PA Mufti’s veiled call to kidnap Israelis
Mufti: “Work with all means that will lead to… prisoner exchange deals”
During official PA TV’s religious program Fatwa, the PA’s Grand Mufti, Muhammad Hussein called on Palestinians to use “all means” to free Palestinian prisoners – i.e., imprisoned terrorists and murderers. Not only is the term “all means” a Palestinian euphemism for violence and terror, but the Mufti continued with a statement that can certainly be understood by Palestinians as a call to kidnap Israelis to bring about “prisoner exchange deals.”
Specifically the Mufti mentioned the Jibril Exchange of 1985 in which Israel released 1,150 Palestinian prisoners, including terrorist murderers, in exchange for three Israeli soldiers who had been taken hostage by the PFLP. He added that other deals with “large exchanges of prisoners between us and the occupation” had also taken place, thereby reminding Palestinians of the more recent exchange of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for 1,027 terrorist prisoners:
PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein: “There is no doubt that the utmost duty of us all together in the PA, in the society, and everywhere is to work with all means that will lead us to releasing our prisoners and setting them free… As for example what was implemented or exchanged, and this happened more than once in the prisoner exchange deals. The most known was the 1985 [Jibril Exchange], and before and after it were deals that included large exchanges of prisoners between us and the occupation.”
[Official PA TV, Fatwa, Oct. 20, 2021]
Earlier this year was the 10-year anniversary of the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from Hamas’ captivity in exchange for 1,027 terrorist prisoners. In that context, Palestinian Media Watch recently reported that an Islamic Jihad official predicted that “freedom is coming” for “all the heroes inside the occupation’s prisons,” because Hamas is “still holding a number of Zionist prisoners and soldiers’ [bodies]” – a reference to Israeli hostages Avraham Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed and the bodies of soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin that are still held by Hamas.