Gaza-based Palestinian journalist, activist and filmmaker Bisan Owda, who has been nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy award for her show "It's Bisan from Gaza and I'm Still Alive" on Qatar's Al-Jazeera Network, has long been known to be an activist for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. For several consecutive years, Owda hosted PFLP public events in the Gaza Strip which were also attended by armed members of the group's military wing. Owda herself appeared at these events wearing PFLP insignia and a military uniform.
At events hosted by Owda, senior PFLP officials delivered speeches praising terrorists, the "resistance" and the "intifada," and made statements underlining the PFLP's dedication to terrorism and to armed conflict with the goal of destroying Israel and establishing a Palestinian state "from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea" while implementing the Palestinians' "right of return."
The PFLP is a designated terrorist organization in Israel, the U.S., Canada, the European Union and Japan.[1] Since its inception it has carried out many terrorist operations, including several attacks and hijackings involving airliners, such as the 1968 hijacking of El Al Flight 426, the 1969 attack on El Al Flight 432 in Zurich, the 1975 Orly Airport attacks in Paris, during which RPGs were fired at El Al airliners, and more. The PFLP also carried out the October 2001 assassination of Israeli Knesset member Rehavam Ze'evi in a hotel in Jerusalem, and has perpetrated several other attacks in Israeli territory, such as the December 2003 Geha Interchange bus stop suicide bombing, the November 2004 Carmel Market suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, and a shooting attack in Jerusalem in October 2023.
Bisan Owda at a 2015 PFLP event
Below are several examples of Bisan Owda's activity with the PFLP terrorist organization:
"Comrade Bisan Owda" Has Been Hosting PFLP Mass Events For Years
Posts on the PFLP website indicate that Bisan Owda has been involved in organizing and hosting the organization's events since 2014, and include pictures of her at these events. The following is a review of these reports:
Owda Hosted PFLP's 2014 Anniversary Event, At Which Key Speaker Said: Armed Struggle Is Our Strategic Option; Palestine Is Ours From The River To The Sea
According to a December 10, 2014 post on the PFLP website, "comrade Bisan Atef Owda" opened that year's event in Gaza marking the anniversary of the organization's founding and invited the participants to observe a moment of silence in memory of the fallen martyrs.
In his speech at the event, PFLP official Jamil Mezher congratulated "every resistance fighter whose finger is on the trigger," and stressed that the organization "will not abandon the path of struggle" and that "the option of resistance, especially armed struggle, is a strategic choice" of the PFLP. He concluded by promising that the organization would continue on this path "until all our strategic goals are achieved: [the right of] return, an [independent Palestinian] state, and [the right to] self-determination on every inch of Palestine, from the river to the sea."[2]
Bisan Owda hosting the PFLP's 2014 anniversary event in Gaza. The sign behind her says: "Palestine will triumph with unity, resistance and steadfastness," and bears the portraits of PFLP leaders Ahmad Sa'dat, Abu Ali Mustafa and George Habash (Image: Pflp.ps, December 10, 2014)
Owda Was Involved In PFLP's 2015 Anniversary Event, Which Featured Hizbullah Flags And Speeches In Praise Of The Knife Intifada
On December 12, 2015, the PFLP reported that Owda was on the steering committee of the Gaza ceremony marking that years' anniversary of the organization's founding. Pictures of the event show that she attended it, dressed in a military uniform, alongside masked fighters and children bearing knives and swords.[3]
"Comrade Bisan Owda" in military uniform addresses the participants of the 2015 PFLP anniversary event (Image: pflp.ps, December 12, 2015)
PFLP operatives and children brandish knives and swords at 2015 anniversary event (Images: alwatanvoice.com, December 12, 2015)
The event also featured flags of Venezuela, Iran and Hizbullah; pictures of "martyrs," such as Baha Aliyan, who murdered three Israelis on a bus in Jerusalem on October 13, 2015, and calls to "escalate the intifada and the confrontation with the occupation."
