The murdered children of the recent Jerusalem terror attack, Yaakov Yisrael Paley and Asher Menachem Paley. Photo: Palestinian Media Watch.

Yaakov Yisrael Paley and Asher Menachem Paley were two brothers, aged 6 and 8, who were brutally murdered by a Palestinian terrorist in a car ramming attack last week. Alter Shlomo Lederman, aged 19, was also killed; they were all waiting at a bus stop in Jerusalem. An off-duty Israeli police officer shot terrorist Hussein Karake, thereby ending his attack.

Child killer Hussein Karake has since been praised and eulogized as “a Martyr” by the Palestinian Authority (PA), Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization, and the PA-funded Prisoners’ Club.

The Fatah Movement in the Deheisheh refugee camp “eulogized Martyr Hussein through the loudspeakers of the camp’s mosques,” while a Fatah spokespersonpraised him for continuing in the footsteps of other terrorists, using the PA euphemism “Martyrdom seeker”:

“[Karake is] a son of the Deheisheh refugee camp, a Martyrdom seeker, who is continuing the path of the Martyrs who preceded him.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 11, 2023]

Distorting reality, the official PA daily ignored the fact that Karake carried out a deadly attack, and declared that he was “shot by settlers” and “died as a Martyr”:

Official PA TV mimicked the claim:

Official PA TV newsreader: “Young Hussein Karake, 30, died as a Martyr from serious wounds after settlers opened fire on him at the Nabi Samwil Junction in northwest occupied Jerusalem.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV News, Feb. 10, 2023]

The PFLP also praised Karake, who was apparently a member of the terror organization, by calling him a Martyr:

In addition, the Popular Front [for the Liberation of Palestine] (PFLP) eulogized the Martyr as did the factions’ coordination committee, which conveyed “its sincere condolences to his comrades in the PFLP for the past year and the relatives of the Martyr.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 11, 2023]

In its usual way, the PA presented the terrorist murderer as an innocent man who “died as a Martyr from serious wounds after settlers opened fire on him,” stating that “the Israeli media outlets claimed that the Martyr ran over a group of settlers.” [Official PA TV News, Feb. 10, 2023]

The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above and additional reports praising the killer as “a Martyr”:

Headline: “A young person died as a Martyr and 2 settlers were killed in occupied Jerusalem, and Israeli calls for steps of revenge”

“Yesterday, Friday [Feb. 10, 2023], young Hussein Khaled Karake  was shot by settlers and died as a Martyr, while Israeli sources announced the killing of settlers and the wounding of 6 others at various degree of injury during a car-ramming operation at the Nabi Samwil Junction northwest of occupied Jerusalem…

The number of Martyrs who have been shot by the occupation army and the settlers and ascended [to Heaven] since the start of the current year [2023] rose to 45 Martyrs, including 9 children, an elderly woman, and a prisoner in the occupation’s prisons…

The [PA-funded] Prisoners’ Club, the prisoners in the occupation’s prisons, and the released prisoners in the homeland and the diaspora eulogized Martyr and former prisoner Hussein Karake. The Prisoners’ Club explained that Martyr Karake was arrested a number of times and suffered harassment and severe blows in one of his arrests. The Fatah Movement in the Deheisheh refugee camp also eulogized Martyr Hussein through the loudspeakers of the camp’s mosques. A Fatah spokesperson eulogized the Martyr and said: ‘[Karake is] a son of the Deheisheh refugee camp, a Martyrdom seeker, who is continuing the path of the Martyrs who preceded him.’ [emphasis added]

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 11, 2023]

“The family of Martyr Hussein Khaled Karake emptied its home of possessions following the occupation authorities’ decision to seal it off.

Confrontations broke out between young people and the occupation’s forces in the area of Martyr Karake’s home in the town of Al-Tur in eastern occupied Jerusalem. No wounds were reported.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 12, 2023]

Official PA TV newsreader: “Young Hussein Karake died as a Martyr from serious wounds after settlers opened fire on him at the Nabi Samwil Junction in northwest occupied Jerusalem. Martyr Karake is from Issawiya in northern occupied Jerusalem; he is married and the father of a boy and girl. The Israeli media outlets claimed that the Martyr ran over a group of settlers who were at the site, which led to the death of a settler and the wounding of five, and likewise another settler was shot and killed by settlers.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV News, Feb. 10, 2023]

The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.