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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.
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Saudi Arabia Rejects Israel PM Netanyahu’s Remarks on Displacing Palestinians
US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talk in the midst of a joint news conference in the White House in Washington, US, Jan. 28, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Saudi Arabia affirmed its categorical rejection of remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about displacing Palestinians from their land, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Israeli officials have suggested the establishment of a Palestinian state on Saudi territory. Netanyahu appeared to be joking on Thursday when he responded to an interviewer on pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 who mistakenly said “Saudi state” instead of “Palestinian state,” before correcting himself.
While the Saudi statement mentioned Netanyahu’s name, it did not directly refer to the comments about establishing a Palestinian state in Saudi territory.
Egypt and Jordan also condemned the Israeli suggestions, with Cairo deeming the idea as a “direct infringement of Saudi sovereignty.”
The kingdom said it valued “brotherly” states’ rejection of Netanyahu’s remarks.
“This occupying extremist mindset does not comprehend what the Palestinian territory means for the brotherly people of Palestine and its conscientious, historical and legal association with that land,” it said.
Discussions of the fate of Palestinians in Gaza has been upended by Tuesday’s shock proposal from President Donald Trump that the U.S. would “take over the Gaza Strip” from Israel and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.
Arab states have roundly condemned Trump’s comments, which came during a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza war that Israel has been waging against the terrorist group Hamas, which controls the narrow strip.
Trump has said Saudi Arabia was not demanding a Palestinian state as a condition for normalizing ties with Israel. But Riyadh rebuffed his statements, saying it would not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
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Egypt to Host Emergency Arab Summit on 27 February to Discuss ‘Serious’ Palestinian Developments
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Feb. 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Egypt will host an emergency Arab summit on 27 February to discuss what it described as “serious” developments for Palestinians, according to a statement from the Egyptian foreign ministry on Sunday.
The summit comes amid regional and global condemnation of US President Donald Trump’s suggestion to “take over the Gaza Strip” from Israel and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.
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Thai Nationals Held Captive by Hamas in Gaza Return Home
Relatives hug a released Thai hostage, who was kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas and held in Gaza, as the hostages arrive in Thailand following their release, at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, in Samut Prakan, Thailand, February 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
When Surasak Rumnao, 31, left his home in Thailand’s rural Udon Thani province three years ago to go across the world to the southern Israeli town of Yesha for agriculture work, his family never imagined they would lose touch with him for over a year when he was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in October 2023.
He and four others were reunited with their families this weekend after their release from captivity in Gaza.
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists abducted more than 250 people, including Israelis and foreign nationals, in their October 2023 attack on Israel.
During the attack, Hamas terrorists killed more than 40 Thais and kidnapped 31 Thai laborers, some of whom died in captivity, according to the Thai government. Later that year, the first group of Thai hostages was returned.
Surasak’s mother, Khammee Rumnao, was relieved that her son was not mistreated and has returned to his home, about 620 km(385 miles) northeast of the capital, Bangkok.
“He mainly got to eat bread, he was looked after well and was fed all three meals (each day). He got to shower, he was looked after well,” Khammee said, and that he ate whatever his captors had.
Her son does not plan to go back and wants to use the knowledge he gained in his agricultural work in Israel at their home, she said.
His grandparents and other relatives came to their home to welcome him home.
His stepfather, Janda Prachanan, was elated.
“I couldn’t find the words to describe how happy I am, that my son is safe and finally home,” he said.
Earlier on Sunday, the other returnees, dressed in winter jackets, were met with tears of joy from their families who were waiting for their arrival at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
“We are all deeply touched to come back to our birthplace … to be standing here,” said Pongsak Thaenna, one of the returnees said. “I don’t know what else to say, we are all truly thankful.”
Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa, who met the hostages in Israel after their release last week, expressed relief.
“This is emotional … to come back to the embrace of their families,” he said. “We never gave up and this was the fruit of that.”
Before the conflict, approximately 30,000 Thai laborers worked in Israel’s agriculture sector, making them one of the largest migrant worker groups in the country. Nearly 9,000 Thais were repatriated following the October 7 attacks.
The workers primarily come from Thailand’s northeastern region, an area comprising villages and farming communities that is among the poorest in the country.
Thailand’s foreign ministry said a Thai national is still believed to be held captive by Hamas.
“We still have hope and continue to work to bring them back,” Maris said, adding that this includes the bodies of two deceased Thai nationals.
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