PA: Terrorist murderer and other attackers were “defenseless civilians,” victims of Israeli “war crimes”
PA Prime Minister Shtayyeh presents stabber and car rammer as victims of Israel's “terror and cold-blooded murder”
Four Palestinian terrorists who were shot and killed while carrying out shooting, stabbing, and car ramming attacks against Israelis in the last three weeks were all presented by the PA as innocent victims. In PA terms they were “defenseless civilians” who were “summarily executed,” victims of Israeli “terror and cold-blooded murder” and “war crimes.”
The four terrorists were (additional details below):
Omar Ibrahim Abu Asab – terrorist who stabbed and wounded 2 Israeli border police officers who shot and killed him in self-defense.
Fadi Abu Shkhaydam - terrorist who murdered 1 and wounded 4 others in a shooting attack with a submachine gun before Israeli police officers shot and killed him in self-defense.
Muhammad Shawkat Salima – terrorist who stabbed and wounded 1 Israeli civilian and attempted to stab 2 Israeli border police officers who shot and killed him in self-defense.
Muhammad Nidal Younes – terrorist who wounded 1 Israeli security guard in a car ramming attack before other security guards at the site shot and killed him in self-defense.
Even PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh promoted this narrative, claiming that stabber Salima and car rammer Younes - each of whom wounded one in their attacks – were victims of “cold-blooded murder”:
PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh: “Israel must bear responsibility for the terror and cold-blooded murder. The latest cases of this were what happened with Muhammad Shawkat Abu Salima (i.e., terrorist stabber), and the death as a Martyr of child Muhammad Nidal Younes (i.e., terrorist car rammer) this morning.”
[Official PA TV News, Dec. 6, 2021]
Aside from claiming victimhood for the terrorists, the PA also justified terrorist Salima’s stabbing attack. In an editorial in its official daily, the PA whitewashed the terrorist as someone who “attempted to express his rage by stabbing the body of one who is occupying his holy city.”
It also deemed the Israeli officers’ killing him a “war crime” and the terrorist as “a person who is unable to fight,” misquoting and misinterpreting the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Article 8 (2) b (vi). This article classifies as a war crime the “killing or wounding [of] a combatant who, having laid down his arms or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion.” However, Salima was a terrorist stabber, not a “combatant” - the paper even stressed that “he was not a soldier.” He had not “surrendered” or “put down his weapon” but repeatedly lunged at the Israeli officers, trying to attack them:
“One of the war crimes that was determined by the assembly of member states of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is that which appears in Article 8 (2) b (vi), which most clearly determines that ‘killing or wounding a person who is unable to fight’ is a war crime…
There is no doubt that the entire world saw how two of the Israeli occupation soldiers assassinated ‘a person who is unable to fight’ (sic., refers to terrorist Muhammad Shawkat Salima being shot as he repeatedly tried to attack Israeli officers, after he stabbed and wounded 1 civilian). Before that they shot him and wounded him, and as a result of this he was unable to fight. They assassinated a wounded man who was not only helpless but was also bleeding, suffering from pain, and in need of first aid – and not [in need] of more bullets that put an end to his life!
This is a war crime in every sense, and most clearly so. This is a crime against humanity because it contradicts all ethical values ...
Martyr Muhammad Salima was not a soldier. He was a young Palestinian who… attempted to express his rage by stabbing the body of one who is occupying his holy city.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 6, 2021]
When interviewed about Salima’s attack, PLO Department of Human Rights and Civil Society Representative Husam Arafat repeated a well-known PA libel – that Israel's existence is a danger to humanity: “This occupation, Israel’s presence in the region is damage to all the peoples on the level of- and a threat to peace, world peace.”
