This gesture constitutes a sign of “loyalty” to the terrorists and a commitment to “constant sponsorship and honoring” vis-a-vis their families.

By Aharon David, Palestinian Media Watch

There has long been speculation about Saudi Arabia normalizing its relations with Israel, as part of US President Donald Trump’s “Abraham Accords.”

However, a new reward by the Saudi king to “honor” Palestinian terrorists’ families shows that the Saudi leadership does not reject Palestinian terror, nor those terrorists who murdered Israeli civilians.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas himself “thanked Saudi Arabia and its leadership for the generous grant they provided this year to 1,000 Palestinian pilgrims from among the families of the Martyrs, the prisoners, and the wounded.” [Official PA TV News, June 9, 2025].

The relatives of “Martyrs, prisoners, and wounded” – meaning dead, imprisoned, and wounded terrorists – were flown to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

This gesture constitutes a sign of “loyalty” to the terrorists, and a commitment to “constant sponsorship and honoring” vis-a-vis their families, as noted by official PA TV:

Official PA TV reporter: “As part of a generous act from Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques [Saudi King Salman], a convoy of pilgrims set out today to the Kaaba [in Mecca] from among the families of the Martyrs, the wounded, and the prisoners… This initiative expresses the ongoing support of the Saudi Arabian Kingdom for the Palestinian cause, and emphasizes its diligence in easing the suffering of the affected families… out of appreciation for them and loyalty to the Martyrs, with an emphasis on how [the Martyrs’] families will remain a subject of constant sponsorship and honoring.” [Official PA TV News, May 31, 2025]

The terrorists whose families Saudi Arabia chose to honor include murderers bent on destroying Israel.

One of the honored pilgrims featured on official PA TV was Saif Abu Qandil. His brother, Fatah terrorist prisoner Yusuf Abu Qandil, together with an accomplice, shot and murdered Israeli civilian Victor Kreiderman and wounded his wife Emma in 2004.

Another pilgrim featured on PA TV was the sister of terrorist prisoner Karam Hassan. Hassan was a commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, Fatah’s terror wing, and oversaw the murder of Israeli civilian Ruth Shua’i in a 2001 drive-by shooting. His sister said: “We thank the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the [Saudi] Crown Prince, and thanks to the Saudi people.” [Official PA TV, June 4, 2025]

The PA has not published a list of the names of the 1000 terrorists whose relatives were flown to Mecca, so PMW cannot determine how many are murderers, beyond the two who were interviewed on PA TV.

Trump and Israel should make it clear to the Saudi king that honoring terrorist murderers of Jews by rewarding their families is terror glorification and sends a message to Palestinians that Saudi Arabia welcomes Palestinian terror. This message is incompatible with a normalization process with Israel.

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During Hajj, the obligatory pilgrimage that every Muslim must undertake at least once in their lifetime to the Kaaba in Mecca, Muslims were chanting for the downfall of America and Israel.

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The Jordanian man, on a pilgrimage to Mecca, recorded himself saying ‘Death to Israel’ and ‘Long live Hamas,’ where he died from a heart attack hours later.

The post WATCH: Jordanian on Mecca pilgrimage dies of heart attack hours after denouncing Israel appeared first on World Israel News.

Israeli officials are considering a proposal to allow Palestinians who wish to perform the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca to fly from Israel’s Ramon airport in Eilat, as a measure to help reduce tensions.

The post WATCH: Israel to create direct flights to Saudi Arabia for Palestinian pilgrims appeared first on World Israel News.

If Muslims expect others to respect their rules about Mecca, they should be willing to grant Jews the same consideration on the Temple Mount.

By Jonathan Tobin, JNS

It turns out that there are some stunts in the era of clickbait journalism that really do go too far.

When news reporter Gil Tamari of Israeli TV Channel 13 snuck into the city of Mecca earlier this month, he may have taught fellow Israelis a lesson about how difficult it may be to make the final steps from the current tacit alliance with the Saudis to full normalization.

Tamari was apparently part of the Israeli delegation that went to Saudi Arabia when President Joe Biden flew there after his visit to Israel. Much was made in Jerusalem about the historic nature of the direct flight and the Saudis’ willingness to make a few other concessions that further solidified its now strong ties with the Jewish state.

Still, this aspect of an otherwise largely unproductive summit was enough to embolden at least one of the Israelis there to flout the country’s customs.

