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Top Fatah Official: PA Security Forces Should Train Terrorists, Not Arrest Them!
People hold Fatah flags during a protest in support of the people of Gaza, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, in Hebron, in the West Bank, Oct. 27, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma
In an open expression of support for Palestinian terrorists, a senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official urged the PA Security Forces to end collaboration with Israel in the West Bank, and stop arresting “the young resistance fighters” — his term for terrorists.
But Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi didn’t stop there.
He also advocated for “training” the young terrorists — “people full of patriotic enthusiasm to fight” — because they “lack training and experience”:
Tirawi said of the pursuit and arrest of the resistance fighters by the Security Forces that these arrests are a mistake, and added … “Instead, we must contain this situation, contain these young people and train them.”
Tirawi added: ‘We have young people full of patriotic enthusiasm to fight [Israel], but they lack training and experience, and therefore they must receive training.” [emphasis added]
[Wattan, independent Palestinian news agency, Sept. 19, 2024]
Tirawi also called for “cleaning our house of collaborators,” but didn’t specify whether that meant just arresting them or worse: “If we want to approach resistance (i.e., terror) the right way, we must clean our house of collaborators [with Israel], as we have collaborators everywhere. We must first clean our house and then resist the occupation.”
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has already exposed that the PA Security Forces — which are made up of Fatah members — are heavily involved in terrorism (see our report, Terrorists in Uniform.)
While involved in terror themselves, the PA Security Forces have also been notifying Israel of Hamas terror cells. It could be that Tirawi is now objecting to even notifying Israel or arresting Hamas members, which is a major change in attitude and policy.
PMW has exposed the PA and Fatah’s support, promotion, and glorification of terror against Israel for almost three decades.
Tirawi in particular has been a leading voice for terrorism, and early in the current war in the Gaza Strip, he emphasized that Fatah is actively participating in fighting Israel:
Tawfiq Tirawi: “Who said that Fatah is not participating in the fighting [i.e., in Gaza war against Israel]? Who gave you this information and misled you that we are not participating? …
All the Palestinian organizations in the West Bank are fighting and coordinating among themselves on the ground … How many Martyrs are from Fatah? … Fatah has never relinquished the rifle, and it has never relinquished the struggle.” [emphasis added]
[Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, Facebook page, Nov. 18, 2023]
Even prior to the war, Tirawi claimed in 2021 that it was Hamas that was preventing Fatah from participating in more terrorism against Israel:
Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi: “We [in Fatah] are protecting the weapons of the resistance more than others are protecting the weapons of the resistance … Who said we [Fatah] are against resistance? We are in favor of resistance in all its forms…
There is popular resistance in the West Bank. There is armed resistance sometimes in the Gaza Strip. In a struggle, popular resistance and armed resistance need to be integrated …
Why is Fatah banned as an organization in the Gaza Strip? Why are you [Hamas] preventing Fatah from being armed in the Gaza Strip? Why are you preventing Fatah from participating in the battles that have taken place in the Gaza Strip …
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in the Gaza Strip are small groups … They are under Hamas control, and sometimes Hamas gives them normal freedom of movement, but it doesn’t give them the freedom to fight against Israel, and doesn’t give them the right to fire rockets at Israel as Hamas does in wartime.
In wartime, all the options are open. Why is it [Hamas] preventing them [Fatah] from taking part in many causes?” [emphasis added]
[Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, Facebook page, Dec. 9, 2021]
PA leaders such as Tirawi expose the misguided nature of international proposals to have Fatah — which the world frames as a “moderate alternative” to Hamas — take political and military control of Gaza following the war.
The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.
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Israeli Strike on Tehran Kills Bodyguard of Slain Hezbollah Chief
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi lays a wreath as he visits the burial site of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon, June 3, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah was killed in an Israeli air strike on Tehran alongside a member of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, a senior Lebanese security source told Reuters and the Iraqi group said on Saturday.
The source identified the Hezbollah member as Abu Ali Khalil, who had served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s slain chief Hassan Nasrallah. The source said Khalil had been on a religious pilgrimage to Iraq when he met up with a member of the Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada group.
They traveled together to Tehran and were both killed in an Israeli strike there, along with Khalil’s son, the senior security source said. Hezbollah has not joined in Iran’s air strikes against Israel from Lebanon.
Kataeb Sayyed Al-Shuhada published a statement confirming that both the head of its security unit and Khalil had been killed in an Israeli strike.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli aerial attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in September.
Israel and Iran have been trading strikes for nine consecutive days since Israel launched attacks on Iran, saying Tehran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran has said it does not seek nuclear weapons.
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Hamas Financial Officer and Commander Eliminated by IDF in the Gaza Strip
Israeli soldiers operate during a ground operation in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, July 3, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in cooperation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet), announced on Friday the killing of Ibrahim Abu Shamala, a senior financial official in Hamas’ military wing.
The operation took place on June 17th in the central Gaza Strip.
Abu Shamala held several key positions, including financial officer for Hamas’ military wing and assistant to Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ military wing until his elimination in March 2024.
He was responsible for managing all the financial resources of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza, overseeing the planning and execution of the group’s war budget. This involved handling and smuggling millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to fund Hamas’ military operations.
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Report: Wary of Assassination by Israel, Khamenei Names 3 Potential Successors
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, May 20, 2025. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed, the New York Times reported on Saturday citing unnamed Iranian officials. It is understood the Ayatollah fears he could be assassinated in the coming days.
Khamenei reportedly mostly speaks with his commanders through a trusted aide now, suspending electronic communications.
Khamenei has designated three senior religious figures as candidates to replace him as well as choosing successors in the military chain of command in the likely event that additional senior officials be eliminated.
Earlier on Saturday Israel confirmed the elimination of Saeed Izadi and Bhanam Shahriari.
Shahriari, head of Iran’s Quds Force Weapons Transfer Unit, responsible for arming Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, was killed in an Israeli airstrike over 1,000 km from Israel in western Iran.
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