Hamas praises mastermind behind killing of Shevach

Hamas praised the suspected mastermind behind the killing of a rabbi in the West Bank, whom Israeli security forces shot dead on Tuesday in a village near Jenin.

Ahmad Nasr Jarrar was the ringleader behind the murder of 32-year-old Rabbi Raziel Shevach, a resident of the Havat Gilad outpost, in a drive-by shooting in the Nablus area on January 9, according to the IDF and Hamas’s armed wing, the Izzadin Kassam Brigades.

“We in Hamas receive the news of the martyrdom of this hero, who resisted until his last breath and refused to surrender,” Hamas said in a statement. “We affirm that he will remain a point of pride for all of Palestine and free resistance fighters.”

According to Hamas, Jarrar, like his father, Nasr, who was killed during the Second Intifada in 2002, was a member of the Kassam Brigades.

Hamas also called on “the resistance” in the West Bank to avenge Jarrar’s death.

“We call on our people’s resistance in the occupied West Bank to respond to the occupation’s crime of assassinating the heroic resistance fighter Ahmad Nasr Jarrar,” Hamas said. “We urge it to hit the occupation’s soldiers and settlers in every inch of our land.”

Since President Donald Trump’s decisions to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and initiate the relocation of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to the city, Hamas leaders have called for an intifada in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Hamas Politburo member Ezzat al-Rishq lauded Jarrar, also referring to him as a “hero.”

“A martyr came to pass after he made his mark in resisting the enemy,” Rishq wrote on his Twitter page. “He trampled on their arrogance, exposed their cowardliness and wrote his name with letters of light in the Palestine martyrs registry.”

Jarrar’s mother, Khatam, told reporters in Jenin that she is pleased with her son.

“We are satisfied... Praise God. He is a point of pride for Palestine,” she said.

Senior Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah did not immediately comment on Jarrar’s death.

However, the PA’s Jenin Gov. Ibrahim Ramadan told Al-Mayadeen, a Lebanese television station, that “every Palestinian is following in the footsteps of Jarrar” and “the people will continue to resist until the liberation of Palestine.”

Ramdan’s remarks about Jarrar are rare as senior PA officials usually refrain from commenting on Palestinians suspected of attacking Israelis.

They also appear to be out of line with PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s expressed opposition to violence.

Abbas has recently said on several occasions that he only supports nonviolent protest of Israel’s military rule.

“I am not bashful about repeating this 100 or 1,000 times,” the PA president said during a speech in Ramallah in January. “I only support popular, peaceful resistance. Believe me, it’s stronger and more effective than other ways.”

Ramadan did not respond to several phone calls from The Jerusalem Post.

Fatah spokesman Osama Qawasmeh accused Israel of carrying out “a form of a field execution” against Jarrar in violation of international law.

An IDF spokeswoman declined to comment on Qawasmeh’s statement.

Later on Tuesday, several hundred Palestinians, many holding green Hamas flags, marched in Nablus in a demonstration of support for Jarrar.