Top PA official Rajoub praises terrorist murderers as “national leaders,” “my brothers and colleagues in prison”
We will "lead according to heritage" from arch-terrorists
and “heroic prisoners” - “the fuel of this system”
Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub is one of the people regularly mentioned as possible successor to 85-year-old PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas sometime in the not-too-distant future. On a regular basis Rajoub praises terrorist murderers as heroes, and recently praised specific arch-terrorists and murderers - responsible for dozens of killings – stating that the currently imprisoned terrorists are “heroic” and “the fuel of this system”:
Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “[The coming PA elections] will be [held in Jerusalem] against the will of Netanyahu and this criminal occupation… We want to win, to rule, and to lead through our good traits, our values, and the heritage that were left to us by Yasser Arafat, Khalil Al-Wazir [- Abu Jihad], (i. e., responsible for the murders of 125) [Salah Khalaf-] Abu Iyad (i. e., planned the Munich Olympics massacre of Israeli athletes), Faisal Al-Husseini, and all the great ones, and that were imposed on us by our heroic prisoners, to whom I send a blessing of peace and say to them: ‘You are the fuel of this system.’”
[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Feb. 14, 2021]
In another interview, Rajoub specifically glorified as his “brother leader” terrorist Marwan Barghouti who orchestrated attacks in which 5 Israelis were murdered. Rajoub also bestowed this honor to murderer Karim Younes. Both of these terrorists Rajoub praised and “blessed” as “national leaders”:
Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: “I send blessings to my brothers and colleagues in prison, and foremost among them the two national leaders, my colleagues in the [Fatah] Central Committee, brother leader Marwan Barghouti and brother leader Karim Younes (i.e., terrorist murderers) and to all members of the [Fatah] Movement in the homeland, the diaspora, and in the fortresses of imprisonment.”
[Official PA TV, Feb. 9, 2021]
Palestinian Media Watch has reported extensively on Jibril Rajoub and his glorification of terrorists, incitement to murder, and opposition to “normalization” with Israel.
Jibril Rajoub also serves as Head of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association, Chairman of the Palestine Olympic Committee, and Chairman of the Palestinian Scout Association (PSA).
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.
Karim Younes - Israeli Arab terrorist who kidnapped and murdered Israeli soldier Avraham Bromberg in 1980 together with his cousin Maher Younes. Younes was originally sentenced to life in prison, but Israeli President Shimon Peres reduced his sentence in 2012. Younes is serving a 40-year sentence. In May 2017 Younes was appointed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to the Fatah Central Committee. Younes was released from prison on Jan. 5, 2023.
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.
Faisal Al-Husseini - senior Fatah and PLO terror leader in the 1970s. Al-Husseini was a member of the Supreme Muslim Council and held several roles in the PLO, Fatah, and PA, including head of Fatah in the West Bank, PA Minister without Portfolio, and PA Minister for Jerusalem Affairs. Al-Husseini died of natural causes in 2001.