Fatah spokesman about imprisoned terrorists and murderers: “Our heroic prisoners… will remain the diamond in the crown”

Official PA TV program Talk of the Hour, hosting Fatah Revolutionary Council member and official Fatah Spokesperson Osama Al-Qawasmi

Fatah Revolutionary Council member and official Fatah Spokesman Osama Al-Qawasmi: “All of the blessings to our heroic prisoners who are behind the occupation’s bars, who have made the sacrifice of their freedom and their separation from their children, their wives, their homes, and the alleyways of the Old City of Nablus, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jerusalem, and Gaza for our freedom. Israel wants us to punish our brave prisoners and our Martyrs for their legitimate struggle for freedom and independence. It wants us to deliver a blow to the national identity with our own hands… The prisoners, the Martyrs, and their families – we have not abandoned them since 1965 and they will remain the diamond in the crown, the headline of a legitimate struggle, and the headline of our honor. Therefore, this lion [PA President Mahmoud Abbas] who is carrying out Ribat (i.e., religious conflict/war over land claimed to be Islamic) in his tent, in the Muqata’a (i.e., the PA headquarters), is emphasizing once again that the oath is an oath, that the promise is a promise. The promise to the Martyrs, the promise to the First Bullet and the First Stone (i.e., reference to terrorist Abu Jihad) and the pen that signs on behalf of Palestine, is that we cannot sell our Martyrs and prisoners or put them on the table of political baseness in the temple of Zionism, the Americans, and [US President Donald] Trump… We emphasize that we are not afraid of anything at all. We are students of freedom and independence, and this money is our money. Israel receives payment in return for collecting [the tax money] on the borders (sic., Israel is not paid for this) until the State of Palestine has control over the crossings. However, the fact that Israel is deducting part of the money of the families of the Martyrs and prisoners – that is unacceptable. We have said this and we will say it on behalf of the Fatah Movement – if [only] one dollar is left in our hands, we will pay it to the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners. It is illogical that they will say that their murderers are innocent and our Martyrs are defined as criminals, as [Palestinian poet] Samih Al-Qasim said. No, our Martyrs are heroes and our prisoners are heroes. We will remain morally, nationally, and politically obligated to their families, who are deprived of the most precious thing in the world - fatherhood - and we won’t agree to negotiate about this matter. President Mahmoud Abbas has determined this matter at the White House and in all of the other meetings. Therefore Israel needs to examine who is the real criminal, the murderer, soldier [Elor Azaria] who murdered [Abd Al-Fattah] Al-Sharif (i.e., terrorist, wounded 1 with an accomplice) is honored with decorations (sic., Azaria was imprisoned, not honored), the one who murdered Al-Sharif in cold blood. [The soldiers] who murdered thousands of members of the Palestinian people and who murdered children on Gaza’s borders [with Israel] – they applaud them and honor them. But our families, they want to persecute us until we punish them. This will not come to be, and will definitely not occur.”

Fatah’s spokesman made the comments after Israel announced it would deduct from PA tax money according to Israel's Anti "Pay-for-Slay" Law - Israeli law stating that the PA payments to terrorists and the families of dead terrorists is a financial incentive to terror. The law instructs the state to deduct and freeze the amount of money the PA pays in salaries to imprisoned terrorists and families of "Martyrs" from the tax money Israel collects for the PA. Should the PA stop these payments for a full year, the Israeli government would have the option of giving all or part of the frozen money to the PA. The law was enacted by the Israeli Parliament on July 2, 2018. During the parliamentary vote, the law's sponsor Avi Dichter said: “The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee received much help in its deliberations... from Palestinian Media Watch who provided us with authentic data that enabled productive and professional deliberations, nuances that are very difficult to achieve without precise data.” [Israeli Parliament website, July 2, 2018] In accordance with the law, as of September 2021 Israel’s Security Cabinet had ordered the freeze of 1.857 billion shekels ($580.15 million) - the sum equivalent to the PA payments to terrorists in 2018, 2019, and 2020.

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.

Elor Azaria - 20-year-old sgt. and combat medic in the Israeli army who shot 21-year-old Palestinian terrorist Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sharif in the head as he lay wounded on the ground and killed him in Hebron on March 24, 2016, shortly after Al-Sharif, together with 21-year-old terrorist Ramzi Aziz Al-Qasrawi, had stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier. Al-Qasrawi was shot and killed during the attack. Azaria has stated that he shot Al-Sharif because he saw him moving and thought he might have a bomb on him and be trying to detonate it - other sources, including a Magen David Adom investigative committee and a military criminal investigator, have confirmed that this possibility had not been ruled out. The shooting and killing was filmed by a Palestinian activist of the NGO B’Tselem. Azaria was condemned by many Israeli politicians and officials following the incident, particularly then Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, and Azaria was put on trial on charges of manslaughter. Azaria was convicted of manslaughter in January 2017 and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Azaria appealed the conviction, but his appeal was rejected by a military court of appeals on July 30, 2017. Azaria's sentence was reduced by 4 months to a total of 14 months on Sept. 27, 2017, by Israeli Army Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot. Azaria was released on May 8, 2018.

Elor Azaria - 20-year-old sgt. and combat medic in the Israeli army who shot 21-year-old Palestinian terrorist Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sharif in the head as he lay wounded on the ground and killed him in Hebron on March 24, 2016, shortly after Al-Sharif, together with 21-year-old terrorist Ramzi Aziz Al-Qasrawi, had stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier. Al-Qasrawi was shot and killed during the attack. Azaria has stated that he shot Al-Sharif because he saw him moving and thought he might have a bomb on him and be trying to detonate it - other sources, including a Magen David Adom investigative committee and a military criminal investigator, have confirmed that this possibility had not been ruled out. The shooting and killing was filmed by a Palestinian activist of the NGO B’Tselem. Azaria was condemned by many Israeli politicians and officials following the incident, particularly then Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, and Azaria was put on trial on charges of manslaughter. Azaria was convicted of manslaughter in January 2017 and sentenced to 18 months in prison. Azaria appealed the conviction, but his appeal was rejected by a military court of appeals on July 30, 2017. Azaria's sentence was reduced by 4 months to a total of 14 months on Sept. 27, 2017, by Israeli Army Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot. Azaria was released on May 8, 2018.