Did Fatah's military wing just declare war on Israel?
The military wing of Abbas’ Fatah Movement, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, announces “an open war”:
- “We will continue the resistance, we will continue our heroic operations (i.e., terror attacks), until removing the occupier from our land. This is an open war, and tomorrow Tel Aviv will declare mourning”
- “We the brigades… announce the escalation of the military activity… This is a comprehensive and open war”
- “We swear that we will make the Zionist enemy and its flocks live in fear… we will turn wherever they are into a fiery hell”
- “Let them prepare for the fire of rage and for the storm of the brigades, Fatah is coming to them, and not one of them will get out of it safely.
Taste the rage of the brigades – this is an open war – this is an open war, see you have been warned” - “The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – when they speak, they act, when they promise, they carry it out, and when they strike, they cause pain”
Terror organization PFLP on murder of 7 in Jerusalem:
- “May the arms that carried out this operation be blessed… May this group of Jihad fighters be blessed… May this resistance be blessed… which has turned the night of the Zionists into day, and into lava erupting before the oppressor”
Following the two terror attacks in Jerusalem last weekend, in which 6 Israeli civilians and 1 Ukrainian citizen were murdered and others were wounded, Fatah’s branch in Bethlehem posted an announcement allegedly by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the military wing of Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah. In the announcement, the Brigades vow to escalate the attacks against Israelis into an “open war” everywhere – including Tel Aviv:
“A statement from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – Palestine, Fatah’s military wing
We will continue the resistance, we will continue our heroic operations (i.e., terror attacks), until removing the occupier from our land. This is an open war, and tomorrow Tel Aviv will declare mourning…
We the brigades… announce the escalation of the military activity, and a continuation of landing our blows on the occupation and its settlers and on all its interests and institutions, at the checkpoints, in the settlements sitting on stolen land, and in the heart of the Zionist entity. This is a comprehensive and open war, as our leadership announced in Jenin.”
[Fatah Movement - Bethlehem Branch, Telegram channel, Jan. 29, 2023]
In the announcement the Brigades called on all its members to “join the battle,” in which they vow to “make the Zionist enemy and its flocks live in fear” and “turn wherever they are into a fiery hell.” It addressed Israelis saying “you have been warned,” and added that the Brigades always “carry out” their threats:
“We in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades… call on all our fighters and all the brigades’ units, the factions of Palestinian honor, brothers in arms, blood, and struggle, to enter this battle.
We swear that we will make the Zionist enemy and its flocks live in fear, we will do to them as they do, and we will turn wherever they are into a fiery hell.
Let them prepare for the fire of rage and for the storm of the brigades, Fatah is coming to them, and not one of them will get out of it safely.
Taste the rage of the brigades – this is an open war – this is an open war, see you have been warned
Blood for blood, killing for killing…
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – when they speak, they act, when they promise, they carry it out, and when they strike, they cause pain
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – Palestine
Jan. 29, 2023”
PMW has not been able to verify whether the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades are indeed behind the announcement, but Fatah’s branch in Bethlehem certainly supports its content by spreading it.
The mention of an announcement by “our leadership in Jenin” refers to a statement exposed by Palestinian Media Watch from the secretary of Fatah’s Jenin branch, Ata Abu Rmeileh, who said that “the war has begun in Palestine, all of Palestine”:
Other reactions to the two terror attacks in Jerusalem included praise by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which called the murders a “daring heroic operation.” The PFLP referred to the terrorists as “heroes of blessed Jerusalem [who] shattered the Zionist security theory,” adding:
“May the arms that carried out this operation be blessed… May this group of Jihad fighters be blessed, whom Allah knew them to be sincere, brave, and determined to triumph and take revenge. May this resistance be blessed, which is insisting on avenging the blood of our people, and which has turned the night of the Zionists into day, and into lava erupting before the oppressor… Our resistance is continuing in order to defend our people, thwart the enemy’s plans, humiliate the Zionists to the dirt, and cause them to think 1,000 times before they harm our people and its resistance.”
[Amad, independent Palestinian news website, Jan. 27, 2023]
The terror organization the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) also had praise for the murderous attack outside a synagogue in Jerusalem, adding that the “heroic operation” heralds “a new stage” of more terror:
“[DFLP] congratulated the masses of the Palestinian people over the heroic operation… in the heart of occupied Jerusalem, which was carried out by a heroic resistance member and caused the deaths of 8 settlers (sic., 6 Israelis and 1 Ukrainian national were murdered) and the wounding of a number of others, some of them still in critical condition.
