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Ramadan and Jihad: PA’s Top Religious Leader Links the Two
People hold Hamas flags as Palestinians gather after performing the last Friday of Ramadan, May 7, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
The Palestinian Authority (PA)’s top religious figure, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, has once again linked the Muslim holy month of Ramadan with Jihad.
Ramadan will [revive] … the power of faith, activity, and just Jihad for our legitimate goals and rights. .. what will be erased and will leave is the racist occupation. [emphasis added]
[Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, March 1, 2024]
When Al-Habbash writes that the Palestinian Jihad will achieve “legitimate goals,” and that the “occupation” will be “erased,” he is encouraging Palestinians to see Ramadan as a time of terror to advance the PA’s fundamental goal of destroying Israel.
When the PA and Mahmoud Al-Habbash talk about “occupation,” they are referring to all of Israel’s existence, as Al-Habbash has made clear many times.
In a recent talk he explained that “occupation” from the PA’s perspective is Israel’s existence “for more than seven decades already.” [emphasis added]
According to Abbas’ advisor, only Israel’s destruction will bring peace:
[Israel] doesn’t want to understand that the cause of everything is the occupation’s [i.e., Israel’s] existence. Once the occupation [i.e., Israel] comes to an end there will be no violence or bloodshed from any side.
As long as the occupation exists, they must understand that they have no hope of living securely and safely … For more than seven decades already [i.e., since Israel’s establishment in 1948] the Palestinian people has been in this situation and wants to be rid of the occupation and achieve its freedom, honor, and state. [emphasis added]
[PA Supreme Shari’ah Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Oct. 9, 2023]
Accordingly, when Al-Habbash led up to Islam’s holy month of Ramadan, by reiterating that Ramadan revives the Jihad, which will lead to the “occupation’s erasure,” he again promised terror that would lead to Israel’s destruction:
[PA] Supreme Shari’ah Judge of Palestine and President [Abbas’] Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Sheikh Dr. Mahmoud Al-Habbash said … that the [Muslim fasting] month of Ramadan will remain a tenet of faith that revives within us the power of faith, activity, and just Jihad for our legitimate goals and rights and for the defense of our religious holy sites, and particularly the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and what will be erased and will leave is the racist occupation [i.e., Israel], its tools, and its angels of destruction. [emphasis added]
Two years ago, Al-Habbash was even more explicit about the necessity for Palestinians to be involved in terror during Ramadan:
Did the Prophet spend Ramadan in calmness, serenity, laziness, and sleepiness? Far be it from him … How can we build [our] lives and lay foundations for Islam if we are lazy, Heaven forbid? Ramadan is not a month of laziness but rather a month of activity, of effort, and of hard work, and as it also was in the life of the Prophet, a month of Jihad, conquest, and victory. [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Allah’s Messenger Muhammad, April 3, 2022]
Due to incitement to terror by both the PA and Hamas, the Israeli military establishment is on high alert to prevent additional Palestinian terror during this year’s Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Itamar Marcus is Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Ramadan and Jihad: PA’s Top Religious Leader Links the Two first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.