The Jerusalem light rail. Photo: Wikipedia.

Following a Palestinian terrorist’s murder of an Israeli soldier and the wounding of six others, including three Israeli civilians and a Palestinian teen in a car ramming attack, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization called to “escalate the unlimited confrontation everywhere.”

The PFLP’s goal is to make Israel “pay the price through the blood of its soldiers and settlers”:

Our people is determined to escalate the unlimited confrontation against the occupation everywhere, to make it pay the price through the blood of its soldiers and settlers in light of its continued crimes against our people, and to thwart its delusions of stopping the wave of resistance.  [emphasis added]

[Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, Aug. 31, 2023]

As is its policy, the Palestinian Authority (PA) presented the murderer as an innocent “young civilian,” who Israel “claimed” had carried out a car ramming attack:

The [PA] Ministry of Health announced that civilian Daoud Abd Al-Razeq Dars[Fayez] [i.e., terrorist], 41, was shot by the occupation forces and died as a Martyr…

The occupation forces shot young Dars claiming that he carried out a car ramming operation at the military “Maccabim” Checkpoint located on the lands of Beit Sira, which led to the death of a soldier and the wounding of 5 others (sic., 6).

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 1, 2023]

Similarly, when Khaled Samer Al-Za’anin, a 14-year-old terrorist, was killed a few days earlier after he stabbed and wounded a 22-year-old Israeli on the Jerusalem light rail, the PA referred to him as “a young person who was shot and died as a Martyr.”

The PA also reported that eyewitnesses saw that Al-Za’anin was “executed.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 31, 2023]

PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesman, Nabil Rudeina, accused Israel of “murder in cold blood of [a] young Jerusalem resident,” claiming Israel intentionally is trying “to bring about an explosion in the situation and drag it into the cycle of violence and escalation.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 1, 2023]

Adding to this, the PA Foreign Ministry turned the incident on its head, claiming Khaled Samer Al-Za’anin was “executed” — “barbarically attacked by settlers while he was on the [light] rail and died as a Martyr while defending himself.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 1, 2023]

Palestinian Media Watch has shown the dual and almost conflicting messages of the PA. At times it presents terrorists who try to murder Israelis as innocents, while at other times it brags about their “accomplishments” as “self-sacrificing fighters” and the PA’s soldiers.

It both shows their true intentions, and their desire to use any means available to attack Israel.

The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.