The DFLP emphasized that this heroic operation constitutes the start of a new stage in the comprehensive popular resistance.”
[Amad, independent Palestinian news website, Jan. 27, 2023]
Following a gun battle in Jenin in which 8 Palestinian terrorists and one civilian were killed when terrorists opened fire at Israeli soldiers who were there to carry out a counter-terror operation, Fatah’s branch in Hebron also called for “confrontation with the Zionist enemy in every part of our land where they set foot” – i.e., more terror everywhere:
Posted text: “#Important_announcement
Our heroic people is raging and mourning over the souls of our Martyrs and in response to the criminal Zionist escalation at Jenin’s brave refugee camp
The Fatah Movement’s northern Hebron branch calls on you to [carry out] comprehensive and general protection and confrontation with the Zionist enemy in every part of our land where they set foot
Glory to the Martyrs
Revolution until victory”
Text on image: “Fatah’s northern Hebron branch”
[Fatah Movement – Northern Hebron Branch, Facebook page, Jan. 26, 2023]
As PMW has noted, Palestinian leaders demand that US President Biden revoke the designation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as a terror organization.
The PLO is an umbrella movement of a range of Palestinian “factions.” The largest and most dominant of these factions is Fatah, headed by Abbas, who is also the head of the PLO. The second largest member is the PFLP, followed by the DFLP.
By continuing to participate in and actively support terror, the PLO member organizations consistently show that they and the PLO are still worthy of being designated as terrorists.
The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above and more information on the attacks and their perpetrators:
Khairy Alqam - 21-year-old Arab terrorist and resident of Jerusalem who shot and murdered 6 Israelis and 1 Ukrainian national - Asher Natan, 14, Ilya Sosansky, 26, Natali Ziskin Mizrahi, 45, Eli Mizrahi, 48, Rafael Ben Eliyahu, 56, Irina Korolyova, 60, and Shaul Chai, 68 - and wounded 5 others outside of the Ateret Avraham Synagogue in the northern Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov on Sabbath eve, Jan. 27, 2023, as some of them were coming out from prayers in the synagogue. Alqam fled the scene in a car and then opened fire on Israeli police officers, who shot and killed him. The attack took place on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Muhammad Aliwat - 13-year-old Arab terrorist and Jerusalem resident who shot and seriously wounded an Israeli father and son, aged 47 and 22 respectively, as they were walking to Sabbath prayers near the City of David archaeological site, just south of the Old City of Jerusalem, on Jan. 28, 2023. An armed Israeli civilian at the scene shot and wounded Aliwat, who was then arrested. Security camera footage of the attack shows Aliwat waiting in ambush behind a car before attacking a group of Jews walking by. Palestinian media reported that Aliwat had written a message for his mother in his school notebook, indicating his intent to commit a terror attack and seek "Martyrdom" death: "Allah, either victory or Martyrdom. Forgive me mother, you will be proud of me."
Fatah’s Bethlehem Branch posted an image of an announcement allegedly The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades (Fatah’s military wing)
Text of statement: “The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades
Palestine - the occupied land
Jan. 29, 2023
‘Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their properties [in exchange] for that they will have Paradise. They fight in the cause of Allah, so they kill and are killed… So rejoice in your transaction which you have contracted. And it is that which is the great attainment’ [Quran 9:111, Sahih International translation]
A statement from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – Palestine, Fatah’s military wing
We will continue the resistance, we will continue our heroic operations (i.e., terror attacks), until removing the occupier from our land. This is an open war, and tomorrow Tel Aviv will declare mourning
O members of our people that is standing firm, O sons of glory, O beloved ones of the Martyrs. We in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, with the continuation of the lowly Zionist attack against our people and its holy sites, and the collective punishment policy of demolishing homes and assaulting our prisoners… we the brigades, in defense of our people and to realize its rights, announce the escalation of the military activity, and a continuation of landing our blows on the occupation and its settlers and on all its interests and institutions, at the checkpoints, in the settlements sitting on stolen land, and in the heart of the Zionist entity. This is a comprehensive and open war, as our leadership announced in Jenin.
We in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades do not rely on anyone, and we attribute no importance at all to any understandings or negotiations;rather we rely on our people and our rifles, and we call on all our fighters and all the brigades’ units, the factions of Palestinian honor, brothers in arms, blood, and struggle, to enter this battle.
We swear that we will make the Zionist enemy and its flocks live in fear, we will do to them as they do, and we will turn wherever they are into a fiery hell.
