense of ordinary law-abiding Palestinian citizens.
Recently, three PA top officials emphasized their support for the imprisoned Palestinian murderers and terrorists. One of them is the head of the PA General Intelligence, Majed Faraj, who described murderers and terrorists who have killed and attacked Israelis as "the most honorable, the best, and the most supreme among us." Faraj, who has been mentioned as one of Abbas' possible successors, went on to say that the dead and imprisoned terrorists are second only to Allah:
Head of PA General Intelligence Majed Faraj: "We are with you in Hebron today on behalf of our brother, our beloved, and our leader [PA President] Mahmoud Abbas... We came today to the Ramadan fast-breaking meal of [the families of] the Martyrs and the prisoners... [They are] the most honorable, the best, and the most supreme among us. After our faith in Almighty Allah, we bow before the Martyrs and prisoners... On behalf of all of you, and on behalf of the Fatah Movement, we say good evening, my brother Marwan Zalum (i.e., terrorist, responsible for the murder of at least 7)... We say to these Martyrs... convey greetings to our leaders Yasser Arafat, Abu Jihad, Abu Iyad."
Facebook page of the PA General Intelligence, June 1, 2019
In his speech, Faraj also singled out several murderers worthy of "greetings," among them arch-terrorist Abu Jihad who organized the murder of at least 125 Israelis and Abu Iyad who planned the murder of 11 Israeli athletes in Munich in 1972. (See below.)
The PA Mufti, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, who is the highest religious authority in the PA and was appointed by Abbas in 2006, directly stated his support for the payment of salaries to Palestinian murderers and terrorists, explaining that the PA "prioritizes" them and that they come "before all":
Official PA TV host: "Our entire current battle is for the prisoners..."
PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein: "We greet them... We ask Allah... to pave the way for their release... It is absolutely clear that the entire Palestinian people - everyone for sure - supports the prisoners, their just cause, and this truly heroic struggle, for which we ask that Allah decree a reward for them. Accordingly, their salaries and what is related to them - we support them completely... We prioritize them over ourselves and say: The prisoners, the wounded, and the Martyrs too, are before all."Official PA TV, Religious Rulings, May 20, 2019
Abbas' deputy in Fatah also praised all of the imprisoned terrorists, calling them "a laurel wreath on the forehead of this homeland":
Fatah Deputy Chairman and Fatah Central Committee member Mahmoud Al-Aloul: "We wish all the prisoners a happy holiday. The cost of their sacrifice cannot be estimated. Sacrificing your freedom for the freedom of your country and your people is even more precious than sacrificing your life. The human intellect cannot comprehend that there are those who have lost 37 - and now 38 - years in prison, such as Karim and Maher [Younes] and others. The best of this Palestinian people's fighters are in prison. Fuad Al-Shubaki is one of them, and also Marwan [Barghouti], and all these prisoners, who we view as a laurel wreath on the forehead of this homeland."
Official PA TV, Giants of Endurance, June 1, 2019
The following are details about the Mufti and the murderers and terrorists mentioned above:
PA Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Hussein also holds the positions of Palestinian Supreme Fatwa Council Chairman and Deputy Secretary-General and acting Secretary-General of the PLO Popular National Conference of Jerusalem.
Karim and Maher Younes - Israeli Arab terrorists and cousins who kidnapped and murdered Israeli soldier Avraham Bromberg in 1980. They were originally sentenced to life in prison, but Israeli President Shimon Peres reduced their sentences to 40 years in 2012. In May 2017 Karim Younes was appointed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to the Fatah Central Committee. Karim Younes was released from prison on Jan. 5, 2023, and Maher Younes was released two weeks later on Jan. 19, 2023.
Marwan Barghouti – Palestinian terrorist and member of the Palestinian Authority parliament who is serving 5 life sentences for orchestrating three shooting attacks in which 5 people were murdered: one attack on the Jerusalem-Maale Adumim road (June 12, 2001) in which Greek Orthodox monk Tsibouktsakis Germanus was murdered by terrorists Ismail Radaida and Yasser Ah'Rabai, another attack at a gas station in Givat Zeev near Jerusalem (Jan. 15, 2002) in which Yoela Hen was murdered by terrorists led by Mohammed Matla, and one shooting and stabbing attack at the Seafood Market restaurant in Tel Aviv (March 5, 2002) in which Eli Dahan, Yosef Habi, and Police Officer Sergeant-Major Salim Barakat, were murdered by terrorist Ibrahim Hasouna. When arrested by Israel in 2002, Barghouti headed the Tanzim (Fatah terror faction). After he was convicted and imprisoned, he was re-elected as a member of the Palestinian Authority parliament. On Dec. 4, 2016, he was elected to Fatah's Central Committee.
Marwan Zalum - Palestinian terrorist and commander of the Hebron branch of the Tanzim (Fatah terror faction). He was responsible for a number of terror attacks in the Hebron region, including sending the terrorist who in a shooting attack murdered the infant Shalhevet Pass in her stroller on March 26, 2001. Zalum also provided the explosive device used in a suicide attack at the entrance to Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda open market on April 12, 2002, in which 6 Israelis were murdered and 80 wounded. He organized the planting of a bomb in southern Hebron, which murdered Israeli soldier Shai Cohen on July 9, 2001, and initiated a shooting attack at the entrance to Kiryat Arba on July 12, 2001, in which 1 person was murdered. Zalum was killed by the Israeli army on April 22, 2002.
Yasser Arafat – Founder of Fatah and former chairman of the PLO and PA. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s Arafat was behind numerous terror attacks against Israelis. Although he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 together with then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and then Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East" after signing the Oslo Accords peace agreement, Arafat launched a 5-year terror campaign - the second Intifada (2000-2005) – in which more than 1,000 Israelis were murdered. Arafat died of an illness in 2004.
Abu Jihad (Khalil Al-Wazir) - was a founder of Fatah and deputy to Yasser Arafat. He headed the PLO terror organization's military wing and also planned many deadly Fatah terror attacks in the 1960’s - 1980’s. These attacks, in which a total of 125 Israelis were murdered, included the most lethal in Israeli history - the hijacking of a bus and murder of 37 civilians, 12 of them children.
Abu Iyad (Salah Khalaf) - PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat’s deputy, one of the founders of Fatah, and head of the terror organization Black September, a secret branch of Fatah. Attacks he planned include the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics (Sept. 5, 1972) and the murder of two American diplomats in Sudan (March 1, 1973). It is commonly assumed that his assassin, a former Fatah bodyguard, was sent by the Abu Nidal Organization, a rival Palestinian faction.