Child holds picture of terrorist Baha Aliyan (top right) in 2015 PFLP anniversary event. The poster is captioned "We Dedicate All Our Loyalty to Our Martyrs" (Image: alwatanvoice.com, December 12, 2015)
Addressing the event participants, PFLP official Jamil Mezher congratulated "the heroes of the rapid revolutionary response, the heroes of the stone and the fire-bomb," and "the martyrs of the intifada," mentioning several PFLP operatives who had been killed not long before the event. At the end of his speech he addressed "our uprising young people" and promised them that "victory will surely come."[4]
A video circulated by the Palestinian news agency Dunya Al-Watan likewise shows Owda at the event with masked PFLP operatives holding knives and swords.[5]
Screenshots from the video circulated by the Dunya Al-Watan news agency
A picture of these armed operatives, alongside officials from the PFLP and other terror organizations, was also posted on the Telegram channel of the PFLP's military wing, the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades.[6]
PFLP operatives in photo of the 2015 anniversary event posted on the Telegram channel of the Martyr Abu Ali Musrafa Brigades
Hizbullah flags at the 2015 event (pflp.ps, December 12, 2015)
Participant at the 2015 event holds up sign saying "The Jerusalem Intifada – the shortest way to liberate the people and the land" (pflp.ps, December 12, 2015)
Bisan Owda Hosted The PFLP's 2016 Anniversary Event, At Which The Key Speaker Declared: We Started Our Path Holding A Rifle
The following year, in 2016, the PFLP website reported that Owda had again hosted the annual anniversary event, held under the slogan "intifada and resistance are our path to unity and liberation," and had delivered "revolutionary" opening remarks.
Jamil Mezher, who once again delivered the key speech on behalf of the organization's leadership, stressed that the PFLP started its path "holding a rifle" and that it spearheads the struggle of the Palestinian people. Noting that the strategic goal is to liberate Palestine and establish a Palestinian state "on all of the [Palestinian] nation's land," he emphasized that the right of return (i.e., the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their original homes inside Israel) is not to be relinquished and that "the intifada and the resistance" must continue.[7]
Owda hosting the 2016 anniversary event (Image: Pflp.ps, December 9, 2016)
Another PFLP Event Hosted By Owda In 2016
Earlier that year, on January 7, 2016, Owda hosted another event, also while dressed in military uniform. The event was held in honor of PFLP operatives who had been wounded in a "Day of Rage" against Israel organized by the PFLP on its anniversary in December 2015, and in honor of the family of Sami Shawqi Madi, a PFLP official who was killed in those clashes.[8]
PFLP official Maryam Abu Daqqa, who spoke at the event on behalf of the organization's leadership, congratulated "the martyrs of our heroic intifada… especially the martyred comrades [from the PFLP]." The intifada, she said, conveyed the message that "coexistence with this Zionist enemy is impossible as long as this enemy is occupying our land," and that "there can be no peace or stability in the world without resolving our people's issue by attaining freedom, independence and return." She demanded to "preserve, develop and escalate the intifada."[9]
Bisan Owda in military uniform hosting the 2016 PFLP event (Image: Pflp.ps, January 7, 2016)
Further Indications Of Owda's Ties With The PFLP
In 2018, the PFLP website reported on a panel discussion held by the organization's youth wing, the Progressive Youth Union. The panel recommended "to rebuild the Palestinian economy based on nationalism and resistance," and to renounce the Paris Protocol, the economic part of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The website reported that "Comrade Bisan Owda, of the Progressive Youth Union, opened the panel [discussion]."[10]
"Comrade Bisan Owda, of the Progressive Youth Union," participates in the panel discussion (Image: Pflp.ps, February 22, 2018)
Recently, following news of Owda's Emmy nomination, the PFLP-affiliated Al-Hadaf website posted an article praising her, titled "Excellence Under Fire: How Bisan Owda Became the Emblem of Palestinian Resistance Journalism."[11] The article was later removed from the site, apparently in response to protests against Owda's nomination and in an attempt to obscure her affiliation with the organization.
The article on the Al-Hadaf website
[1] The PFLP was designated by the U.S. in October 1997 (State.gov, October 8, 1997). See also: publicsafety.gc.ca, November 13, 2003; eur-lex.europa.eu, June 25, 2012; Mofa.go.jp, July 5, 2002.
[2] Pflp.ps, December 10, 2014.
[3] The knives were a reference to the wave of stabbing attacks against Israelis that year, which was dubbed "the knife intifada" or "the Jerusalem intifada." For incitement circulated at the time on social media, see MEMRI reports: Special Dispatch No. 6185, Social Media As A Platform For Palestinian Incitement – Praise For Stabbing Attackers, Threats Of Further Attacks, October 14, 2015; Special Dispatch No. 6186, Social Media As A Platform For Palestinian Incitement – Part II: Video Tutorials, Tips For Achieving More 'Effective' Attacks, October 14, 2015.
[4] Pflp.ps, December 12, 2015.
[5] Alwatanvoice.com, December 12, 2015.
[6] T.me/lataebabuali, December 12, 2015.
[7] Pflp.ps, December 9, 2016.
[8] Pflp.ps, December 11, 2015.
[9] Pflp.ps, January 7, 2016.
[10] Pflp.ps, February 22, 2018.
[11] Hadfnews.ps, August 21, 2024.
