Palestinian Authority chairman congratulates terrorist mastermind released in hostage deal

Yasser Abu Bakr orchestrated multiple deadly terror attacks, including one in which a nine-month-old baby was murdered.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Israeli politicians slammed Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas for congratulating a terrorist convicted of multiple murders upon his release as part of the Israel-Hamas hostage deal Saturday, saying it demonstrated the PA leader’s support for terrorism.

On Saturday, Abbas called Yasser Abu Bakr, a senior member of the PA’s own terrorist force, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, who had been freed after serving 23 years of a 115-year sentence imposed after he planned several terror attacks and armed the men who carried them out.

The terrorists operating on Abu Bakr’s behalf opened fire on guests at a Netanya hotel lobby in 2002, murdering Israel Yahya and his nine-month-old baby, Malka and wounding 50 others. Abu Bakr was also behind the murder of a police officer, and planned a suicide bombing of a Tel Aviv hospital.

“This was for the homeland, but they went overboard with you,” Abbas reportedly said, seemingly referring to the long sentence Abu Bakr had received.

“I don’t think that there’s any reason to celebrate after all those thousands died in Gaza,” Abu Bakr allegedly responded.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was incensed by the call, saying that through showing sympathy for a child-murderer the PA president was revealing his group’s true beliefs.

“Mahmoud Abbas was and remains an enemy who supports terror,” he posted to X, “and the Authority he heads was and remains a terrorist organization and not a ‘partner’ for anything.”

“His phone call tonight to the murderer of Jews is a wake-up call to those who still delude themselves about the Palestinian Authority as an alternative to Hamas in Gaza after the war,” he continued. “It will not happen. Not in Gaza, nor in Judea and Samaria.”

Otzma Yehudit Chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir, who resigned from the government in protest of the hostage deal, criticized the way the coalition was handling it and the ceasefire.

“Close your eyes to the Palestinian terrorist authority that rewards murderers of Jews and educates them in terrorism,” he wrote. “Release thousands of murderers and terrorists. Stop the war in Gaza. Withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor and northern Gaza. Transfer bulldozers to Hamas.”

“And of course, don’t forget to tell us that they are deterred. It’s time to change the approach,” he urged.

Israel Beitenu head Avigdor Liberman of the Opposition also condemned Abbas.

“Holocaust-denying Abu Mazen [Abbas’ nom de guerre] is again showing his true face – a terror supporter who congratulates low-down murderers,” he said.

“Anyone who embraces terrorists with blood on their hands is himself a terrorist, and cannot be a partner in any initiative, especially not to oversee the Rafah crossing,” he added.

Israel is reportedly considering allowing the PA to be in charge of the Gazan side of its southern border with Egypt, which Hamas had used for decades as a smuggling route for weapons of every kind.

Abu Bakr was one of the 200 terrorists Israel released Saturday in exchange for four female IDF border observers who had been abducted during the Hamas-led invasion and massacre on October 7, 2023.