[Official PA TV News, Dec. 5, 2021]
The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above and additional examples of presenting terrorists as victims:
“The [PA] Jerusalem District monitored the occupation’s violations in the district during the month of November 2021…
The occupation forces executed two civilians, and they are Martyr child Omar Abu Asab (i.e., terrorist, wounded 2), 16, from the village of Issawiya (sic., a predominantly Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem), on Al-Wad Street in the Old City [of Jerusalem], and teacher Fadi Abu Shkhaydam (i.e., terrorist, murdered 1), 42, from the Shuafat refugee camp, in the area of the Chain Gate, one of the gates of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. The occupation authorities seized their bodies, and thus the number of bodies of Jerusalem Martyrs being held by the occupation rose to 19 bodies.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 3, 2021]
Omar Ibrahim Abu Asab – 16-year-old Palestinian terrorist who stabbed and wounded two Israeli border police officers near the Damascus Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem on Nov. 17, 2021, before the officers shot and killed him in self-defense.
Fadi Abu Shkhaydam - Palestinian terrorist who participated in planning the suicide bombing carried out by Andalib Takatka near the Jerusalem Mahane Yehuda outdoor market on April 12, 2002, in which 6 were murdered and more than 80 wounded. Abu Shakhdam is serving 6 life sentences and an additional 20 years.
“The [PA] Ministry [of Foreign Affairs]… condemned the crime of executing young Muhammad Nidal Younes (i.e., terrorist, wounded 1), 16, at the Jabara Checkpoint next to Tulkarem. It held the Israeli government led by [Israeli Prime Minister] Naftali Bennett fully and directly responsible for the crimes of summary execution, which the occupation forces and armed settler militias are committing against defenseless Palestinian civilians, and for the incessant incitement to murder Palestinians…
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted the incitement from the political echelon in the occupation state and the army commanders. The latest example of this was extremist and racist Israeli Parliament Member [Itamar] Ben Gvir’s demand to shoot every ‘terrorist,’ as he put it, and his call to give the Israeli Prison Service the authority to shoot prisoners (sic., evidently refers to Ben Gvir’s bill to give terrorist prisoners the death penalty). This is in addition to the comprehensive incitement, which permits the murder of ‘non-Jews’ and is spread as religious rulings by extremist rabbis (sic., Jewish law forbids murder)…
It said that the incitement to murder of the most despicable kind was manifested in the embrace of the murderers of Martyr [Muhammad Shawkat] Salima (i.e., terrorist, wounded 1) by the political echelon in Israel and in the decision to return them to military service. As part of this, extremist [Israeli Prime Minister Naftali] Bennett continues to praise ‘their heroism,’ and what is more, Israeli Police Commissioner [Kobi Shabtai] was proud of them and announced his intent to honor them.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 7, 2021]
Muhammad Nidal Younes – 15-year-old Palestinian terrorist who wounded 1 Israeli security guard in a car ramming attack at Te’enim Checkpoint near Tulkarem on Dec. 6, 2021. Other security guards at the site shot and killed Younes in response.
Muhammad Shawkat Salima – 25-year-old Palestinian terrorist who stabbed and wounded 1 Israeli civilian near the Damascus Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem on Dec. 4, 2021, and then attempted to stab 2 Israeli border police officers who shot and killed him in self-defense. Security camera footage shows Salima repeatedly lunged at the officers even after being shot, causing them to continue firing out of fear he was trying to detonate a suicide bomb or use another weapon.
“In a speech he gave at the start of the meeting [of the government], [PA] Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh warned against the severe consequences of the organized state terror that the settlers and occupation soldiers are carrying out in the occupied Palestinian territories…
He added: ‘The settlers are carrying out terror under the protection of the Israeli army, which punishes the victims. This cannot continue, and the occupation state must bear responsibility for the terror and acts of cold-blooded murder. The latest examples of this were the death as a Martyr of young Muhammad Shawkat Abu Salima (i.e., terrorist, wounded 1 person) from Salfit, and the death as a Martyr of child Muhammad Nidal Younes (i.e., terrorist, wounded 1 person) from Nablus this morning [Dec. 6, 2021].’”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 7, 2021]
Excerpt of an editorial by the official PA daily
Headline: “In accordance with international criminal law”
“One of the war crimes that was determined by the assembly of member states of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is that which appears in Article 8 (2) b (vi), which most clearly determines that ‘killing or wounding a person who is unable to fight’ is a war crime (sic., the actual text speaks of a “combatant” in “international armed conflict” who “has surrendered,” not a terrorist targeting civilians who continues to attack even after being shot; see note below –Ed.)…
There is no doubt that the entire world saw how two of the Israeli occupation soldiers assassinated ‘a person who is unable to fight’ (sic., refers to terrorist Muhammad Shawkat Salima being shot as he repeatedly tried to attack Israeli officers, after he stabbed and wounded 1 civilian). Before that they shot him and wounded him, and as a result of this he was unable to fight. They assassinated a wounded man who was not only helpless but was also bleeding, suffering from pain, and in need of first aid – and not [in need] of more bullets that put an end to his life!
