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.