Hamas Is Now Encouraging Return of Suicide Attacks; Where Is the World’s Response?
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by Itamar Marcus
Former Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal. Photo: Trango via Wikimedia Commons.
As Hamas is being thoroughly defeated militarily in Gaza, the Head of Hamas’ Political Bureau abroad, Khaled Mashaal, is encouraging Palestinians to return to suicide attacks — what he calls “Martyrdom operations” — all over Israel and around the world:
Khaled Mashaal: “What is required today in the West Bank, the 1948 territories [i.e., Israel], and the diaspora is an escalation of this struggle. In the West Bank we have already seen a successful start, a few Martyrdom-seeking operations [i.e., suicide attacks].
We want a return to the Martyrdom-seeking operations. The situation requires an open struggle. They [the Israelis] are waging an open struggle against us … We have unleashed all forms of resistance and foremost among them the Martyrdom-seeking operations.” [emphasis added]
[Abdulaziz Mucahit, X (Twitter), Aug. 28, 2024]
Launching attacks in Israel is a tactic for Fatah and Hamas, especially since the Gaza war began. Fatah is the group tied to the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs the West Bank.
A month after Hamas’ massacre of Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, a Hamas-affiliated Telegram channel, posted a video guide and demonstration for young Palestinians, instructing them how to attack and murder Israeli civilians on buses in Israel:
Text on screen:
“1. Attacking a bus of settlers
The wolf [i.e., terrorist] gets on the bus disguised in settlers’ clothing
Scanning [the bus] to identity the targets without drawing attention”“2. Attacking a bus of settlers when it is stopped at a station
Shooting the driver first of all”Posted text: “The buses of the occupier — precious prey
Presented to you, young people of Palestine: The way to carry out
a successful heroic operation [i.e., terror attack]
against the buses of the occupier and its settlers.
What are you waiting for?”[“Our Martyrs – Our Moons” Telegram channel (Hamas-affiliated), Nov. 6, 2023]
Both Fatah and Hamas justify terror attacks against Israeli citizens everywhere as legitimate tactics toward the goal of eliminating Israel, as Palestinian Media Watch has documented.
Al-Jazeera TV senior correspondent in Turkey, Abdulaziz Mucahit, posted the video of Khaled Mashaal giving a speech in Turkey, but later deleted it.
Where is the world’s outrage and response to this development?
Itamar Marcus is Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
