Jesus the Palestinian martyr and his 72 dark-eyed virgins

The definition of Jesus as a martyred fighter enjoying his virgins is not a fringe idea, but rather one expressed by the highest order in the PA.

By Maurice Hirsch, Adv. Palestinian Media Watch

One of the many ways in which the Palestinian Authority distorts history. in order to invent a centuries-old Palestinian identity, is to turn Jesus the Judean (Jew) into a Palestinian fighter who was murdered by the Israelis, thus becoming the first Palestinian “martyr” who is now reveling in heaven with Allah, in the arms of 72 dark-eyed virgins.

While the language the PA uses to describe Jesus as a martyr and as someone enjoying his virgins is less direct, the meaning is the same.

When referring to Palestinian terrorists, the PA calls them “self-sacrificing fighters,” or “fidai.” So, when the PA and its officials use the same terms to describe Jesus, they are in fact saying he is a terrorist.

As Palestinian Media Watch has shown, here, here, here, here, and here, among other places, the definition of Jesus as a terrorist enjoying his virgins is not a fringe idea, but rather one expressed by the highest order in the PA.

Jesus the ‘Palestinian’ terrorist murdered by the Jews

When PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh sought to declare Jesus a terrorist and link him to Palestinian terror, he referred to him as a “Palestinian self-sacrificing fighter” who, similar to the PA descriptions of suicide bombers, “paid for his mission with his life” and whose birth takes place “at the same time as the anniversary of the outbreak of the Palestinian revolution” – i.e the anniversary of the first Fatah terror attack:

“The birthday of our lord Jesus, peace be upon him – the first Palestinian self-sacrificing fighter from whom we learned Martyrdom-death, and who paid for his mission with his life – takes place at the same time as the anniversary of the outbreak of the Palestinian revolution (i.e., the anniversary of “the Launch” of Fatah, counted from its first terror attack against Israel), for which thousands of Martyrs have paid with their lives so that we will live and remain, and so that our children will dream of a better future.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 28, 2020]

Muwaffaq Matar, a member of the Revolutionary Council of PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and regular columnist for the official PA daily, similarly adopted Jesus as a Palestinian and compared him to terrorists calling him a “self-sacrificing fighter”:

“It was our fate that the first self-sacrificing fighter (Jesus) [parentheses in source] would be Palestinian, and that the self-sacrificing fighter for peace on the land of Palestine and on earth would also be Palestinian.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 10, 2022]

The same idea was repeated by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, a regular columnist for the official PA daily and former advisor to former PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on national affairs. As part of a wider attack on Zionism and demonization of Israel, Al-Ghoul compared Jesus to terrorists killed by Israel, charging that the terrorists were killed “just as they [the Zionists] crucified Jesus”:

“From their perspective, a good Palestinian Arab is a dead, murdered, and crucified Palestinian – just as they crucified Jesus, the first Palestinian self-sacrificing fighter.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 20, 2022]

While saying that he thinks “that the Palestinian people are on the brink of a great intifada” and talking about the importance of Jerusalem, Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki also declared that Jesus was a Palestinian crucified by Israel/the Jews:

“When Jesus the son of Mary, who was Palestinian, ascended to Heaven, when the Israelis or the Jews crucified him, we [Muslims] say that he ascended to Heaven.” [Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, May 31, 2022]

Zakki made a similar claim just days earlier:

“[Whoever] sold himself to the Zionist movement knows that Jesus the son of Mary is Palestinian.” [YouTube channel of Al-Mayadeen (Lebanon), May 28, 2022]

Since the PA has been claiming for such a long time that Jesus was a Palestinian, it is not surprising that they comment when others adopt their narrative. Such was the case when the song “Save Palestine,” was played as part of a song competition named after former PLO and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat in Zimbabwe. The competition was held by the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists and the Zimbabwe Palestine Solidarity Council.

In addition to referring to Jesus the Palestinian, the lyrics of the song add that those who fought Jesus then are now destroying “his people”:

Official PA TV host 1: “Let us watch the song ‘Save Palestine,’ which participated in the Yasser Arafat Prize in Zimbabwe.” …

Lyrics in English: “Jesus is a Palestinian. Those who fought him 2,000 years ago are now destroying his people.”

