Knife used by terrorist
Knife used by terroristPhoto: AFP via PMW

Several Palestinian terrorists have carried out stabbing attacks in the last few days, injuring Israelis. Some of the terrorists were shot and killed during their attacks. The violent acts of terror have gone unaddressed by Palestinian leaders and have even been denied by some. Instead, Palestinian leaders describe the perpetrators as victims and accuse Israel of carrying out "summary executions."

The official PA news agency WAFA announced that Israel is carrying out "summary executions and daily killing[s]" of "unarmed Palestinians," and claimed several "citizens" had been "executed... on pretexts and empty excuses." [WAFA, official PA news agency, Sept. 19, 2016]

PA Minister of Justice Ali Abu Diyak chose to ignore and even deny the stabbings, calling Israel's response to the spike in terror attacks "a one-sided campaign" and categorizing the stabbings as "baseless excuses":

"[PA] Minister of Justice Ali Abu Diyak said... in a statement that he published: 'Israel is waging a one-sided campaign against our people, and is intensifying the crimes of murder and aggression. In less than a week, it has committed many crimes of summary executions'...

He [Abu Diyak] emphasized that most of the victims of these crimes are youth and children, and that the occupation is using the excuse that they tried to stab or throw rocks at the occupation soldiers, and other baseless excuses." [WAFA, official PA news agency, Sept. 19, 2016]

One of these allegedly "unarmed" citizens was a Jordanian terrorist who tried to stab Israeli border police officers at the Damascus Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs released footage of the attack in which terrorist Sa'id Al-Amru can be seen attacking the officers with a knife in each hand.

Despite the facts and the footage, Official PA TV was quick to portray this as a deliberate "targeted" killing to deter other Arabs from coming to Jerusalem and "defending" it:

Official PA TV host: "The targeting of Jordanian Martyr Sa'id Al-Amru (i.e., terrorist stabber) is also a message against all of the calls to our Arab brothers to visit Jerusalem. [It is] an attempt to reduce these visits and in a sense prevent them, so that the Arabs will not defend Jerusalem and Palestine and the besieged Palestinian people that lives under the occupation." [Official PA TV, Good Morning Jerusalem, Sept. 17, 2016]

A PA official interviewed on the program supported this claim:

Deputy Governor of Jerusalem District Abdallah Siyam: "It is exactly a hijacking of Jerusalem, and an attempt to alter the nature... of Jerusalem. The occupation wants to accustom the [Arab] citizens to the idea that there is a permanent danger in Jerusalem and it would be better for you not to come to Jerusalem."

Likewise, PA TV News stated Israel had "executed" the terrorist:

PA TV newsreader: "Occupation soldiers this afternoon executed the 28-year-old Sa'id Al-Amru, who holds Jordanian citizenship, in the area of the Damascus Gate [in Jerusalem] under the pretext that he tried to carry out a stabbing operation." [Official PA TV News, Sept. 16, 2016]

Another terrorist stabber, Hatem Al-Shaloudi, can be seen on security camera footage pulling out a knife and stabbing an Israeli soldier [Israeli TV Channel 2, Sept. 17, 2016]:

As with the other stabber, PA TV claimed Israel had "executed" terrorist Hatem Al-Shaloudi "under the pretext that he had stabbed a soldier":

Official PA TV newsreader: "The occupation forces executed the 25-year-old young man Hatem Al-Shaloudi by shooting him with automatic weapons in the Tel Rumeida area in the center of Hebron, under the pretext that he had stabbed a soldier, lightly injuring him."

Official PA TV reporter: "The chain of Israeli crimes against residents of the Hebron district has not ended. Especially [not] the summary executions there, as the occupation army continues its intentional policy of killing Palestinian residents, using the same pretexts and excuses." [Official PA TV News, Sept. 17, 2016]

The official PA daily even sowed doubt about the attack, stating that Israel "claimed as usual" that a stabbing had taken place:

"The occupation army claimed, as usual, that young Al-Shaloudi stabbed a soldier at Tel Rumeida."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 18, 2016]

The PA libel that Israel deliberately "targets" and "executes" innocent Palestinians without justification has been repeated constantly in recent days by PA and Fatah leaders. PA Minister of Justice Ali Abu Diyak referred to Israel's killing of two stabbers, Amir Jamal Al-Rajabi and Muhannad Jamil Al-Rajabi, as "organized state terror and additional proof that Israel is continuing to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity."

Amir Jamal Al-Rajabi and Muhannad Jamil Al-Rajabi were two terrorists, who on Sept. 19, 2016, stabbed and wounded an Israeli border police officer near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. The two terrorists were shot and killed by Israeli officers during the attack.

The PLO Department for Jerusalem Affairs stated that the killing of terrorist Al-Shaloudi was an example of Israel's "summary executions" that constitute "organized Israeli terror." [WAFA, official PA news agency, Sept. 19, 2016]

The Palestinian National Council, which is the legislative body of the PLO, encouraged Palestinians to "defend" themselves, and to "escalate the popular struggle":

"The Palestinian National Council (i.e., legislative body of the PLO) called on our people to defend itself from the Israeli terror... In a press release by its chairman, Salim Al-Za'anoun, the council yesterday [Sept. 17, 2016] called on the Palestinian factions and forces, associations, and unions to escalate the popular struggle against the occupation, its aggression, and its crimes." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 18, 2016]

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that terms like "popular struggle," "popular resistance," and "peaceful uprising" are used by Palestinian leaders to refer to many forms of "resistance," including the use of violence. Referring to the Palestinian terror wave in November 2015, which at the time had already murdered 14 Israelis and wounded 167 in 65 stabbings and 8 shootings, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas announced on PA TV that it was a "peaceful uprising." Similarly, a Fatah spokesman stated in December 2015, during the terror wave, that Fatah was leading the "popular resistance" in "the Jerusalem uprising."

The Jerusalem branch of the Fatah Movement emphasized in a statement two days ago that "the occupation forces are targeting the blood of the Palestinians and doing as they please with it..." and warned that this would have "serious consequences," possibly alluding to an escalation of the violence. Fatah Movement Secretary in Jerusalem Adnan Ghaith repeated the libel that Israel targets Palestinians deliberately:

"Our Palestinian people has turned into a direct target for summary executions and cold-blooded murder for the occupation forces, who carry out crimes before the eyes and ears of the entire world, without anyone acting to stop these racist crimes." [WAFA, official PA news agency, Sept. 19, 2016]

In another statement, Fatah also implicitly threatened to use violence against Israel. The head of the Information Committee of the Fatah Mobilization and Organization Commission Munir Al-Jaghoub "warned" Israel against "continuing the executions," stating that Fatah would "not agree to make do with counting the Martyrs":

"Head of the Information Committee of the Fatah Mobilization and Organization Commission Munir Al-Jaghoub said that the level of the fascism and terror that Israel has reached today only proves to us all that it is only specializing in the cold-blooded execution of Palestinians... [He] warned the occupation government against the continuation of the murders, arrests, and executions. He said: 'The Fatah Movement - as a faction that represents the first line of the many members of the Palestinian people that believes in popular resistance - will not agree to make do with counting the Martyrs (Shahids) who are falling as a result of the acts of the criminal occupation.'" [Ma'an, independent Palestinian news agency, Sept. 20, 2016]

These PA libels - that Israel fabricates stabbing attacks and "executes unarmed Palestinians" for no reason were also heard during the terror wave that started last year in September and continued with numerous stabbings, shootings, and car ramming attacks in 2016, and which had murdered 40 people (36 Israelis, 1 Palestinian, 2 Americans and 1 Eritrean) and wounded hundreds by July 2016.