Israeli Arab journalist tells PA TV that Israeli Arabs were proud of fugitive terrorists
Official PA TV program Israel in the News, on the escape of 6 terrorist prisoners from Gilboa Prison – see note below
Official PA TV host: “The media was the spearhead of what Mr. Adel [Shadid] noted on everything regarding psychological warfare against our people and the division of our people. This is through the versions that you mentioned that attempted to fragment and destroy the Palestinian social fabric (refers to reports that Israeli Arabs reported on escaped terrorist prisoners -Ed.). But they did not succeed. The response of the people of Nazareth came quickly and the same night.”
Israeli Arab Journalist Maysoun Zoabi: “Right, first of all it was a surprise for us that the guys (i.e., escaped prisoners) were in Nazareth, in other words, a surprise in a positive sense. Every one of us began to imagine seeing them and meeting them. That is one thing. Secondly, we felt down because we did not want them to be captured quickly. Thirdly, all the information that came quickly through the Israeli narrative… the local Arab media did not need to follow this version. Even the information about- there are no Druze among us in Nazareth. The names that were spread are names that do not exist in Nazareth, they spoke about communities that are not there, about a family name that is not in Nazareth. All the people of Nazareth know each other. We all know each other on a name basis. Information came out that was completely a lie, that even three-year-olds know is a lie. So yes, we got hysteric about who is the family that allowed itself report on the prisoners? Where is this family? We began to go around and confuse ourselves, but afterwards the red light went off: ‘Wait, this story is an Israeli tactic to create confusion and also to slander the members of the people before the rest of the people.’ In other words, to slander the people of Nazareth before the rest of the Arab cities and villages in the 1948 [territories] (i.e., Israel), in the Gaza Strip, in Jerusalem, and in the 1967 [territories] (i.e., the West Bank). But we did not escalate this situation. This situation automatically created a quick response, if you noticed, through a demonstration, receiving the prisoners at the court, and our rejection of how we were presented in the Israeli media.”
2021 Gilboa Prison escape – 6 Palestinian terrorist prisoners escaped from Israel's Gilboa Prison on Sept. 6, 2021, by widening the hole of the shower drainpipe in the floor of their cell. One terrorist is from Fatah - Zakariya Zubeidi, and the other five are from Islamic Jihad - Ayham Kamamji, Muhammad Ardah, Mahmoud Ardah, Yaqub Qaderi, and Munadil Nafiyat. Four of the terrorists were recaptured after five days: Zubeidi, Ardah, Ardah, and Qaderi. Kamamji and Nafiyat were arrested in Jenin on Sept. 18, 2021 along with two accomplices. Zubeidi was head of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (Fatah's military wing) in the Jenin area during the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005), when he oversaw numerous lethal attacks, and he also carried out shooting attacks in 2018-2019. Kamamji participated in the murder of 18-year-old Eliyahu Asheri on June 25, 2006, and planned to blow up a bus using an exploding car. Muhammad Ardah participated in initiating and executing a suicide bombing on bus no. 823 on Nov. 29, 2001, in which 3 people were murdered and many others were wounded. Mahmoud Ardah was involved in numerous attacks; the website of Islamic Jihad’s military wing defined him as the "commander" of the prison escape. Qaderi committed a shooting attack on Sept. 18, 2002 with an accomplice in which Israeli Yosef Ajami was murdered and a foreign worker was wounded. Nafiyat was being held in administrative detention.