Since launching the war against Israel on October 7, 2023, Hamas has kept up an ongoing incitement campaign calling on the people of the West Bank to aid Gaza by opening up their own front against Israel. On October 12, 2023, for example, Hamas official Husam Badran urged all those with weapons in the West Bank to “take immediate action,” stressing that “the [West] Bank is the front most capable of aiding Gaza, before we request aid from outside.”[1]

Much of this incitement is spread via social media, especially Telegram, which serves as a convenient platform for Hamas’ calls for terror attacks in the West Bank, as it did before the outbreak of the war.[2] Many Telegram accounts that belong to or are affiliated with the terror organizations post messages that encourage the people of the West Bank to carry out shootings, stabbings, car-ramming attacks and other attacks against Israelis. Especially conspicuous in this context are accounts affiliated with Hamas’ student organization, the Islamic Bloc, which call to wage terror and “launch a jihad war” against Israel.[3] Similar incitement appears on platforms of other Palestinian terror organizations, including the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military wing of Fatah, which is the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Islamic Bloc video explaining how to carry out drive-by shootings:

Below are recent examples of incitement to carry out terror attacks in the West Bank:

Hamas Spokesperson For Jerusalem Affairs Calls For “High-Quality” Terror Attacks

An announcement by Muhammad Hamada, Hamas’ spokesperson for Jerusalem affairs, posted on the movement’s Telegram account in the West Bank, read: “The role of the West Bank and of its uprising against the occupier and its settler gangs is vitally important and has great impact on the Al-Aqsa Flood campaign… Every opportunity must be taken to attack the enemy’s strongholds, military posts and settlements. I call on the rebelling young people to summon each other and come together on every road and in every area, and carry out effective, high-quality attacks to teach the enemy a lesson he will never forget…”[4]

Islamic Bloc In West Bank: Go Forth And Wage Jihad

The Telegram channel of the Islamic Bloc in the West Bank is rife with posts inciting terror against Israel. On October 22 it shared a video documenting Hamas’ use of drones during the October 7 attack, with the text: “Gaza produces many [military] inventions despite the siege. Who will be the first in the West Bank to launch a suicide drone at an enemy checkpoint or settlement? It’s not difficult.”[5]

An October 27 post said: “Every city, town, village, refugee camp, neighborhood and lane, go forth and cry ‘Allah Akbar.’ Let each person go out and block roads by whatever means he prefers. [You can] prepare a firebomb, a knife, a gun or an M16 [rifle] and set an ambush. Come with whatever you have, do not be among those who stayed back [from the war]… ‘Go forth, whether light or heavy, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the cause of Allah’ [Quran 9:41].”[6]

West Bank Youth Coalition: Schools, Universities Must Be Enlisted In The Struggle

On October 30, 2023, the Hamas-affiliated Shehab News Agency posted on its Telegram channel a statement by “the [West] Bank Youth Coalition” which included incitement similar to that of the Islamic Bloc, such as the following:

“’Permission [to fight] has been given to those who are being fought, because they were wronged. And indeed, Allah is competent to give them victory [Quran 22:39].’

“Oh the multitudes of our great people in the occupied [West] Bank, [who are] the direct continuation of Marwan Zalloum [commander of Fatah’s Tanzim militia in Hebron, killed in April 2002] and of Abdullah Al-Qawasma [commander of the Hamas military wing in Hebron, killed in June 2003]. Oh legacy of [Ibrahim] Al-Nabulsi [head of the Nablus-based Lions’ Den militia, killed in August 2022]… who urged you not to put down the gun… Oh all the youth of the West Bank, oh lovers of [the Lions’] Den, the [Jenin] Brigade and the [Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam] Brigades. Oh revivers of the confrontation… Oh young men and women of the occupied West Bank… Now it is our turn, go forth for the sake of Allah. Continue the glorious campaign of our people in Gaza and the West Bank, in the spirit of struggle and of solidarity with our people everywhere, and out of loyalty to the pure blood of our martyrs and of the heroes of the glorious crossing [of the border] on October 7, [2023]…

“[The time has come] for the youth to start collecting tires and burning them at the friction points, for pure and skillful hands to begin filling Molotov cocktails, for each one of you to don a scarf [to hide his face], and for the courage and revolution of the [West] Bank to be restored.

