Abbas’ advisor says arch-terrorists are "beloved": Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin, Abu Jihad, Abu Iyad
During a TV program on Islam, Abbas’ advisor on religious affairs and the PA’s Supreme Shari’ah Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash taught viewers that Palestinian arch-terrorists, who have orchestrated attacks in which hundreds of Israeli civilians have been murdered, are “beloved” and “great Martyrs”:
Supreme Shari’ah Judge and Abbas’ advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “We have already bid farewell to our beloved ones, our leaders, and our Martyrs, including [former PLO leader and PA President] Martyr Yasser Arafat, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin (i.e., founder of Hamas terror organization), Martyr Abu Jihad (i.e., terrorist, responsible for murder of 125), Martyr Abu Iyad (i.e., head of Black September terror organization), and other great Martyrs.”
[Official PA TV, Reexamination, Nov. 11, 2020]
In addition to Yasser Arafat – who initiated and oversaw the PA terror wave from 2000-2005 (the second Intifada) in which over one thousand Israelis were murdered – Al-Habbash singled out Hamas founder and former leader Ahmed Yassin, responsible for the murder of hundreds of civilians in suicide bombings; Abu Jihad who masterminded numerous attacks in which at least 125 were murdered; and also Abu Iyad, head of the Black September terror organization, which, among other attacks, was responsible for the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
That Al-Habbash reveres murderers of Israelis is no surprise. Palestinian Media Watch has exposed numerous statements by Al-Habbash that show he believes and teaches that the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel is a war between "good and evil, between two projects: Allah's project vs. Satan's project"; that the Quran commands fighting and permits killing Israelis; and that Islam's religious war to destroy Israel – “the culture of Satan” - has started. When the UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan recently made peace agreements with Israel, Al-Habbash labelled them “enemies of the Islamic society.”
Abbas’ advisor added another role model to his list when he posted an image of Sheikh Izz A-Din Al-Qassam, the leader of a Muslim terror group during the British Mandate in the 1930s. Al-Habbash added that he was the first to promote holy war in the name of Islam: “The first who waved among us the flag of Jihad for the sake of the religion”:
Text on image: “The greatly virtuous religious legal scholar Martyr
He was the most reliable in religious guidance
He is our Sheikh [Izz A-Din] Al-Qassam
The first who waved among us the flag of Jihad for the sake of the religion
Izz A-Din Al-Qassam
Date of [his] death as a Martyr: Nov. 19, 1935”[Facebook page of Supreme Shari’ah Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Nov. 19, 2020]
Mahmoud Al-Habbash also serves as Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'ah Justice. In August 2019 PA Chairman Abbas dismissed all his advisors by Presidential decree. It is unclear what their status is today.
The following are additional details of the terrorists glorified by Abbas’ advisor:
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.
Sheikh Izz A-Din Al-Qassam was an influential Islamic preacher in British Mandate Palestine during the 1930s. He led a Muslim terror group. The Hamas terror wing is named after him – the Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades.