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Amid Hostage Murders and West Bank Terror Attacks, PA Urges ‘Resistance … in All Forms, By All Means’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) alongside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, July 26, 2023. Photo: Reuters/Palestinian Presidents’ Office
Over the weekend, three Israelis were murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in a drive-by shooting near Hebron. On Friday, Palestinian terrorists attempted two car bomb attacks in Gush Etzion, south of Bethlehem. Both cars exploded prematurely after the terrorists were confronted, and then killed, by Israeli security forces. On Monday, another car bombing was attempted by terrorists and was discovered before it could be detonated next to an Israeli vehicle.
Only last Wednesday, Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor — Mahmoud Al-Habbash — encouraged Palestinians to do exactly what the terrorists promptly did — kill Jews.
After falsely accusing Israel of attempting to empty both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of Palestinians, he instructed Palestinians that “the only option” is to use “all forms and means” of “resistance” — a well-known Palestinian euphemism for the use of terror:
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “They [i.e. Israel] want to take control of as much territory with as few [Palestinian] residents as possible. The same reason Israel is using for the aggression against the Gaza Strip, it is also using for the aggression against the West Bank …
Our only option is the resistance, resisting these Israeli attempts in all forms, by all means. Anything that could thwart this Israeli plot is our legal right.” [emphasis added]
[Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Aug. 28, 2024]
Al-Habbash’s call for terror joins numerous other calls for terror and “intifada” by top PA and Fatah officials, as Palestinian Media Watch has repeatedly exposed.
Al-Habbash often stresses that the Palestinians are a “people of Jihad” — “holy war” — as he did here when he emphasized that “Palestine is giving its blood abundantly for your sake, nation of Islam”:
Al-Habbash: “Our religion is the religion of tolerance and the religion of human brotherhood. But we are also the people of Jihad and the people of force against those who deserve it from us and against those who want to harm our dignity, desecrate our holy sites, or deprive our rights…
Palestine is giving its blood abundantly for your sake, nation of Islam. [emphasis added]
Al-Habbash, Facebook page, July 30, 2024]
Al-Habbash also called for “holy war” all over Israel, teaching that “the land of Palestine is a land of … Jihad until Judgement Day.”
He promises Israel will be replaced by “Palestine,” saying “Palestine will return and be liberated, sooner or later.”
Statements such as these may have inspired the Palestinian suicide bomber from Nablus who carried out a car bombing in Tel Aviv two weeks ago on Aug. 18, 2024:
Al-Habbash: “Your best Jihad is Ribat [i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic], and your best Ribat is Ashkelon.
Where is Ashkelon? Ashkelon is a city in Palestine [sic., an Israeli coastal city], and the land of Palestine is a land of Ribat and Jihad until Judgement Day. His [Prophet Muhammad’s] dear followers came while carrying out Jihad for Allah to Palestine and Greater Syria, and they liberated it from the Byzantine occupation. Saladin liberated it from the Crusader occupation. And today it will be liberated [again], Allah willing. Palestine will return and be liberated, sooner or later.” [emphasis added]
[Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Aug. 9, 2024]
Al-Habbash: ‘‘’Your best Jihad is Ribat, and your best Ribat is in Ashkelon. Where is Ashkelon? It’s the coast of Palestine. These Palestinian coastal cities, which were built by the Palestinians, this land here, it was theirs thousands of years ago, even before our lord Abraham came.This land belonged to the Palestinians, and it still belongs to the Palestinians, and it will belong to the Palestinians.
And the final picture — I see it like I’m seeing you — is Palestinian par excellence. This is the promise of Prophet [Muhammad], and this is the promise of Allah. The Gaza Strip today is the sister of Ashkelon … No one has a connection to the Al-Buraq Wall [i.e., the Western Wall] except for the Muslims, absolutely! Our lord Solomon was not here, his kingdom was not even here. And even if it was here, Solomon is a Muslim, on the path of Muhammad and Abraham [the Muslim].” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV Live, Feb.9, 2024]
Itamar Marcus is Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Amid Hostage Murders and West Bank Terror Attacks, PA Urges ‘Resistance … in All Forms, By All Means’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Readies for a Nationwide Strike on Sunday
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – The families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza are calling on for a general strike to be held on Sunday in an effort to compel the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a deal with Hamas for the release of their loved ones and a ceasefire. According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.
The October 7 Council and other groups representing bereaved families of hostages and soldiers who fell since the start of the war declared they were “shutting down the country to save the soldiers and the hostages.”
While many businesses said they would join the strike, Israel’s largest labor federation, the Histadrut, has declined to participate.
Some of the country’s top educational institutions, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, declared their support for the strike.
“We, the members of the university’s leadership, deans, and department heads, hereby announce that on Sunday, each and every one of us will participate in a personal strike as a profound expression of solidarity with the hostage families,” the Hebrew University’s deal wrote to students.
The day will begin at 6:29 AM, to commemorate the start of the October 7 attack, with the first installation at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. Further demonstrations are planned at dozens of traffic intersections.
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Netanyahu ‘Has Become a Problem,’Says Danish PM as She Calls for Russia-Style Sanctions Against Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
i24 News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become a “problem,” his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen said Saturday, adding she would try to put pressure on Israel over the Gaza war.
“Netanyahu is now a problem in himself,” Frederiksen told Danish media, adding that the Israeli government is going “too far” and lashing out at the “absolutely appalling and catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza and announced new homes in the West Bank.
“We are one of the countries that wants to increase pressure on Israel, but we have not yet obtained the support of EU members,” she said, specifying she referred to “political pressure, sanctions, whether against settlers, ministers, or even Israel as a whole.”
“We are not ruling anything out in advance. Just as with Russia, we are designing the sanctions to target where we believe they will have the greatest effect.”
The devastating war in Gaza began almost two years ago, with an incursion into Israel of thousands of Palestinian armed jihadists, who perpetrated the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
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As Alaska Summit Ends With No Apparent Progress, Zelensky to Meet Trump on Monday
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the press conference after the opening session of Crimea Platform conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, 23 August 2023. The Crimea Platform – is an international consultation and coordination format initiated by Ukraine. OLEG PETRASYUK/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – After US President Donald Trump hailed the “great progress” made during a meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he was set to meet Trump on Monday at the White House.
“There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway,” Trump told reporters during a joint press conference after the meeting.
Many observers noted, however, that the subsequent press conference was a relatively muted affair compared to the pomp and circumstance of the red carpet welcome, and the summit produced no tangible progress.
Trump and Putin spoke briefly, with neither taking questions, and offered general statements about an “understanding” and “progress.”
Putin, who spoke first, agreed with Trump’s long-repeated assertion that Russia never would have invaded Ukraine in 2022 had Trump been president instead of Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump said “many points were agreed to” and that “just a very few” issues were left to resolve, offering no specifics and making no reference to the ceasefire he’s been seeking.