PA rewrites history as it happens

PA denies obvious terror attack and calls killing the terrorist “an execution in cold blood”

Facts:
1. Terror attack was captured on security cameras
2. Terrorist recorded motive on phone before attack: “I’m not a spy, I never betrayed the homeland”
3. Terrorist shot by Israeli police during attack also captured on video

PA libel:
PA leader Saeb Erekat (terrorist’s relative): “Execution in cold blood of young Ahmed”

Demonizing Israel at every opportunity is part of PA policy. Even when a terror attack is documented clearly on video, top PA leaders will often lie by declaring that the terrorist killed by Israel was an innocent victim.
 
Recently Ahmed Erekat, a relative of PA leader Saeb Erekat, carried out a terror attack that was captured by an Israel security camera. After slowing down his car at a police checkpoint, Erekat suddenly accelerated, turned the car and rammed into a policewoman, throwing her into a wall. The moment the terrorist jumped out of his car he was shot by other Israeli officers. All of this was captured on security camera.

Before his attack, terrorist Erekat recorded a video message on his phone indicating his motivation for the attack. In the recording he proclaimed his innocence, denying he was a spy for Israel, and stated that he had “never betrayed the homeland” – apparently something he had been accused of. He then rambled on about some family issues which may or may not have been related to the spy accusation.

Terrorist Ahmed Erekat phone message: “Of course your brother isn’t (i.e., I’m not) a spy and nothing like that. I’ve never betrayed the homeland in my life... my brothers and sisters were not involved in this”

[Twitter account of Israeli journalist Shimrit Meir, June 24, 2020]

PA sources have explained that Palestinians who are accused of working with Israelis, often attempt to erase the suspicion by committing terror attacks:

“In several cases [Palestinian children] carried out stabbing operations because of the way the public looks at them. They realized 'the best way to clear myself of this image [of helping Israel] is to participate in resistance (i.e., terror) operations.'"

[Official PA TV, Personal Encounter, Oct. 11, 2017]

Ignoring the video evidence of the attack as well as the terrorist’s statement that provides the motive for the attack, PA leader Saeb Erekat publicly accused Israeli soldiers of murdering his relative in cold blood:

Saeb Erekat, Fatah Central Committee member and PLO Chief Negotiator:

“Netanyahu bears personal responsibility for the execution in cold blood of young Ahmed, and the time has come that he be summoned to the International Criminal Court.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 24, 2020]

The PLO itself even tweeted the video of the attack, but chose to lie about it and stated that the terrorist was “extrajudicially executed at point-blank”:

Tweeted text in English: “(All errors in source –Ed.) Ahmad Erekat, clearly unarmed/ harmless, was extrajudicially executed at point-blank by the Israeli occupying forces. Terrorism is such savage/cold-blooded crimes that illustrate Israel's shoot-to-kill policy against Palestinians.
@IntlCrimCourt #PalestiniansLivesMatter”

[Official Twitter account of the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department, June 25, 2020]

Abbas’ Fatah also repeated the lie in a cartoon, showing the terrorist as a flower shot dead by an Israeli soldier:

 
Text on cartoon: “The murder of young Ahmed Erekat”

[Official Fatah Facebook page, June 25, 2020]

Demonizing Israel at every opportunity is a fundamental aspect of PA policy. Turning a terrorist into a victim, and turning Israel’s successful self-defense against terror into a “cold-blooded execution,” is another blatant example of such demonization.

The following is a longer excerpt of Saeb Erekat’s accusations against Israel:

Headline: “The death as a Martyr of a young man from Abu Dis on his sister’s wedding day – Erekat: Netanyahu bears personal responsibility for the execution in cold blood of young Ahmed, and the time has come that he be summoned to the International Criminal Court” “The death as a Martyr of young Ahmed Erekat (i.e., terrorist, wounded 1), 28, from the town of Abu Dis in occupied Jerusalem, was announced yesterday [June 23, 2020] after he was shot by the Israeli occupation forces next to the ‘container’ checkpoint northeast of Bethlehem.
Abu Dis Mayor Ahmed Abu Hilal said that the occupation soldiers fired at the young man and left him to bleed until he died as a Martyr, and he added that the body was seized. He said that the young man was on his way to bring his sister from the bridal salon in Bethlehem for her wedding…
The occupation soldiers situated at the checkpoint stopped the car the young man was driving and opened fire on it (sic., security camera footage shows Erekat ran over a female Israeli border police officer, causing other security personnel to open fire in defense), and prevented the Red Crescent teams from providing him with first aid…
PLO Executive Committee Secretary Saeb Erekat placed the responsibility for young Ahmed’s death as a Martyr on Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu.
Erekat – who rejected the Israeli version that claims that Ahmed attempted to run over a soldier – said: ‘Netanyahu is personally responsible for the execution in cold blood of the young man, as happened with the murder of young Iyad Al-Hallaq in Jerusalem (see note below –Ed.).’ …
He added to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the young man was executed in cold blood by the Israeli occupation army…
Erekat emphasized that the time has come to summon Netanyahu to the International Criminal Court (ICC), and he called on the UN to provide international protection for our people.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 24, 2020]

Note: The terrorist’s video was found on his phone after his death and published on Twitter by Israeli journalist Shimrit Meir, June 24, 2020.

Ahmed Erekat - Palestinian terrorist who wounded an Israeli border police officer in a car ramming attack at a security checkpoint near Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, on June 23, 2020. In defense, Israeli security personnel shot and killed him. Ahmed Erekat was a relative of PLO Executive Committee Secretary Saeb Erekat. The PLO claimed that the attack was an "accident" and that Erekat was killed by Israel "in cold blood." The attack was caught on security cameras, showing Erekat suddenly accelerating and swerving to hit the officer.

Iyad Al-Hallaq was a mentally disabled Arab resident of Jerusalem who fled when Israeli border police officers asked him to stop on suspicions he was armed with a handgun, causing them to open fire and kill him at the Lions’ Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem on May 31, 2020.