Terrorist funerals – glorification and incitement by the PA

Maurice Hirsch, Adv. and Nan Jacques Zilberdik | May 30, 2018

Terrorist funerals - glorification
and incitement by the PA

Funerals for terrorists provide platform for the PA and Fatah to glorify them as heroes
PA municipality held tree planting event for terrorist
Fatah leader Jibril Rajoub has used terrorist funerals to encourage more acts of terrorism

By Maurice Hirsch, Adv. and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

The Palestinian Authority's practice of glorifying terrorists is a daily occurrence, well documented by Palestinian Media Watch. Funerals of terrorists provide an additional opportunity for the PA to laud them as heroes and often set the scene for incitement.

To combat this phenomenon, Israel's government decided that, as a general rule, the bodies of terrorists would not be transferred to their families, but rather buried in designated cemeteries in Israel.

In a rare divergence from this policy, in February this year, the bodies of two Palestinian terrorists - Nimr Mahmoud Ahmed Al-Jamal, murderer of 3 Israelis, and Hamza Zamaarah who after serving 14 years in prison for previous terror offences, attempted to stab an Israeli security guard - were transferred to their families.

The release of their bodies resulted in mass glorification of these terrorists.

During its coverage of the funeral of terrorist Al-Jamal, PA TV praised him as a "Martyr" who "ascended to Heaven" when he was killed during his attack:

Official PA TV narrator: "In an atmosphere of sadness and grief, masses of our people accompanied the body of 37-year-old Martyr Nimr Al-Jamal to his final resting place... Martyr Nimr Al-Jamal ascended [to Heaven] on Sept. 26, [2017] while carrying out an operation (i.e., terror attack) at the entrance to the settlement called Har Adar, during which 3 occupation army soldiers were killed. Since then his body was kept [by Israel], until he returned today borne on his friends' shoulders to embrace his town's soil and join the processions of Martyrs."

[Official PA TV News, Feb. 17, 2018]

A statement by a relative of the terrorist shows that Palestinians view terrorist funerals as processions for "heroes" and "grooms." According to Islam, Martyrs marry the 72 Virgins in Paradise:

Inas Al-Jamal: "Today you saw that Nimr's funeral as a groom is not a regular funeral - it is not the funeral of a groom, but the funeral of a hero, of a Martyr. Not only Nimr is for Palestine, we are all for Palestine."

[Official PA TV News, Feb. 17, 2018]

PA TV's coverage of the funeral of terrorist Zamaarah exemplified that his parents also perceive his "Martyrdom" and his funeral as a "wedding" and his death as a sacrifice for "the defense of Palestine, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Jerusalem":

Father of terrorist Hamza Zamaarah: "Hamza is not just my child, he is the son of Palestine. Hamza became a Martyr while defending the soil of Palestine. Hamza became a Martyr while defending the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem, and the prisoners. Praise Allah."

[Official PA TV News, Feb. 17, 2018]

Mother of terrorist Hamza Zamaarah: "I ask Allah to give him the reward of a Martyr. Allah willing, he will be with the prophets, the Martyrs, and the righteous. I greet all the people who came today to accompany my son at his wedding. My son is a sacrifice for the homeland, for Palestine, for Islam, and a sacrifice for all of Palestine."

PMW has documented that the PA incites Palestinians to riots, violence, and terror by claiming that Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa are "in danger" and in need of "protection." Even PA Chairman Abbas has stated that the Islamic and Christian holy sites are in need of "defense."

A week after the funeral, the Halhoul Municipality organized a tree planting event at the home of terrorist Zamaarah, at which PA and Fatah officials praised the terrorist as "heroic":

Halhoul Mayor Hijazi Mur'ib: "We're planting the first sapling of our trees in front of the home of the Martyr's father... We are carrying out this event in the streets of Halhoul in order to commemorate the Martyrs' souls."

Fatah North Hebron Branch Secretary Hani Ja'ara: "Today, the masses of Halhoul and the Fatah Movement bid farewell to their heroic Martyr Hamza Zamaarah, in a popular mass procession that expressed the great loyalty to this Martyr."

[Official PA TV News, Feb. 24, 2018]

When Israel released bodies of terrorists in February 2016 following the murderous terror wave ("The Knife Intifada), which began in October 2015, similar messages were espoused, presenting the funerals as "national weddings" and the terrorists as "Martyrs" who "fell for Palestine":

Official PA TV reporter: "The procession began after the prayer for the Martyrs' (Shahids') souls in the Al-Hussein Mosque... It proceeded through the streets and ended at the Al-Shuhada cemetery (i.e., the Martyrs' cemetery)... where the Martyrs were buried amid calls of the participants who accompanied the Martyrs in a funeral befitting their sacrifice and status."

Terrorist stabber Abd Al-Rahman Maswadeh's sister: "Allah honored them with this Martyrdom. We received their bodies and felt relieved, because the homeland's ground, for which they sacrificed their pure blood, now warms them and is befitting of them. For of course the honoring of the dead is his burial. Praise Allah Master of the Worlds, I bless all of the Martyrs' families. They received their sons and were relieved by their bodies [being transferred]."