This is a war crime in every sense, and most clearly so. This is a crime against humanity because it contradicts all ethical values, both those whose source is from Heaven and those that were determined by man. This is discrimination against the other, which Israel of the extremist racist right-wing is no longer attempting to hide…
Martyr Muhammad Salima (i.e., terrorist, wounded 1) was not a soldier. He was a young Palestinian who was tired of the occupation’s arbitrary measures and became enraged at them. He attempted to express his rage by stabbing the body of one who is occupying his holy city. This was a message to the occupiers, which says most clearly that them remaining on his land is what creates this violent reality, and if the hope for a just resolution will fade, there will always be the possibility of a more dangerous deterioration of this reality.
We do not want this kind of deterioration to take place because we do not want more Martyrs, of course. The international community, if it truly is interested in security and stability in the [Middle] East that is full of violence, must this very day stop ignoring the blatant violations of elementary human rights by Israel.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 6, 2021]
Article 8 (2) b (vi) of the Rome Statue, which presents an example of “serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict, within the established framework of international law,” reads as follows: “Killing or wounding a combatant who, having laid down his arms or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion.” Aside from the fact that Palestinian terrorists do not qualify as “combatants” engaged in an “international armed conflict,” given that they are not in uniform and target civilians thereby disregarding the laws of international armed conflict, terrorist Muhammad Shawkat Salima who was mentioned in the article did not “surrender” but rather continued to lunge threateningly at the Israeli border police officers who shot him out of a fear that he was trying to detonate a suicide bomb.
Excerpt of a column by Bassem Barhoum, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “Will we bring all of Israel to the ICC?”
“Israeli society is for the most part a blind and fanatic society that hates the other. This is a fact and not a new conclusion…
We must remind this fanatic society of the truth that it does not want to see: Jerusalem, where this event took place (refers to terrorist stabber Muhammad Shawkat Salima wounding 1 -Ed.), is occupied Palestinian land in the eyes of the world and international law. Therefore, essentially the attackers are the two occupation soldiers [who killed Muhammad Salima]. No one wants to justify killing, but young Muhammad Shawkat Muhammad Salima was in his homeland, and his response was fierce. On the other side, the two soldiers are essentially attackers because they represent an oppressive occupation. They acted on this basis, and premeditatedly murdered the young wounded person in cold blood and before the eyes of the entire world.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 6, 2021]
Excerpt of a column by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “A crime in broad daylight”
“International law guarantees the right of all the oppressed peoples who are bending under the yoke of colonialism to resist and defend the rights and national interests until they achieve freedom, independence, and sovereignty over their national land. In addition, UN Resolution 3236, which was issued on Nov. 22, 1974, guarantees the Palestinian people’s right to use all forms of struggle to achieve its national goals (sic., see note below)…
Israel’s crimes are not summed up by the premeditated murder of women, children, elderly, and young in the [city] squares, not by the arrests, not by the destruction and burning of lands and the cutting of fruit trees and particularly olive trees, not by threatening the security and wellbeing of civilians and the Christian and Islamic places of worship, not by the invasions of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and not by the excavations underneath it in order to destroy it (sic., Israel does not excavate under the Temple Mount); the acts of Judaization and expropriation and the announcements on building thousands and tens of thousands of housing units in the settlements are intensifying, and this is in addition to the daily acts of ethnic cleansing throughout Palestine, and especially in the capital Jerusalem…
The governments of the Zionist project state throughout history oppose the option of peace in principle, and insist on continuing their war crimes against the defenseless Palestinian people, which causes young Palestinians to defend themselves, the people, and the national rights…
In the aforementioned context, Muhammad Salima (i.e., terrorist, wounded 1), 22 (sic., 25), stabbed a Zionist settler two days ago, Saturday [Dec. 4, 2021]. He was shot with live ammunition, wounded, and fell to the ground, with six Israeli soldiers around him who could have arrested him and taken the knife from him. But they refused to do that before the eyes of the entire world and executed him in cold blood (sic., Salima repeatedly lunged at the officers who shot him out of fear he was trying to detonate a suicide bomb). We all saw this, because the criminal execution of heroic Martyr Muhammad in the capital Jerusalem was broadcast live.