Tamari’s grasp of how far the Saudi state and the Muslim world are willing to go towards normalization is as tenuous as his understanding of what is considered acceptable in what remains, despite Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to liberalize the country’s government, a still rigid theocratic society. Using a local guide, he drove into the city that contains Islam’s holiest shrine, past signs clearly stating that it is forbidden for non-Muslims to enter. But he soon beat a hasty retreat when it appeared that he might be caught by the local authorities.

Rather than keeping this foolish stunt quiet, Tamari and his superiors at Channel 13 thought they had a scoop that was worth broadcasting. But when it aired this past Monday, the storm of criticism from Muslims it raised was enough to generate condemnations from many Israelis as well.

While the pushback isn’t at the level of the insane violence that broke out after a Danish newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005, it is still a worrisome and completely unnecessary distraction from the efforts to break down the barriers between Israel and the Muslim world.

Tamari isn’t the first person to violate the rules about non-Muslims in Mecca.

In 1853, the British scholar, soldier, diplomat and explorer Sir Richard Burton (no relation to the 20th-century actor) snuck into Mecca and actually attempted a hajj, a Muslim pilgrimage to the city. But he did so after a laborious study of Islam and preparations (including undergoing a circumcision) during his years among Muslims in India.

By comparison, Tamari’s excursion was a mere joy ride and completely lacked respect not just for the rules, but for the customs and sensibilities of Muslims.

In doing so, he did more than expose himself and fellow Israelis to criticism for insensitivity to the Saudis and Muslims around the world. The timing is especially bad because it comes at a moment when hopes are again rising that the Saudis will finally join other Muslim countries that have normalized relations with Israel.

Those expectations may be unrealistic in that the Saudis like the current situation in which it can enjoy military and even economic ties with Israel under the table without having to take flak from other Muslims for formally recognizing the Jewish state.

Moreover, the Saudi regime’s legitimacy stems almost entirely from its stance as the bulwark of the Wahabi sect of Islam and its role as guardian of the Muslim holy places. Crown Prince MBS may be willing to change his country in many ways but open diplomatic relations with Israel may be asking too much.

Anything that smacks of watering down respect for the shrines in Mecca and Medina—the prospect of which is easily linked to Tamari’s act of sacrilege by Islamist critics in Iran and elsewhere—constitutes a threat to the Saudi regime.

Seen in that light, what may have been intended only as a journalistic stunt by a deeply foolish person could have geostrategic implications that will impact not only the prospects for normalization but the effort to forge a regional alliance against Tehran.

The Temple Mount connection

There’s another takeaway from this fiasco that also deserves some attention.

As even some Israeli outlets pointed out, many in the Muslim world will draw an analogy between Tamari’s thoughtless act and the willingness of Jews to visit and even pray on the Temple Mount.

Some, like Haaretz, even compared it to Ariel Sharon’s walk on the mount that has been mythologized by apologists for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as having set off the Second Intifada. The fact that Arafat had planned that terrorist war of attrition as a response to Israeli peace offers has not diminished the willingness of some in the press and on the left to prop up the big lie that Palestinian terrorism is a response to Jewish insensitivity and/or plots to remove the mosques on the mount.

While Muslims have every right to expect Israelis and anyone else to respect their customs and religious sensibilities with respect to Mecca, the notion that the same rules ought to apply in Jerusalem are not so much inappropriate as they are outrageous.

Israel has no plans or intentions to interfere with, let alone destroy or desecrate, the mosques that exist on the Temple Mount. That said, any prohibition on Jews on the sacred plateau is an insult to Judaism, not respect for Islam.

The Temple Mount is the most sacred spot in Judaism. The Western Wall, which has been the focus of Jewish worship for two millennia, is revered because it is the last remnant of the Jewish Temple that stood there. The mount was where the Temple stood and where sacred Jewish services were carried out as described in the Bible.

Following the customs of conquerors throughout history, the Roman, Christian, and ultimately, Muslim occupiers of Jerusalem used the spot to demonstrate their superior status over Jews by turning the site of the Holy Temple into shrines to pagan gods, Christianity and then Islam.

To this day, Palestinian leaders continue to promote the lie that the Temple Mount has no connection to Judaism and is a solely Muslim holy place. Since the liberation and unification of Jerusalem in 1967, Israeli authorities have humored Muslim sensibilities by allowing the mount to remain off-limits to Jewish worship with the right of Jews to visit also being restricted.

That makes it the only place in Israel where officially sanctioned religious discrimination is allowed to exist.

