Palestinian woman marries terrorist murderer of 8 due to his "heroism" which "amazed" and "grabbed her attention"
Official PA TV program Palestine This Morning, hosting Manar Khalawi, the wife of terrorist prisoner Osama Al-Ashqar who was involved in the murder of 8
Manar Khalawi, wife of prisoner Osama Al-Ashqar: “My decision to become connected with Osama [Al-Ashqar] (i.e., terrorist, involved in murder of 8) despite the high sentence, his life sentence, for me- People tell me this decision is very- They are amazed by it. [It’s] a surprising decision. For me this decision is very normal. I didn’t think about it much at the time, because [it’s] my duty as a Palestinian woman… My message in the city here, in this land, is to be next to my husband now, Osama Al-Ashqar, and to help and support him on his path to freedom.”
Official PA TV host: “Manar, you’re from Bethlehem. Osama is from Tulkarem, imprisoned in the occupation’s prisons since 2002 for 8 life sentences. We want to know, how did you get to know each other in the beginning? He is now your husband. At the beginning we spoke about him [as] a fiancé, but he is your husband.”
Manar Khalawi: “Right, in other words, since yesterday [Nov. 16, 2020] when the wedding ceremony took place, he is now my husband. Regarding getting to know each other, the story may be a little unusual. [It was] through one of my relatives. He was a prisoner. He entered prison while wounded and got to know Osama…
I always heard about Osama. Osama’s name was always repeated in the family. I wanted to get to know him. I went online and read about him. The thing that grabbed my attention the most was his heroism – in other words, [he was] a young 18-year-old guy wanted [by Israel] for two years. He was one of the most prominent commanders of the second Intifada (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005, more than 1,100 Israelis murdered). At the beginning this amazed me about Osama’s character and his way of thinking…
From this we began to get to know each other and like each other afterwards. We started to like each other. I was interested in the prisoners’ cause. I would make contact [with prisoners and monitor] the prisoners’ news and their issues through the radio stations. Osama had an opportunity that he could make contact with me, and he spoke with [my prisoner relative]. This happened, we grew to like each other. And praise Allah, he asked for my hand and approached my relatives.”