(Washington, D.C., May 11, 2021) EMET strongly condemns Hamas, a recognized Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), for fueling riots and stonings of innocent Israeli civilians. Footage has circulated on social media in the past two days of Palestinian youths harassing Jewish civilians and attacking Jewish homes within “Israel proper.” More than 400 missiles have been lobbed into “Israel proper” from Hamas-controlled Gaza as of this writing, one of which struck an apartment in Ashkelon, killing two women. 

With the support of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, what started as a contained riot due to a property dispute quickly escalated to stoning and attempts to lynch Jewish Israelis. At the gate of the Salem base, near Jenin, Israeli Border Police shot three Palestinians armed with Carlo submachine guns and knives before they could attack. Footage even shows Palestinians firing fireworks at Israeli police. In one incident, fireworks shot from the Temple Mount hit a tree, causing a fire. Later, the Palestinians falsely blamed Israel for setting the Temple Mount on fire. This occurred despite drastic measures the Israeli government took to limit the Yom Yerushalayim celebrations.

Some of the rockets launched at Israel from Gaza have been aimed at Jerusalem, the Holy City to Jews, Muslims and Christians, averaging over eight rockets per hour targeting civilians. Hamas has since launched 137 rockets in just five minutes. These rockets have claimed the lives of innocent Israelis and caused extensive damage to property.

Photographs show concrete boulders and other weapons stashed in the Al-Aqsa Mosque to be hurled at Israelis as they return to the Western Wall to celebrate the anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem.

EMET firmly supports the right of the Jewish State to defend and protect its citizens and backs Israel’s attempt to eliminate terrorists launching rockets. The Israeli people have endured terrorist incitement for decades and Israel cannot and should not tolerate it. 

Says Sarah Stern, founder and president, “Palestinian leadership has victimized its own citizens by feeding them propaganda encouraging them to demonize, hate and kill Jews, since even before the modern state of Israel. This particular flare-up is deeply disturbing and is the result of several events: the month of Ramadan, during which Imams have been known to use their mosques for incitement; Jerusalem Day, which celebrates the historic return of Jews to the united capital of the Jewish people; and a land ownership dispute in Sheik Jarah. 

“Not to be discounted is the internal political jockeying for power between Fatah and its rival Hamas, and the cancelling of elections. Hamas wants to demonstrate that it is in control, so it is using its huge arsenal of weapons delivered from Iran to launch a war of terror against Israel’s sovereign territory and its civilian population.

“Finally, the war that the Palestinians are currently waging is not against Judea and Samaria, or the West Bank, if you will. They are now lobbing rockets into Kfar Saba, Ranana and Petach Tikvah, all part of pre-1967 Israel. They are not fighting over the 1967 boundaries; they are fighting over the 1948 establishment of the State of Israel, the very existence of the state of Israel. That is what they have been teaching the children in their textbooks, since the early days of Oslo, by showing them the familiar pre-1967 map of the state of Israel, labeled ‘Palestine.'”

Adds Ms. Stern, “EMET condemns in no uncertain terms the Palestinian leadership that has stoked the flames of hatred and continuously rejected Israel’s offers of a peaceful solution to the conflict. They have chosen, time and time again, the path of terrorism and rejectionism, rather than building a state for their people, the true victims of their corrupt and failed leadership.”