Yes, it is correct to condemn Tamari’s act of sacrilege. But the same sense of outrage about disrespect for the sensibilities of people of faith that is generally expressed about Mecca ought not to be extended to Muslim demands about keeping Jews off the Temple Mount or preventing them from praying there.

On the contrary, it is the Islamic insistence on maintaining its conquest of another faith’s holy site—and the contempt for both Judaism and Jewish rights that this practice embodies—that is deserving of wide condemnation.

Indeed, if Muslims expect others to respect their rules about Mecca—and they have every right to do so—then they should be willing to grant Jews the same consideration.

That they don’t is a sign of their continuing unwillingness to treat other faiths as having legitimacy, as well as a continuing belief that all of the region is inherently Muslim and that non-Muslims there are dhimmi, second-class persons.

That the world continues to tolerate this double standard is partly the result of a desire to appease Islam and Muslim terrorists, as well as an unwillingness on the part of the West to demand that their institutions and culture be treated with the same deference as those of Islam.

Jews and other non-Muslims should stay out of Mecca. But the idea that Jews should be similarly excluded from the most sacred spot in Judaism is not a function of respect for Islam so much as it is legitimizing disrespect for Jews and antisemitism.

Jonathan Tobin is editor-in-chief of the Jewish News Syndicate.

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Channel 13 issued an apology, saying they “regret anyone was angry because of this visit.”

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Gil Tamari was the first Israeli journalist to visit Mecca but instead of acclaim, he got massive criticism.

Tamari reportedly snuck into Mecca to shoot a documentary, despite the fact that it’s forbidden for a non-Muslim to enter.

Addressing Israeli viewers, pro-Israel and pro-normalization Saudi blogger Muhammad Saud, who has visited the Jewish state, published a video on Twitter, saying: “Your reporter entered the holy city of Mecca and photographed without shame. It is like me entering a synagogue and reading the Torah.

“Channel 13, this is disgraceful and rude. You should be ashamed to insult the religion of Islam this way.”

The station issued an apology in Arabic, saying that “the visit of our foreign affairs editor to Mecca was not intended to harm the feelings of the Arab world and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“We at Channel 13 news express our apologies and regret that anyone was angry because of this visit.

“Journalistic curiosity is the essence of journalistic work, which requires reaching all places and covering from a primary source. These principles were the highest priorities in Gil Tamari’s visit to Saudi Arabia.

“We at Channel 13 consider that knowledge and identification of important places from a first source are extremely important.

“We at Channel 13 news call for tolerance between religions, knowledge of the other and respect for all religions,” the apology concluded.

Israeli journalist Gil Tamari, working for Israel’s Channel 13 News, found a way into Mecca to shoot a documentary. The city is normally forbidden for non-Muslims to enter. The move sparked criticism on social media, and led to the channel issuing an apology in Arabic. pic.twitter.com/KNSiZBZ7IM

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) July 19, 2022

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Man from the Bedouin town of Rahat was visiting Mecca.

By David Hellerman, World Israel News

An Israeli-Arab from the Bedouin town of Rahat was arrested in Saudi Arabia for praising Israel, Ynet reported on Wednesday.

The man, who was not identified, was visiting Mecca. While looking for a doctor, he was instead sent to a pharmacy whose service dissatisfied him.

His family told Ynet he was arrested after he filmed himself criticizing the service he received at a pharmacy. In the course of his criticism, seen by passersby, he praised Israel.

In the video, seen by Ynet, the man could be heard saying, “I gave my name, my father’s name, everything. I said I wanted to see a doctor, they sent me to a pharmacy. I swear to God that our lives are a blessing in this country, in God’s name. Israel is the greatest country in the world.”

A family member told Ynet, “We’re talking about a man with a disability and diabetes. He was angry because of the service he received when he asked to see a doctor, said a few things and was arrested.”

“Since the arrest, we’ve contacted those responsible, and they told us that his remand was extended. They told us that they’ll release him after the Umrah”, the relative said, referring to an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.

“And I hope he really gets released. There are even members of Knesset who got involved and are in touch with the family” the relative added. Ynet didn’t indicate who the Knesset members might be.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Ynet it was not aware of the case. Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have diplomatic relations.

In 2020, the Interior Ministry began allowing Muslim citizens to travel to the kingdom to make the religious pilgrimage. Israel also has an arrangement with Jordan, which provides pilgrims with temporary travel papers.

Around 30,000 Israeli Muslims each year make a pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.