The new Israeli crime only reflects the contempt of the Israeli government, its death army, and its murderous security forces for international law and conventions.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 6, 2021]
Headline: “Norhan – willpower that overcomes the prison guard”
“‘Mom, if only you could see me grow up. I am no longer the little girl I was. Now I am 23. I grew up in seven years, mom, while far away from you, from dad, from my brothers, and from my sisters. If only I was next to you so you could give me advice and so I could cry in your embrace during times of trouble. I have passed through many stops in captivity, but I can only pray for your sake and for the sake of dad and all my loved ones. Wipe your tears, mom, because they are precious to my heart, and smile because tomorrow will be better, Allah willing.’ These words are not quotes from a novel, but rather part of a personal letter that female prisoner Norhan Awwad (i.e., terrorist, stabbed and wounded 1 together with her cousin), from the Qalandiya refugee camp north of Jerusalem, wrote to her mother…
On Nov. 23, 2015… Norhan, a 10th grader, went out to the school in the refugee camp together with her cousin Hadeel, just like every day. Apparently their schoolbags looked to the occupation soldiers like a military vest hiding a nuclear weapon, and they rained a hail of live ammunition down on them (sic., the two stabbed a Palestinian they mistook for a Jew in central Jerusalem, not in Qalandiya, and then were filmed by security camera as they attempted to stab a policeman who shot them). Hadeel died as a Martyr at the site, while Norhan was wounded by three bullets…
The Israeli Military Advocate General insisted on accusing prisoner Norhan of an attempt to carry out a stabbing operation and planning to murder settlers together with her cousin, Martyr Hadeel. It gave her a severe and exaggerated punishment – 13 years in prison, which were reduced to 10 years, and a monetary fine of 30,000 [Israeli] shekels…
The bars and chains have not succeeded in killing the spirit of Norhan, the girl who had bullets puncture her body and schoolbag, and who left her school bench and school. She had achieved an average of 94 in the final exams in high school and enrolled for studies at Abu Dis University in the sociology track.
The princess bound in chains donated her braids for cancer patients of her own initiative, and thus she became the pride of her family, her parents, and her refugee camp.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 13, 2021]
Mahane Yehuda Market stabbing attack – two Palestinian female terrorists - Hadeel Awwad, 14, and her cousin Norhan Awwad, 16 - stabbed and wounded a 70-year-old man with scissors outside the Jerusalem Mahane Yehuda Market on Nov. 23, 2015. An Israeli policeman shot at the terrorists, who refused to drop their weapons. Hadeel was killed, and Norhan was wounded and taken for treatment in an Israeli hospital. An Israeli security officer was also wounded during the attack. The 70-year-old victim was later identified as a Palestinian from Bethlehem. Norhan Awwad was serving 13 years, later reduced to 10 years, before being released after 8 years in prison as part of a prisoner exchange deal on Nov. 24, 2023, between Israel and Hamas in which Israel agreed to release 150 terrorist prisoners in exchange for 50 Israeli hostages during the Israeli counter-terror operation against Hamas’ terror war on Israel.