Social Media As A Platform For Palestinian Incitement – Praise For Stabbing Attackers, Threats Of Further Attacks

On the backdrop of the recent wave of Palestinian terrorism in Israel, several hashtags were launched on social media in Arabic, such as "The Intifada Has Started," "The Third Intifada," "The Jerusalem Intifada," "The Knife Intifada," "Poison the Knife before You Stab," and "Slaughtering the Jews."[1] These hashtags serve as platforms for virulent incitement against Jews and calls to harm them. Many Twitter accounts using these hashtags expressed joy at the attacks, called the perpetrators "heroes," threatened more attacks soon, and encouraged others to carry out similar stabbings.

The following is a sampling of posts under the aforementioned hashtags since early October 2015.

Encouragement And Praise For Stabbing Attacks And Perpetrators

The news portal Alresalah.net, which belongs to Hamas, posted an image on its Facebook page showing a youth holding a knife and walking towards two religious Jews standing at a Jerusalem bus station. The image features the "Knife Intifada" hashtag.[2]

A tweet under the "Knife Intifada" hashtag, which featured an image of a knife in the shape of the map of pre-1948 Palestine with a Palestinian flag attached to the handle and the caption "Your knife is freedom," included the text: "History and geography also demonstrate that Palestine was and is a knife at the throats of the Zionists. Look at the map of Palestine to know the #Knife_Intifada."[3]

A cartoon on the Facebook page of the news portal "Palestine Now" shows a Palestinian making the victory sign with his fingers, which are drawn as two knives.[4]

A picture posted on Facebook showed the victim of one stabbing attack with the knife still embedded in the back of his neck, with the caption: "Stabbing operation. The free men of Al-Aqsa. The Intifada has started. The [West] Bank is carrying out resistance. There is nothing greater than a knife penetrating the heads of the Jews."[5]

A Facebook page titled "My Hobby Is Burning the Zionist Flag" featured the following image with the caption "The Knife Intifada."[6]

A cartoon posted using the "Knife Intifada" hashtag shows the "heroism" of a Palestinian stabbing an IDF soldier armed with a rifle, on the backdrop of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.[7]

A Facebook page titled "Mobilize for the Third Palestinian Intifada" featured a picture of a bloody knife shaped like a map of Palestine superimposed on the silhouette of a rifle next to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, with the caption "The methods are different. The goals are the same" and the hashtag "The Intifada Has Started."[8]

Mashari Al-'Ayada, a Kuwaiti lawyer and radio broadcaster, tweeted a security camera video from the old city in Jerusalem showing a Palestinian terrorist stabbing three Jews. He wrote: " The settler pigs are banned from [passing] in the alleys of ancient Jerusalem. A Palestinian hero stabs three Zionists. [People] like him are our pride and our honor."[9]

A Twitter user named 'Abdallah bin Muhammad posted under the hashtag The Intifada Has Started": "There is no greater reward in Islam than the one given for jihad, and there is no greater reward than the one given for #Slaughtering_the_Jews... Kill them wherever you find them."[10]

Threats And Calls On Palestinians To Carry Out More Attacks

Additionally, many social media users called on the Palestinians to mobilize for the intifada and carry out additional attacks against Jews. A tweet using the "Knife Intifada" hashtag by Bin Al-Islam, which included a picture of a Palestinian protester brandishing a knife, stated: "We are coming to slaughter you, just you wait..."[11]

The "Knife Intifada" hashtag on Facebook included a picture of a hand gripping a bloody knife on the backdrop of Jews waving Israeli flags and a caption reading "We are coming to slaughter you [also written in Hebrew]. Allah bless the men of resistance."[12]

Pro-ISIS Twitter user Monaser Al-Dawlawi tweeted a cartoon of a terrorist attacking a Jewish soldier with a meat cleaver, with the hashtag "Slaughtering the Jews" and the text: "Jews, we are coming soon. [You will] have your rotten heads cut off by the lions of the caliphate [nickname for ISIS fighters], Allah willing."[13]

An image posted on Facebook under the "Knife Intifada" hashtag called on West Bank residents to continue killing Jews: "O son of the [West] Bank, rise up! Do not leave [the Jews] alone."[14]

A picture on Facebook featured the caption "rain your knives upon them" and the word "Intifada" in Arabic on the backdrop of Jerusalem with a meat clever and the image of a religious Jew reflected in the blade.[15]

Another image posted on Facebook shows a police officer on fire with the text: "Throw your firebomb and burn them."[16]

 

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