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‘Revitalized’ Palestinian Authority: New Minister of Women’s Affairs Is a Brazen Terror Supporter
Palestinian demonstrators display a poster showing terrorist Dalal Mughrabi alongside the late PLO leader Yasser Arafat. Photo: File.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has announced a new government as part of its fulfillment of the US demand for a “revitalized” PA. However, for the PA, “revitalization” does not preclude religious incitement to terror and demonizing Jews as “apes and pigs,” supporting terror and terrorists, or rejecting Israel’s legitimacy as a state.
1. New minister Muna Al-Khalili praised the murder of 37 as a “quality resistance operation”
Muna Al-Khalili, the new PA Minister of Women’s Affairs, is an outspoken terror supporter, having publicly glorified the murder of 37 Israeli civilians.
As chairwoman of the PLO General Union of Palestinian Women, Al-Khalili spoke at an event honoring Dalal Mughrabi, who led the most murderous terror attack in Israel’s history, prior to October 7.
On March 11, 1978, Mughrabi led a team of PLO terrorists who hijacked a civilian bus and murdered 37 civilians, including 12 children and one American photographer, Gail Rubin.
In her speech, Al-Khalili praised the murder of the 37 civilians as a “quality resistance operation.” She also praised the decision to appoint a woman to lead the massacre, calling Mughrabi the “head of a squad of self-sacrificing fighters (Fedayeen),” and saying that Mughrabi “proved that Palestinian women are capable of carrying out the most difficult missions”:
The Chairwoman of the [PLO General] Union of Palestinian Women Muna Al-Khalili said…: “We are gathering today, 40 years after the quality resistance operation that 20-year-old Martyr Dalal Mughrabi led, [i.e., terrorist bus hijacking and murder of 37 civilians, 12 of them children] at the head of a squad of self-sacrificing fighters (Fedayeen), and she proved that Palestinian women are capable of carrying out the most difficult missions.“
[Al-Kahili] explained that the selection of Dalal as commander of the operation constitutes proof of the PLO’s appreciation of the role of women, and that Martyr leader Khalil Al-Wazir [i.e., Abu Jihad] did not choose Dalal as commander of the operation accidentally, as those who know him and were in his company confirmed that he wanted to convey a message to the Palestinians and to the world regarding the significance of the role of women in the national struggle, in the liberation, and in laying the foundations of a society in which social justice prevails for the future State of Palestine.
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 12, 2018]
2. Three weeks after Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre, Al-Khalili “emphasize[s] the Palestinian’s right to resist
Three weeks after Hamas’ rapes, torture, murders, and massacre on Oct. 7, Muna Al-Khalili spoke at a conference and brazenly supported Palestinians’ right to “resist” — the PA euphemism for terror and murder. In addition, she also denied Israel’s right to exist in any borders, calling Israel an “occupation for the past 75 years,” i.e., since Israel’s founding:
We in the General Union of Palestinian Women emphasize the Palestinian people’s right to resist the occupation that has continued for the past 75 years, [a right] that is anchored in the resolutions of the international institutions.
We emphasize that there will be no peace or stability in the entire region and the world without the Palestinian people receiving its legitimate rights — self-determination, freedom, independence in its sovereign state whose capital is Jerusalem — and without a just resolution for the refugees’ issue according to [UN] Resolution 194.”
[Conference of Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate, PLO website, Oct. 26, 2023]
3. 10 days after Oct. 7, Al-Khalili honored convicted murderers of 61 as “heroic prisoners”
The General Union of Palestinian Women that Al-Khalili heads held a vigil calling for the release of terrorist prisoners just 10 days after the Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities. Al-Khalili sat right behind four posters featuring the names and pictures of different terrorist murderers imprisoned in Israel for past terror attacks, each with the text: “Freedom for the heroic prisoner.”
From left to right in front of Al-Khalili are posters honoring Ibrahim Hamed, a Hamas leader responsible for the murder of at least 53 people in a series of bombings: Sheffield Club (15 murdered), Hillel Cafe (7 murdered), Hebrew University (9 murdered), Moment Cafe (11 murdered), and Zion Square (11 murdered); Akram Hamed, who murdered three people; Marwan Barghouti, who orchestrated attacks in which at least five people were murdered; and Ali Barghouti, who aided Marwan Barghouti and also murdered Palestinians he suspected of aiding Israel. As head of the organization appearing with these posters, Al-Khalili is honoring these well-known terrorist mass murderers.
[PLO General Union of Palestinian Women – General Secretariat, Facebook page, Oct. 17, 2023]
4. New PA Minister of Religious Affairs called to “afflict the Jews with the worst torment,” calling them “apes and pigs”
The new “revitalized” PA government also includes religious leader Muhammad Mustafa Najem as PA Minister of Religious Affairs. Najem openly called for terror in a sermon on official PA TV during the PA terror campaign known as the Second Intifada, from 2000-2005, where more than 1,100 Israelis murdered, framing his incitement as a religious imperative: “O servants of Allah, be the ones through which Allah will afflict the Jews with the worst torment.”
Najem went on to demonize the Jews with toxic antisemitism, saying that they are “characterized by conceit, pride, arrogance, rioting, disloyalty, and treachery,” and adding that “Allah turned them into apes and pigs” while quoting from the Koran.
PA religious leader Muhammad Mustafa Najem: “Praise Allah … It is He who warned us of the Jews and of the Jews’ ethics in the clearest manner, and He fought them and waged Jihad against them — after they attempted to murder the call [to Allah] from its foundations and to murder Prophet [Muhammad] in a political murder…
The Jews — as is their practice, and as Allah described them in His book [the Koran], and in the Prophet’s tradition [the Hadith] — are characterized by conceit, pride, arrogance, rioting, disloyalty, and treachery…
And they were jealous of the Muslims because the Prophet was not one of them. They are still jealous; they were jealous, and they are still jealous. They killed, and they are still killing. They betrayed, and they are still betraying. They spilled blood, and they are still spilling blood, and so on and so forth…
The same goes for their rulers, any political party or any group, it is all the same. Whether the crime rates are on the rise or the decline, they have a common denominator and it is hostility to Islam and the Muslims, hostility to the bearers of the truth, hostility to the sons of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, hostility to the bearers of the historical truth in this land…
Therefore, [violence and crimes] are not an exception to them and their nature, due to which Allah turned them into apes and pigs: “So when they were insolent about that which they had been forbidden, We said to them, ‘Be apes, despised.’ …And [mention] when your Lord declared that He would surely [continue to] send upon them until the Day of Resurrection those who would afflict them with the worst torment. Indeed, your Lord is swift in penalty; but indeed, He is Forgiving and Merciful” [Koran 7:166-167] …
Allah, grant us victory over the Jews and those who side with them! Allah, grant us victory over the Jews and those who side with them! Allah, grant us victory over the Jews and the patrons of the Jews’ arrogance.
[Official PA TV, Nov. 1, 2002]
Palestinian Media Watch calls on Israel and the United States, which has led the call for a “revitalized” PA, to demand that Najem and Al-Khalili and any other terror supporters in the new PA government be immediately replaced.
If the previous PA terror supporting government is replaced by a new terror supporting government, the PA is making a mockery of the US demand for “revitalization.”
Itamar Marcus is Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
The post ‘Revitalized’ Palestinian Authority: New Minister of Women’s Affairs Is a Brazen Terror Supporter 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.