Op-ed glorifies terrorist "Martyrs" slain in April, including mass murderers
Excerpt of an op-ed by Haitham Zeitar, originally published in the Lebanese paper Al-Liwaa
“In light of the fact that we are in the month of April, if we would only review the names of fighting Martyrs [who died in this month], we would find that the procession stretches from Abd Al-Qader Al-Husseini (April 8, 1948) (parentheses in source, Arab commander in the 1948 war –Ed.), through Martyr Khalil Izz Al-Din Al-Jamal (the first Lebanese Martyr in the ranks of the Palestinian revolution, April 10, 1968), Prince of Martyrs ‘Abu Jihad’ [Khalil] Al-Wazir (April 16, 1988) (terrorist responsible for murder of 125 –Ed.), and Dr. Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rantisi (April 17, 2004) (co-founder of the Hamas terror organization –Ed.)…
In the month of April the assassination of the three leaders Kamal Nasser, Kamal Adwan, and Muhammad Al-Najjar Abu Yusuf (i.e., senior members of the Black September terror organization) also took place in an Israeli commando operation in Verdun (see note below –Ed.) in the heart of the Lebanese capital of Beirut on April 10, 1973.”
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.
Abd Al-Aziz Al-Rantisi - co-founder of Hamas was responsible for kidnappings and many murderous terror attacks against Israel. Al-Rantisi was killed by missiles fired at his car from an Israeli Air Force helicopter, on April 17, 2004.
Kamal Adwan and Kamal Nasser were both senior members of Black September, a secret branch of Fatah, who were killed by Israeli forces in April 1973. Kamal Nasser was also the spokesperson for the PLO and Fatah. Kamal Adwan was responsible for Fatah terrorist operations in Israel.
Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar - was Arafat's deputy and among the founders of Fatah. He was the Commander of Al-Asifa, Fatah's military unit, and member of Fatah's Central Committee and PLO's Executive Committee. He also was the Commander of Operations of the terror organization Black September, a secret branch of Fatah, and involved in the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics (Sept. 5, 1972). He was killed by Israel in 1973.
The Verdun Operation is the Arabic name for an Israeli military operation against PLO targets in the Lebanese cities of Beirut and Sidon on April 10, 1973 (Operation Spring of Youth in Israel.) During the operation, Israeli army forces killed three senior PLO leaders, all of whom were also senior members of the Black September terror organization: Kamal Adwan, Kamal Nasser, and Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar.