Hamas-controlled television is broadcasting a statement by the group’s late leader Ahmed Yassin several times a day saying Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza is the key to the destruction of the entire Jewish state.

The Islamist terror group, which has ruled the Palestinian Authority since it overcame the Fatah group in parliamentary elections a year ago, has launched the Al Aksa Satellite TV channel.

“Al Aqsa Satellite TV broadcasts numerous political messages during its daily programming,” reads a report by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), which monitors and translates PA broadcasts. “The message that has been repeating most frequently this month is a statement made by Ahmed Yassin, founder and former head of Hamas, who was killed by Israel.”

Yassin’s statement was made in 2005, in response to Ariel Sharon’s announcement of an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza:

“Sharon said yesterday that 'Nezarim [Israeli town in Gaza Strip] is [like] Tel Aviv.' Today he says: 'The day is near when we will leave Gaza.' That’s it, it’s lost, Tel Aviv is gone. They are defeated, they have no words left.”

Continuing his prediction of where the Disengagement would lead, Yassin said: “When this process will end, they will become a state with no ability, helpless. They established a state to protect the Jews from death and murder. If death and murder chase them in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Netanya and everywhere among them, then they will say: 'What am I doing here? I founded a state to protect me from death, and if death chases me, I want to flee and go back to Europe and America.'”

PMW says the video clip is shown multiple times daily. “The frequency that this has been playing on Hamas TV – for example, seven times on March 12th alone - indicates how important this political message is to Hamas,” PMW Director Itamar Marcus says. “Fatah and Hamas have been competing for years in taking credit for the terror that they say forced the government of Ariel Sharon to decide to leave Israeli towns in the Gaza Strip.”