Let them prepare for the fire of rage and for the storm of the brigades, Fatah is coming to them, and not one of them will get out of it safely.
Taste the rage of the brigades – this is an open war – this is an open war, see you have been warned
Blood for blood, killing for killing…
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – when they speak, they act, when they promise, they carry it out, and when they strike, they cause pain
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades – Palestine
Jan. 29, 2023”
[Fatah Movement - Bethlehem Branch, Telegram channel, Jan. 29, 2023]
Headline: “Palestinian factions welcome the operation in Jerusalem and view it as a natural response to the occupation’s crimes”
“On Friday evening [Jan. 27, 2023,] Palestinian factions and figures welcomed the heroic operation (i.e., terror attack) carried out by Palestinian self-sacrificing fighter [Khairy Alqam] (i.e., terrorist, murdered 7) at a synagogue in Jerusalem, which caused the deaths of at least 8 settlers (sic., 6 Israelis and 1 Ukrainian national)…
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) emphasized that this daring heroic operation – which came as a response to the Zionist threats and the calls to murder the Palestinian people and the resistance leadership, and in response to the despicable crime committed by the enemy’s army in Jenin (refers to Palestinian terrorists shooting at Israeli soldiers, causing a gun battle in which 8 terrorists and 1 civilian were killed; see note below -Ed.) – was appropriate in relation to the extent of the recurring crimes against the Palestinian people.
The PFLP emphasized that the heroes of blessed Jerusalem shattered the Zionist security theory, made the occupation system fail, thwarted its security means, gave a strong slap to the cheeks of terrorists [Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar] Ben Gvir and [Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel] Smotrich, and made them cry blood instead of tears.
In its statement the PFLP said: ‘May the arms that carried out this operation be blessed… May this group of Jihad fighters be blessed, whom Allah knew them to be sincere, brave, and determined to triumph and take revenge.May this resistance be blessed, which is insisting on avenging the blood of our people, and which has turned the night of the Zionists into day, and into lava erupting before the oppressor.’
It continued: ‘Our resistance is continuing in order to defend our people, thwart the enemy’s plans, humiliate the Zionists to the dirt, and cause them to think 1,000 times before they harm our people and its resistance.’
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) congratulated the masses of the Palestinian people over the heroic operation in the town (sic., neighborhood) of [Beit] Hanina in the heart of occupied Jerusalem, which was carried out by a heroic resistance member and caused the deaths of 8 settlers (sic., 7 were murdered) and the wounding of a number of others, some of them still in critical condition.
The DFLP emphasized that this heroic operation constitutes the start of a new stage in the comprehensive popular resistance.”
[Amad, independent Palestinian news website, Jan. 27, 2023]
Jenin gun battle, January 2023 - Palestinian terrorists opened fire on Israeli soldiers while they were conducting a counter-terror operation in Jenin on Jan. 26, 2023. In the ensuing gun battle 8 terrorists, including PA police officer and Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (Fatah's military wing) member Izz Al-Din Salahat, were killed, as was 1 Palestinian civilian. The soldiers were in Jenin to arrest a senior Islamic Jihad terrorist and prevent an imminent terror attack.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) - a socialist Palestinian terror organization and one of the largest factions in the PLO. Founded by George Habash in 1967, PFLP has planned and carried out numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians since its founding and throughout the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005). One of its most high profile attacks was the murder of Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze'evi on Oct. 17, 2001. PFLP has been designated as a terror organization by several states including the US, Japan, Canada, Australia, and the EU.Terrorist prisoner Ahmad Sa’adat has served as PFLP’s secretary-general since 2001; he is serving a 30-year sentence in an Israeli prison for heading the PFLP.
The DFLP (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine) has carried out numerous terror attacks, including the Ma’alot massacre in which 22 schoolchildren and 4 adults were murdered (May 15, 1974), the Avivim school bus massacre, in which 9 children and 3 adults were murdered (May 22, 1970), the Kiryat Shmona massacre (18 murdered, April 11, 1974), the Beit Shean attack (4 murdered, Nov. 19, 1974), the Jaffa street bombing in Jerusalem (7 murdered, Nov. 13, 1975) the Tiberias bombing (2 high school students murdered, May 15, 1979), the Night of the Gliders (in which two terrorists infiltrated Israel from Lebanon using hang gliders, murdering 6 Israeli soldiers on Nov. 25, 1987), and the Geha junction suicide bombing near Tel Aviv (4 murdered, Dec. 25, 2003.) The DFLP has participated in and claimed responsibility for dozens of other terror attacks.