Terrorist mastermind Marwan Barghouti has organized a mass hunger strike by over 1000 imprisoned Palestinian terrorists.
He announced the hunger strike in The NY Times, which initially refused to list in his bio that he was in prison for 5 murders, NY Times gives Palestinian terrorist Marwan Barghouti platform to announce hunger strike. Barghouti is considered a leading candidate to become president of the Palestinian Authority after Mahmoud Abbas, and the hunger strike is seen as a way to position himself politically.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs detailed Barghouti’s terror activities:
1. Marwan Barghouti Served as Secretary General of Fatah in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, a member of the Palestinian legislature, head of the Tanzim, and the founder of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades which has carried out a large number of deadly terrorist attacks killing scores of Israelis and wounding hundreds.2. In the framework of his activities, he has received large amounts of funds from different sources both inside and outside Israel. Among these sources is the Palestinian Authority. The specific allocations of these funds were authorized by the actual signature of Yassser Arafat. These funds were used by Marwan Barghouti to finance many activities carried out by terror cells in the West Bank.3. Marwan Barghouti served as the most senior official in the Al-Aqsa Brigades. Nasser Avis, who was recently captured in Samaria, and Ahmed Barghouti, who was Marwan Barghouti’s personal assistant, reported directly to him. These two served as his operational officers and, under the initiative of Marwan Barghouti, launched dozens of attacks, including a large number of suicide bombings within Israel.4. The following are some of the more heinous terror attacks for which he is responsible:
- Jun 12, 2001 – The murder of a Greek Orthodox monk on the road to Ma’ale Adumim.
- Jan 17, 2002 – The shooting attack during a bat mitzva celebration at a banquet hall in Hadera. Six Israelis were killed in this attack, 26 were injured.
- Jan 22, 2002 – The shooting spree on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem. Two Israelis were killed, 37 wounded.
- Feb 25, 2002 – The shooting attack in the Jerusalem residential neighborhood of Neve Ya’acov. One Israeli policewoman was killed, 9 Israelis were wounded.
- Feb 27, 2002 – The murder of an Israeli at a coffee factory in the Atarot industrial zone of Jerusalem.
- Feb 27, 2002 – The suicide attack perpetrated by Daryan Abu Aysha at the Maccabim checkpoint in which two policeman were injured.
- Mar 5, 2002 – The shooting spree at the Tel Aviv Seafood restaurant. Three Israelis were killed, 31 wounded.”
The whitewash of Barghouti’s past was met with such derision that the NY Times issued a clarification and a (meaningless) reprimand from the Public Editor, An Op-Ed Author Omits His Crimes, and The Times Does Too.
As part of the public relations campaign, Palestinians demanded the world “save” terrorist hunger strikers from their own hunger strike.
In that post, we documented how Israeli authorities had isolated Barghouti and transferred some prisoners to other prisons. But some Israelis are taking matters into their own hands.
Members of a “far right” Israeli party have set up a barbecue outside the prison in the hope the smell will reach the hunger-striking prisoners, The Jerusalem Post reports:
National Union activists held a barbecue to taunt Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike Thursday.The youth branch and secretary-general of the far-right party, which has two representatives in Bayit Yehudi, Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel and MK Bezalel Smotrich, set up grills outside the Ofer Prison to “celebrate the hunger strike” and “break the spirit” of the strikers, in hopes that the smell of the meat wafts into the prison.The prisoners “will enjoy the breathing in the smoke and suffer from the smell of the meat and show them that we will not give in to their whims.”The group also called on the government “not to surrender to the oppressor terrorists and act with full force to free the captives [Hadar] Goldin and [Oron] Shaul,” who are presumed dead and whose bodies are being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Israeli police, however, shut down the barbecue after 45 minutes, Israel National News reports.
[Featured Image via Palestine Info Center Twitter Video]
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