PA rewrites history (again!): Car rammer who attacked injured victim with ax portrayed as victim
- PA: Terrorist was “a civilian” who was killed by “gun-toting Israeli soldiers” – no mention of terror attack
- “The value of the homeland and of Jihad” is what motivated ax wielding car rammer terrorist, says brother
Terrorist Habes Rayyan ran over and wounded an Israeli army officer with his car near Jerusalem earlier this month. Rayyan then got out of his car with an ax to attack the officer as he lay wounded on the ground, but the officer managed to shoot and kill Rayyan. Even though the attack was caught on security cameras, the PA is portraying terrorist Habes Rayyan as an innocent victim, not mentioning his terror attack:
[EladHumi twitter account, Nov. 02, 2022]
Although the terrorist is seen attacking, the PA has described him as “a civilian” who was killed by “gun-toting Israeli soldiers” and “shot by the Israeli occupation forces.” He therefore “died as a Martyr” and “ascended to Heaven.” Neither the official PA daily nor the official PA news agency bothered to mention his attack.
Contrary to the PA’s reports, the terrorist’s brother openly spoke of his brother’s attack, saying that “the value of the homeland and of Jihad” is what motivated his ax-wielding car rammer terrorist brother:
Brother of terrorist Habes Rayyan: “Today we brought to his wedding (i.e., a Martyr's funeral is considered his wedding to the 72 Virgins in Paradise in Islam) our brother [Habes Rayyan], who ascended to Heaven as a Martyr following the crime that the occupation committed against him…
He received a national and religious education at home. He grew up in a religious family that knows the value of the homeland, the value of the land, the value of Ribat, and the value of Jihad… He had great honor and pride. He did not agree to accepting humiliation. In my estimation, this background in which my brother grew up is one of the main reasons that led to what he did (i.e., terror attack) – his love for the homeland and the land, his pride, his honor, his fortitude.”
[Official PA TV, Good Morning Jerusalem, Nov. 4, 2022]
The PA also described 3 other terrorists as innocent people “who were shot by the occupation” - one of them a celebrated murderer:
“The Jerusalem District documented 3 Martyrs who were shot by the occupation and ascended to Heaven …The district said that the Martyrs were Fayez Khaled Damdoum (i.e., terrorist, threw Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers), 18, from the town of Al-Eizariya southeast of occupied Jerusalem; Uday Al-Tamimi (i.e., terrorist, murdered 1), 22, from the town of Anata (i.e., neighborhood in northern Jerusalem); and Barakat Musa Oudeh (i.e., terrorist, wounded 5 Israeli soldiers), 49, from the town of Al-Eizariya.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 3, 2022]
The PA often portrays dead terrorists as innocent victims of Israeli “executions.” Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA libels as “summary executions” cases when terrorists are killed during their attacks, ignoring the actual attack.
For example, when terrorist Nidal Ja’afreh was killed while trying to murder an Israeli on a bus by stabbing him with a screwdriver, official PA TV claimed that he was “executed in cold blood”:
Official PA TV reporter: “First, the only certain fact as of this moment is that this was a summary execution. Today a summary execution at the hands of a settler took place. The summary execution policy has been the law and ideology of the occupation government for a number of years.”
[Official PA TV, Reporters in the Field, March 31, 2022]
The following are longer excerpts of the reports cited above:
Headline: “Civilian Habes Rayyan died as a Martyr next to the entrance to Beit Ur…”
“Yesterday [Nov. 2, 2022] a civilian was shot by the Israeli occupation forces and died as a Martyr at the entrance to the village of Beit Ur west of Ramallah (sic., refers to terrorist Habes Rayyan, who wounded an Israeli officer who shot him in self-defense).
The [PA] Commission of Civil Affairs announced that civilian Habes Abd Al-Hafiz Rayyan, 54, from the town of Beit Duqqu northwest of occupied Jerusalem, ascended to Heaven yesterday morning after he was shot by the occupation forces next to a military checkpoint that was established at the entrance to the village.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 3, 2022]
Headline: “Israeli forces gun down Palestinian father in Jerusalem-district village”
“Israeli forces Thursday dawn gunned down a Palestinian father in the village of Beit Duqqu, northwest of Jerusalem in the central West Bank, according to the Health Ministry.
