Fatah: “Make sure your bullets hit the target” – song posted just hours after lethal shooting attack
“O self-sacrificing fighter – make sure your bullets hit the target… O self-sacrificing fighter – cause the outbreak [of the revolution] like a volcano… ignite it, ignite it everywhere”
Abbas, the PA, and Fatah were inciting to violence and terror a long time before Hamas joined the call
Much of the Israeli and international media have singled out Hamas as the villain inciting Palestinians to violence in Jerusalem. However, as Palestinian Media Watch has exposed, Abbas himself, his Palestinian Authority, and his Fatah Movement – which is part of the PLO - were the ones who initiated the incitement to violence and terror, and only afterward Hamas joined.
For example, on the same day three Israeli teen students were shot - one of whom later died of his wounds - Fatah posted an old song inciting to terror with the words “O self-sacrificing fighter, make sure your bullets hit the target.” This is both a message of approval of the deadly attack and a call for more terror:
Singer: “O self-sacrificing fighter – make sure your bullets hit the target”
Choir: “Hit it, hit it …”
Singer: “Your blood is Arab”
Choir: “Palestinian…”
Singer: “O self-sacrificing fighter – cause the outbreak [of the revolution] like a volcano
O self-sacrificing fighter, ignite it, ignite it everywhere
Make sure the cannon is a fire burning by night
Make sure [the Israelis’] day does not emerge”
Choir: O self-sacrificing fighter, O self-sacrificing fighter, O self-sacrificing fighter.”Posted text on Fatah Facebook page: “O self-sacrificing fighter, aim your bullets – from the old Palestinian revolutionary songs”
[Facebook page of the Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, May 3, 2021]
PMW has documented that also official PA TV has recently broadcast this song along with many others that encourage and praise the use of violence against Israel.
Throughout the riots, Abbas, the PA, and Fatah – both of which Abbas heads – have been unequivocal about their support for the Palestinian riots in Jerusalem. Abbas has not wasted one moment during the riots but utilized every opportunity to express support for the rioters and “salute” them for their resolve against the Israeli plans to take control of the holy city.”
Early on, Fatah reposted a video of Abbas implicitly calling for violence, when he called to “defend Jerusalem with our lives.” Fatah also quickly referred to the riots as “an uprising and intifada in Jerusalem.”
Fatah also showed its support for the shooting attack when it called to erase evidence in security cameras the next day.
Moreover, Fatah turned the conflict into a religious war by declaring the rioters who attacked Jews “Allah’s hand,” calling anyone who doesn’t participate in the “battle to defend Jerusalem” “a mute devil.” A Fatah spokesman later topped this by saying that the attack was an expression of the Palestinians’ “natural right” – i.e., to murder Israelis.
A few days prior to the shooting attack, Abbas’ advisor on religious affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, similarly told Palestinians to fight Israel - even to death – because “this is what Islam wants of you!”
Al-Habbash later followed up with a quote from the Quran encouraging Palestinians, telling them Israel – “those who disbelieve” - will go “to Hell”:
Posted text: “‘Say to those who disbelieve, “You will be overcome and gathered together to Hell, and wretched is the resting place”’ [Quran 3:12, Sahih International translation]”
[Facebook page of PA Supreme Shari’ah Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash, May 6, 2021]
He also “warned of a religious war” if the alleged “aggression of the Israeli occupation” against Jerusalem does not stop. [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 8, 2021]
All along, the PA has accused Israel of instigating the riots, deliberately trying to provoke the outbreak of an intifada – a violent uprising. This was also the focus of an op-ed in the official PA daily:
“Whoever has been monitoring the Israeli media for the last few weeks notices that it is focusing on one idea regarding the Palestinian situation: that the West Bank is about to explode, and that Hamas has chosen to respond to the [PA’s] postponement of elections by inflaming the situation in the West Bank and pressing towards a third Intifada… Today the Israeli media is repeating the same idea, and all that is required is just a spark to set the situation on fire! … The Israeli security forces are closely monitoring all of these developments in the Palestinian street and are not just planning how to deal with the explosion if it happens, but rather are planning much further than this: how Israel can exploit the rage, frustration, and explosion in a way that will serve its plans.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 5, 2021]
However, what is clear from the above, is that Abbas and the Palestinian Authority have made a strategic decision that politically it is now a good time for violence and terror. The PA is constantly telling Palestinians that violence and terror are valid means, thus keeping the potential for violence and terror always on the back burner. Now the PA is telling its people that this is the time to act.
The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above:
Excerpt of an op-ed by Bassem Barhoum, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “Why does Israel want to set the West Bank on fire?”
“Whoever has been monitoring the Israeli media for the last few weeks notices that it is focusing on one idea regarding the Palestinian situation: that the West Bank is about to explode, and that Hamas has chosen to respond to the [PA’s] postponement of elections by inflaming the situation in the West Bank and pressing towards a third Intifada. It should be noted that Israel spoke about the same idea following the collapse of the Camp David Summit in 2000, when security leaks were published in the Israeli media regarding the occupation army preparing for a number of scenarios to deal with an intifada in the Palestinian territories. At the height of this talk, [former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon made his ominous tour of the Al-Aqsa Mosque plazas, which was the direct cause of the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada (i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005, more than 1,100 Israelis murdered). Today the Israeli media is repeating the same idea, and all that is required is just a spark to set the situation on fire!There is no doubt that there is deep and accumulating frustration among the Palestinian people that is liable to turn into an explosion at any moment. The causes of this frustration are many, and most of them are connected to the Israeli occupation, its actions, and the inability to achieve any national goal. This is in addition to the current frustration that stems from the epidemiological situation with the spread of the Coronavirus, and the financial, social, and psychological crises that have been caused as a result of it.
The Israeli security forces are closely monitoring all of these developments in the Palestinian street and are not just planning how to deal with the explosion if it happens, but rather are planning much further than this: how Israel can exploit the rage, frustration, and explosion in a way that will serve its plans. Therefore, we must be careful about the Israeli campaign to set the land around us and under our feet on fire, and about a situation in which Israel will push us to what it wants and not to the forms of resistance that we want…
The first step that we must carry out to prevent any kind of boiling over into what Israel is planning is to cool off the internal situation as soon as possible. This requires us to immediately stop all our media attacks against each other, and to launch a comprehensive national dialogue…
The Israeli enemy is waiting for the moment when anarchy will ignite in order to carry out what it pleases through it. The importance of thwarting its plans stems from this, and we can still do this. It is not important to set a new date for the [PA] elections, as the dates are not important; the most important thing is that we return to elections after we have agreed to deal with the causes that led to their postponement.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 5, 2021]
Headline: “Al-Habbash warns of a religious war if the aggression of the occupation and its settlers against Jerusalem does not stop”
“Supreme Shari’ah Judge of Palestine and [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas’] Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash warned of a religious war if the aggression of the Israeli occupation and its settlers against Jerusalem does not stop.
In a letter that he sent yesterday, Friday [May 7, 2021], to [Grand] Mufti of Russia Sheikh Rawil Gaynetdin for the last Friday of the blessed [Muslim fasting] month of Ramadan, Al-Habbash said that what the occupation has been carrying out is a real war against peace, justice, humanity, and the international laws.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 8, 2021]
Mahmoud Al-Habbash also serves as Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'ah Justice. In August 2019 PA Chairman Abbas dismissed all his advisors by Presidential decree. It is unclear what their status is today.