“Your brothers, the [West] Bank Youth Coalition.”[7]

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades Call For “General Mobilization” Of Anyone With A Weapon In The West Bank

Calls to perpetrate terrorist attacks in the West Bank also appeared on a Telegram channel affiliated with Fatah’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. An October 31, 2023 post read, “General mobilization… ‘Go forth, whether light or heavy, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the cause of Allah’ [Quran 9:41]… [This is] a call for everyone who has a weapon in the West Bank and Jerusalem: [take up] a knife or carry out a car ramming attack… The headquarters of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades calls for a general mobilization and for delivering  blows at every friction point with the Israeli enemy [in the West Bank], in order to help our brothers in Gaza. Be as one body…”[8]

Some Telegram accounts  are devoted exclusively to inciting terror in the West Bank, such as the “Wanted”[9] account and the “Rebelling Youth” account,[10] which appear to be affiliated with Hamas.[11] Numerous campaigns on these channels post instructions for the construction and/or use of various weapons, such as knives, firebombs and IEDs, or for carrying out different kinds of attacks, such as a suicide attack on a bus.

The following are examples of graphics shared on the “Wanted” Telegram channel:

• The post on an Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade Telegram channel
• Graphic showing a suicide bomber on a bus, captioned, “[Yahya] Ayyash’s [people in the West] Bank, Gaza awaits your vengeance” (T.me/mutaredd, October 27, 2023)
• Graphic showing a bus in the aftermath of a suicide bombing, captioned, “Oh people of the [West] Bank – who will win glory?” (T.me/mutaredd, October 31, 2023)
• Graphic captioned “Oh son of the West Bank – the necks of the settlers await the Knife Commando” (T.me/mutaredd, November 1, 2023)
• Graphic reads, “[Throw] your firebomb and burn their jeeps” (T.me/mutaredd, October 31, 2023)
• Graphic reads, “Prepare your pipe bombs” (T.me/mutaredd, October 31, 2023)

REFERENCES:

[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10855, Hamas Calls On The Entire Islamic Nation To Join The Jihad Against Israel, Declares Friday, October 13, 2023 ‘Day Of General Mobilization’ For Al-Aqsa,  October 12, 2023.

[2] For examples of incitement published by the terrorist organizations on social media about one month before the start of the war, see  MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10788 – Palestinian Terror Organizations Incite On Social Media: The Time Has Come To Kill The Jews – September 12, 2023.

[3] On Incitement by the Islamic Bloc, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10397 – At Event Marking Hamas’ 35th Anniversary At Al-Quds University In East Jerusalem: Calls For Jihad To Liberate Palestine ‘From River To Sea’ – December 28, 2022; Special Dispatch No. 10362 – Praise For Terrorist Yahya ‘Ayyash, Initiator Of Hamas’ Suicide Bombings, At Palestinian University And On Social Media – December 7, 2022.

[4] T.me/hamas_wb, October 22, 2023.

[5] T.me/islamickutla22, October 22, 2023.

[6] T.me/islamickutla22, October 27, 2023.

[7] T.me/ShehabTelegram, October 30, 2023.

[8] T.me/kataebaqsapalestine, October 31, 2023.

[9]  T.me/mutaredd.

[10] t.me/shabab_thaer

[11] The Hamas and Islamic Bloc Telegram channels frequently share posts from these accounts, and vice versa. “Rebelling youth” is a term used in Gaza, specifically by members of Hamas and other terrorist organizations  who operated on the Gaza-Israel border before the outbreak of war on October 7, 2023.

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EDITORS NOTE: This MEMRI column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.