On Nov. 9th, Palestinian terrorists opened fire on a group of Israelis, including Israeli MKs, who were attempting to visit Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem, near the present-day West Bank city of Nablus. Israeli soldiers protecting the visitors returned fire. A sixteen year-old Palestinian, Mahdi Hashash, was killed during the incident when an IDF bullet hit an explosive device he was carrying, detonating it.
Though the site is in PA-controlled Area A, Jewish worshipers are allowed access to the shrine according to the Oslo Accords.
Hashash was claimed by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades – a terror group which has carried out deadly suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, and is designated as a terror group by the EU and US – as a member.
كتائب شهداء الأقصى: نزف شهيدنا المقاتل مهدي محمد حشاش، الذي ارتقى خلال اشتباك مسلح مع قوات الاحتلال الصهيوني التي اقتحمت مخيم بلاطة صباح اليوم. pic.twitter.com/3mFTnn46sW
— Newpress | نيو برس (@NewpressPs) November 9, 2022
A Dec. 9th Channel 4 News report, “Swapping stones for guns: the teenage Palestinians drawn into an old conflict”, by foreign correspondent Secunder Kermani, focused on Hashah and his death.
However, as you can see, the reporter obfuscated both the circumstances of his death and his terror affiliation, despite the fact that both facts were widely reported. Kermani said nothing about the explosives he carried on him during the Palestinian attack on peaceful Jewish visitors to Joseph’s Tomb. Rather, he merely told viewers that Hashash was killed “during clashes”.
The only mention of the ‘martyr’s’ violence by the Channel 4 News reporter was one fleeting reference to the fact that he sometimes threw stones at soldiers.
Mahdi Hashash wasn’t merely a confused teen. He was an extremist who sore allegiance to a group committed to murdering Israelis, and wedded to the belief that death in the service of the anti-Zionist cause is the highest calling.
