“New York Rally’s Transparent Support for Terrorism,” by Ariel Behar, IPT News, April 21, 2022:
It should surprise no one that the New York chapter of Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, used recent rioting on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount as an opportunity to spew lies, support terrorism, and advocate for more violence against Israel.
“But we say unapologetically and boldly: Hamas are freedom fighters! PFLP are freedom Fighters! Islamic Jihad are freedom fighters! Fatah armed forces are freedom fighters! All of our people in Palestine are freedom fighters,” Lamis Deek, an attorney and Al-Awda’s New York representative exclaimed Saturday.
Al-Awda has a history of embracing terrorism and calling for the destruction of the state of Israel. It has co-sponsored rallies in which crowds chanted “Smash the settler Zionist state,” “We don’t want two states. We want ’48,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
The organization was an original member of the Global Palestinian Right of Return Coalition (GPRRC), the Jerusalem Post reported in 2019. The coalition is part of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), which coordinates global activities aimed at isolating Israel economically and politically. A BNC branch includes representatives from terrorist groups, including Hamas, the PFLP and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Saturday’s Al-Awda rally followed skirmishes between Palestinians and Israeli forces on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, home today to the Al Aqsa Mosque. The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, but Muslims still have access to the mosque.
Israeli police entered the mosque last week after Palestinian militants reportedly gathered rocks and other projectiles to throw at Jewish worshipers. This violence comes amid a spate of recent terrorist attacks that left 14 Israelis dead.
The Al-Awda rally made a clear statement that the group and its supporters see such killing of civilians as “resistance” worth hailing. It aimed to “defend” Al Aqsa, Palestinian cities and “every inch of Palestine.”