Opinion Shapers In Qatar Praise Terror Attacks In Israel And Their Perpetrators

In response to the recent wave of terror attacks in Israeli cities, in Beersheba, Hadera and Bnei Brak, in which 11 people have so far been killed, media figures and other public figures in Qatar  posted messages on their personal Twitter accounts in which they praised the attacks and their perpetrators, including the Hadera shooting, which has been claimed by ISIS.[1] The tweets described the attackers as martyrs who will be rewarded with Paradise, whereas the Israeli victims were uniformly described as soldiers or settlers. Some of the tweets connected the attacks to the Negev Summit between the foreign ministers of Israel, the U.S., Egypt, the UAE, Morocco and Bahrain, especially the attack in Hadera, which occurred while this summit was taking place.

Below are some of these tweets:

Praise For The Attacks And Attackers

Qatari journalist Ebtesam Aal Sa'ad tweeted a photo of Bnei Brak shooter Diaa Hamarsha, who spent six months in an Israeli prison in 2013, and wrote: "He came out of the prison of the occupation not in order to enjoy life with his family and plan his future, but to be rewarded with Paradise and its pleasures. He killed five settlers – leaving not [even] one of them wounded so he could recover and kill 10 Palestinians out of vindictiveness, blood thirst and aggression – and then was martyred. That was Diaa Hamarsha, who carried out the martyrdom operation in Tel Aviv [i.e., in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv]."[2]  

Ebtesam Aal Sa'ad's tweet

Al-Jazeera presenter Ahmed Mansour tweeted footage of the Bnei Brak shooting, and wrote: "This attack, the third [to strike] the heart of the Israeli entity this week, killed five settlers and wounded six, bringing the total of the Israeli fatalities [in this wave of attacks] to 11. Diaa Hamarsha carried out the attack on Tuesday [March 29] in three separate locations. He moved from one point to the next with determination and courage, hitting his targets – namely the settlers – with precision and sowing feat and terror among them before being martyred."[3]

Ahmed Mansour's tweet

In another tweet the next day, Mansour shared footage from the funeral of one of the Bnei Brak shooting victims, and wrote: "Terror and weeping are spreading within the Israeli entity after 11 soldiers and settlers have been killed within a single week. The coming days will apparently see many more [attacks] against the occupation army and the settlers. Whoever steals, occupies and builds settlements cannot enjoy a sense of security."[4]

Ahmed Mansour's tweet

Muhammad Al-Mukhtar Al-Shinqiti, a lecturer at Qatar University and a member of the Qatar-backed International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), tweeted a picture of the Bnei Brak shooter alongside a picture of Amir Khouri, the Christian Israeli Arab police officer who neutralized the shooter but was himself killed in the attack. Al-Shinqiti wrote: "The martyr Diaa Hamarsha was killed by a traitor police officer, [for], according to the Jerusalem Post, [this officer] was a Christian Arab from among the Palestinians of 1948 [i.e., Israeli Arabs] called 'Amer Khouri [sic]. Later the traitor died of his wounds. Nothing destroys nations more than treason from within. The darkness of treason is the greatest danger and it extinguished the light[5] of Palestine."[6]

Muhammad Al-Shinqiti's tweet

On the morning after the Bnei Brak shooting, Muhammad Al-Saghir, a board member of the Qatar-backed IUMS, tweeted a picture of Hamarsha, with the text "Good morning."[7] 

Muhammad Al-Saghir's tweet

The Attacks Were A Scathing Response To The Negev Summit

Some of the tweets drew a connection between the Negev Summit, which they called "the Summit of Shame," and the wave of attacks in Israel, especially the attack in Hadera, which took place on March 28 during the summit itself. Al-Jazeera host Khadija Ben Guenna tweeted: "Eleven Israelis have been killed within seven days during the meetings of the Summit of Shame."[8] Al-Jazeera host Ahmed Mansour shared a video of the Hadera shooting, and commented: "The operation in Hadera, which killed and wounded many occupation soldiers, was a painful blow in the heart of Israel and of its Arab Zionist allies [i.e., the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt, whose foreign ministers attended the Negev Summit], which fills them with fear and apprehension that a new intifada is about to break out."[9]  

Ahmed Mansour's tweet

Qatari journalist Jaber Al-Harmi likewise shared footage of the Hadera attack, and wrote: "Two Zionist soldiers were killed and three were critically wounded in a martyrdom operation in the city of Hadera. The shooters were martyred and gave their lives. The operation in Hadera occurred just as Arab foreign ministers were arriving in the occupied Negev, at the invitation of their Israeli counterpart [Foreign Minister Yair Lapid], for a conference that was the first of its kind: [a conference] attended by Arab ministers held on occupied Arab soil. "[10]

Jaber Al-Harmi's tweet

Qatar University lecturer and IUMS member Muhammad Al-Shinqiti tweeted pictures of the Hadera shooters along with pictures of the foreign ministers who participated in the Negev Summit, and commented: "The Summit of Shame in the Negev and the martyrdom operation in Hadera – two paths that do not cross and parallel lines  that do not meet. Those who normalize [relations] with Israel are perpetrating evil in search of a 'settlement,' whereas the martyrs settle the ugly [problems] in our lives.[11]