Official PA TV reporter: "After the occupation authorities held [the Martyrs' bodies] in refrigerators and freezers for a number of days, they were returned in a national wedding to the warm ground for which they fell, and which they protected."

[Official PA TV, Jan. 2, 2016]

Referring to these funerals, Fatah leader Jibril Rajoub used the opportunity to glorify the terrorists and to encourage more terrorism:

"Yesterday in Hebron, they escorted 17 Martyrs to burial. This is of course a source of pride for all of us. I say that whoever carried out individual acts of heroism, we in the Fatah movement bless and encourage them. We consider them heroes and a crown on the head of every Palestinian. At this point, when there is weakening and frustration, there is a group of people, beginning with our brother Muhannad Halabi (i.e., murdered 2) and ending with the last Martyr... There is a competition between individuals. This is one of the issues we need to address - are we for or against it? I say that we in the [Fatah] Central Committee have discussed this matter, and we are in favor."

[Official PA TV, Jan. 2, 2016]

The following are longer excerpts of the statements above:

Fatah North Hebron Branch Secretary Hani Ja'ara: "Today, the masses of Halhoul and the Fatah Movement bid farewell to their heroic Martyr Hamza Zamaarah (i.e., terrorist, stabbed 1), in a popular mass procession expressing loyalty to this Martyr..."

Official PA TV narrator: "Martyr Zamaarah who ascended [to Heaven] 10 days ago... was shot by the occupation soldiers on the pretext that he attempted to stab a settler... The occupation held him in the [morgue] freezers. Here he is today accompanied to his final resting place in a funeral befitting a Martyr..."

Official PA TV reporter: "The members of our people say farewell to another Martyr [who died] defending our just cause and protecting our holy sites from the occupation's policies."

Official PA TV narrator: "In an atmosphere of sadness and grief, masses of our people accompanied the body of 37-year-old Martyr Nimr Al-Jamal (i.e., terrorist, murdered 3) to his final resting place. Martyr Nimr Al-Jamal ascended [to Heaven] on Sept. 26, [2017] while carrying out an operation (i.e., terror attack) at the entrance to the settlement called Har Adar, during which 3 occupation army soldiers were killed. Since then his body was kept [by Israel], until he returned today borne on his friends' shoulders to embrace his town's soil and join the processions of Martyrs."

[Official PA TV News, Feb. 17, 2018]

Official PA TV reporter: "The procession began after the prayer for the Martyrs' (Shahids') souls in the Al-Hussein Mosque, which took place at the same time as the announcement of mourning and a strike of all the city's public institutions. It proceeded through the streets and ended at the Al-Shuhada cemetery (i.e., the Martyrs' cemetery) in the Al-Sheikh neighborhood, where the Martyrs were buried amid calls of the participants who accompanied the Martyrs in a funeral befitting their sacrifice and status."

Official PA TV reporter: "After the occupation authorities held [the Martyrs' bodies] in refrigerators and freezers for a number of days, they were returned in a national wedding (i.e., Martyr's funeral, considered wedding to the 72 Virgins in Paradise according to Islam) to the warm ground for which they fell, and which they protected."

[Official PA TV, Jan. 2, 2016]

A Martyr's funeral is considered a wedding to the 72 Virgins in Paradise in Islam.

Hamza Zamaarah - Palestinian terrorist who stabbed and wounded an Israeli security guard at the entrance to Karmei Tzur near Hebron on Feb. 7, 2018. Zamaarah was shot and killed during the attack by another security guard.

Nimr Mahmoud Ahmed Al-Jamal - Palestinian terrorist who shot and murdered an Israeli border police officer and 2 security guards and wounded another Israeli at the entrance to Har Adar, northwest of Jerusalem, on Sept. 26, 2017. Al-Jamal was shot and killed during the attack by other border police officers.

Abd Al-Rahman Maswadeh - 21-year-old Palestinian terrorist who stabbed and injured an Israeli soldier. He then stabbed and injured an Israeli civilian who jumped on him from behind to stop him. The Israeli Hebron community security chief shot and killed him.

Muhannad Halabi - 19-year-old Palestinian terrorist who killed 2 Israelis, Rabbi Nehemiah Lavi and Aharon Bennett, and injured Bennett's wife, Adele, and their 2-year-old son in a stabbing attack in the Old City of Jerusalem on Oct. 3, 2015. Following the attack, he was shot and killed by Israeli security forces. Prior to his attack, in a post to his private Facebook page, the terrorist referred to recent terror attacks as part of a "third Intifada," and said that it was a response to Israel's actions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and that the Palestinian people would not "succumb to humiliation." This is a reference to the PA libel that Israel is plotting to take over and destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and to the PA's portrayal of Jews praying on the Temple Mount as "an invasion of the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Terrorist funerals – glorification and incitement by the PA

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