Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Vatican, December 12, 2024. Photo via REUTERS, edited by All Israel News.
The President of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas, on Saturday called and congratulated one of the 200 Palestinian prisoners who were released by Israel under the ceasefire deal with Hamas, after four Israeli hostages were released from Gaza earlier.
Video footage published by Palestinian outlets showed the terrorist Yasser Abu-Bakr receiving the phone call from Abbas, however Abu-Bakr reportedly went on to tell Abbas that congratulations were out of order in the face of the death toll in the Gaza Strip.
Abu-Bakr was sentenced to 115 years in prison in 2004 for providing weapons to a terror cell that killed a nine-year-old girl and wounded over 50 Israelis in Netanya in 2002. The cell later killed two police officers and another civilian.
Abu-Bakr is a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is affiliated with Abbas’ Fatah party. Previous reports suggested that Fatah had named training courses for its activists in Abu-Bakr’s honor.
Israeli leaders expressed outrage at the congratulatory phone call to a convicted terrorist, highlighting the fact that Abbas and the PA are being touted as potential peace partners and want to take over control of Gaza after the war.
“Mahmoud Abbas was and remains an enemy who supports terrorism and encourages terror, and the authority he leads was and remains a terrorist organization and not a ‘partner’ for anything,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on 𝕏.
He added that the congratulatory call should be a “wake-up call to those who still delude themselves about the PA as an alternative to Hamas in Gaza after the war. It will not happen.”
Yisrael Beytenu head Avigdor Lieberman wrote, “Holocaust denier Abu Mazen [also known as Mahmoud Abbas] is once again showing his true face – a supporter of terror who congratulates vile murderers. Anyone who embraces terrorists with blood on their hands is a terrorist himself, and cannot be a partner in any action, let alone monitor the Rafah crossing.”
As part of the hostage deal, Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, of whom 121 had been sentenced to at least one life sentence. Those with Israeli blood on their hands were exiled as per the agreement, with 70 being deported to Egypt, and 16 to the Gaza Strip.
Notably, two of those slated to be exiled to Gaza refused to board the bus and insisted on staying in prison. One of them was eventually persuaded, but the other, who according to Ynet News is a senior Fatah official, remained and was replaced by another prisoner.
The rest were released in Judea and Samaria, where once again, public celebrations broke out despite increased the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) efforts to prevent them.
In Ramallah, Palestinians chanted “The people want [Hamas’s military wing] Izz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades” to celebrate the release of Palestinian prisoners. https://t.co/y0MVWlAjmm
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) January 25, 2025
In Ramallah, the released terrorists were carried on the shoulders of celebrating crowds chanting slogans in support of Hamas.
Israeli troops dispersed another celebration featuring Hamas flags in the Jerusalem suburb of Kafr Aqab, and swiftly rearrested Ashraf al-Zahir, a Hamas terrorists serving six life sentences for driving a suicide bomber to an attack in Tel Aviv in 2002. Al-Zahir was giving interviews to Arab news outlets and complaining of alleged “brutal” treatment in Israeli prisons.
In the Aida camp near Bethlehem, clashes broke out when IDF troops tried to prevent celebrations of the release of Khalil Raqqa, who had been serving 20 life sentences for his role in a terror attack that killed 19 Israelis in Jerusalem in 2002.
Meanwhile, the 70 terrorists deported to Egypt were received by a Hamas delegation led by senior official Musa Abu Marzouk, as well delegations from the Palestinian Authority.
In addition to Egypt, several other countries including Turkey, Iran, Qatar and Algeria have offered to receive the released terrorists.