The Ministry announced that 42-year-old father-of-seven Daoud Rayyan succumbed to his gunshot wounds after being shot in the heart by Israeli troops in the course of confrontations in the village.
The confrontations broke out after the Israeli troops stormed the village purportedly to search the family house of a man who was killed on Wednesday for being accused of carrying out a car-ramming attack.
On Wednesday, the gun-toting soldiers killed 54-year-old Habes Rayyan, 54, near a military checkpoint at the entrance of the village of Beit Ur village, west of Ramallah.
Israeli sources claimed that Rayyan injured a soldier after ramming his car into him.”
[Wafa, official PA news agency, Nov. 3, 2022]
Brother of terrorist Habes Rayyan: “Good morning to the homeland, to Jerusalem, to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and to the Martyrs, those carrying out Ribat (i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic), and the Jihad fighters throughout the beautiful homeland. Today we brought to his wedding (i.e., a Martyr's funeral is considered his wedding to the 72 Virgins in Paradise in Islam) our brother [Habes Rayyan] (i.e., terrorist, wounded 1), who ascended to Heaven as a Martyr following the crime that the occupation committed against him…
He received a national and religious education at home. He grew up in a religious family that knows the value of the homeland, the value of the land, the value of Ribat, and the value of Jihad. And it has honor and pride… My brother would preach, he called the people to faith, to truth, to resolve, he called for Ribat, for standing on principles… and he was brave in saying the truth…
What most characterized my brother is that he was level-headed, modest, smiled readily, and loved life. He had great honor and pride. He did not agree to accepting humiliation. In my estimation, this background in which my brother grew up is one of the main reasons that led to what he did (i.e., terror attack) – his love for the homeland and the land, his pride, his honor, his fortitude. A day prior, the occupation detained him for four to five hours at one of the occupation’s checkpoints… and held him without any reason, we don’t know what the reason was. He never could tolerate humiliation under any circumstances. We don’t know what humiliation he was subjected to, and what happened later on is that we heard that my brother ascended to the highest Heaven…
We ask Almighty Allah to decree for our Martyr and for all the homeland’s Martyrs to dwell in the highest Heaven, and that He will unite them with the prophets, the righteous, and the Martyrs…
The message that I direct to the Jews: What are you doing, what are you doing in this land? This is land that was occupied in 1967, and according to international law you are occupiers (sic., legal experts have explained the presence of Israelis in the West Bank does not qualify as “occupation” according to international law, given that it was not previously sovereign territory of another country among other reasons). You need to leave this land. These checkpoints that are deployed throughout the homeland, the checkpoints of killing and blood – every day one of the members of the Palestinian people dies as a Martyr there.”
[Official PA TV, Good Morning Jerusalem, Nov. 4, 2022]
Headline: “Jerusalem: 3 Martyrs, approximately 400 arrests, and 8 [home] demolitions during the last month”“The Jerusalem District documented 3 Martyrs who were shot by the occupation and ascended to Heaven and 400 civilians from the district who were arrested during the month of October [2022]. This was in the monthly report that the Jerusalem District issued yesterday [Nov. 2, 2022] on the occupation’s violations during the month of October, in which it summarized all the violations that were documented in the neighborhoods and towns of the Jerusalem District.
The district said that the Martyrs were Fayez Khaled Damdoum (i.e., terrorist, threw Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers), 18, from the town of Al-Eizariya southeast of occupied Jerusalem; Uday Al-Tamimi (i.e., terrorist, murdered 1), 22, from the town of Anata (i.e., neighborhood in northern Jerusalem); and Barakat Musa Oudeh (i.e., terrorist, wounded 5 Israeli soldiers), 49, from the town of Al-Eizariya.”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 3, 2022]