PLO Ambassador to Zimbabwe Tamer Al-Masri: “It was agreed with the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists that a prize named the Yasser Arafat Prize for Journalism would be presented as part of the annual prizes for excellence. [Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, Nov. 21, 2021]

This was also the case when a Lebanese priest demonized Jews saying that they are “infidels” who “crucified Jesus.”

Mar Elias Btina Church Patriarch Gerasimos Ataya:“These [Jews] who are rising up against the Palestinians are the ones who crucified Jesus. If they crucified Jesus and did not care, and they killed him, crucified him, then what they are doing to the [Palestinian] people [is no surprise]. [The Jews] are an infidel people, may Allah decide their fate.” [Official PA TV, From the Diaspora, July 25, 2022]

Graphics in the PA media also demonstrate the Palestinian equivalency between Jesus and Palestinian terrorists.

On Aug. 23, 2019, a Palestinian terror cell belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), exploded a road-side bomb near a spring often visited by Jews. Rina Shnerb, a 17-year-old Israeli girl was murdered in the blast and her father and brother were seriously wounded. The terrorist who, together with other PFLP terrorists, planned and executed the attack was Samer Arbid. After his arrest, an illustration that appeared in the official PA daily portrayed the terrorist murderer as Jesus:

Text on cartoon: Samer Arbid

Jesus and his 72 dark-eyed virgins

As PMW has demonstrated, the PA constantly refers to terrorists as “Martyrs”. The practice is based on a clear policy that claims that Martyrdom is a show of the highest form of devotion in Islam. When the terrorists are killed, the PA and Palestinians constantly refer to them as getting married.

This is the message the PA has amplified during the recent violence, when official PA TV showed footage of the funeral of a terrorist while playing a song in which the dead terrorist ostensibly calls to his mother to accompany him to his wedding:

Song: “Mother, in a new dress accompany me to [my] wedding. I came to you as a Martyr, O mother, O mother.”

Official PA TV host: “This song was spread on social media and shows one of the youths during the confrontations with the occupation soldiers in Hebron. Perhaps there is a message in it: That even the living youth will not return to their mothers alive, but will be married off in a procession as Martyrs.

Young Palestinian: “Mother, in a new dress accompany me to [my] wedding. I came to you as a Martyr, O mother, O mother. [Official PA TV, A Tour of Social Media, Oct. 28, 2022]

When terrorist Diya Al-Sabarini who shot at Israeli security forces in Jenin on Aug. 3, 2021 was shot and killed, his mother declared that did not have a funeral but rather a “wedding”:

Mother of terrorist “Martyr” Diya Al-Sabarini: “Praise Allah, my son had nothing called a funeral, rather it was a wedding… I didn’t feel that it was a funeral, I felt that it was a wedding. I told them: “Wedding.” [Official PA TV News, Aug. 28, 2021]

Even children are taught that dark-eyed virgins yearn for the martyrs:

Lin Kamel Shahin: “I am the Palestinian lion cub…

The blood of the Martyrs flows in my veins

I am like a lion in the fields [of battle]

If the drums of war call, I harvest the souls in the fields

My sword is drawn and won’t return to the sheath…

The armies of treachery fear me

and the Dark-Eyed [Virgins] yearn for me

I have not sold my homelands, and have not given up my assault rifle

Today I carry my shrouds, and in my heart my faith strengthens

Because victory and liberation are coming at the hands of the lion cubs”

Official PA TV host: “Bravo! Bravo!”  [Official PA TV, The Best Home, Nov. 21 and 22, 2019]

According to the PA, the dark-eyed virgins, were themselves female suicide bombers “going to meet their groom”.

So when the PA refers to Jesus as a “Martyr” this is not just parochial language, but rather carries a very specific, defined and understood meaning:

Official PA TV narrator: “Jerusalem, the city of [Prophet Muhammad’s] Ascent to Heaven, Al-Buraq (see note below -Ed.), and Via Dolorosa of prophet Jesus, where he went up to Golgotha and to his resting place [the Church of the Holy Sepulchre], and he was the first Martyr and the first self-sacrificing fighter.” [Official PA TV, In Its Alleys, Dec. 4, 2022]

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