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“We will have direct flights for Muslim Israeli pilgrims from Tel Aviv to Mecca,” Netanyahu told Army Radio.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, implying that normalized relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia are on the horizon, declared, “I’m going to bring you direct flights from Tel Aviv to Mecca,” during a Saturday evening interview with Channel 13.

Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have formal diplomatic relations, but it’s widely believed that the two nations maintain under-the-radar ties, united by their interest in a non-nuclear Iran. The Gulf kingdom recently granted flyover rights for Israeli flights, a sign of warming ties.

With just three days until national elections, Netanyahu is putting his campaign into overdrive, emphasizing his massive foreign policy accomplishments over the last year.

Since August 2020, he has spearheaded normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, and has promised in recent interviews that more peace deals are in the pipeline.

But the reason Netanyahu is playing up direct flights to Saudi Arabia may go deeper than simply celebrating his foreign policy strength.

Netanyahu has invested much of his campaign focusing on extensive outreach to Arab Israeli voters, referring to himself by the moniker “Abu Yair,” visiting Arab municipalities, and producing Arabic-language content.

(The name of Netanyahu’s eldest son is Yair, and “Abu Yair” means “father of Yair.”)

In an interview on Sunday morning, Netanyahu seemed to directly address those whom he believes would benefit most from the new route – Israeli citizens who want to perform the mandatory Islamic Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca.

“We will have direct flights for Muslim Israeli pilgrims from Tel Aviv to Mecca,” he told Army Radio.

In November 2020, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Netanyahu in Saudi Arabia. The two leaders never formally confirmed the meeting, which was widely reported on by both domestic and international media.

A Saudi source told i24 News that the royal family was rooting for Netanyahu in the March 2021 elections.

“[The Saudi royal family] not only prefer Netanyahu, but they love him,” the source said.

“He has the required charisma, and he knows very well what he is doing.”

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A Saudi lawyer is claiming that Al Aqsa Mosque is in Saudi Arabia, not Jerusalem.

The post WATCH: Saudi lawyer says Al-Aqsa Mosque is not in Jerusalem appeared first on World Israel News.

A direct sea route from Eilat to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia could be a huge boost to Israeli tourism.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The heads of the port in Eilat have presented a UAE delegation with an idea to establish a direct Red Sea line to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia so that Israeli Arabs could more easily make the annual Islamic pilgrimage to nearby Mecca, Israel Hayom reported Monday.

The Arab group, which came to the southern town to talk about sea transport, is headed by Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, CEO of DP World, the largest shipping company in the world. According to port manager Gidon Golber, the Sultan was very enthusiastic about the idea of having passenger ships stop in Eilat to take on board those going on the hajj in the holiest city in Islam – a trip that Muslims are required to complete at least once in their lives.

Mecca is quite near the Red Sea coast, just over a thousand kilometers from Eilat. There are two conventional ways an Israeli Arab gets there now for the hajj, according to travel agency websites. The first is to go to the port of Aqaba in Jordan, take a car ferry to Nuweiba in Egypt, and then take a long drive down to Mecca. The whole trip takes over 18 hours.

The other, more popular way is to cross the King Hussein Bridge to Jordan, a route which cuts some two hours off the travel time. From Jordan, buses and taxis go to Amman to catch a flight to Jeddah, the nearest city to Mecca with an airport. Then Muslim pilgrims take a final shuttle bus to Mecca.

The Jeddah shuttle would have to remain part of the new travel route as well, but it is only an hour’s trip.

The tourism potential could be enormous, Golber said.

“It was a substantial, interesting and very cordial visit. Since there’s a big crisis in tourism in Israel and Eilat, we thought that passenger traffic from Eilat to Saudi Arabia could definitely benefit and promote tourism. This is a very short sea voyage that will make the trip to Mecca easier. The potential for tourism is an estimated two million passengers a year, which will definitely have a positive effect on tourism in Eilat,” he said.

This wasn’t bin Sulayem’s first trip to Israel, and the Sultan had business ties in the country long before the Abraham Accords were signed in mid-September that normalized ties between Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi. His company, which is also one of the largest port operators in the world, was part of a successful joint bid with Israelis to privatize the Haifa Port. He also has plans already in the works to establish a direct shipping line between Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port and the Port of Eilat.

According to a Calcalist report last month, bin Sulayem was one of the powerful figures in the Gulf country pushing for open relations with the Jewish State. The report says that associates of his credited him with convincing Saudi Arabian authorities to allow the first Israeli flight over its territory to Abu Dhabi in August.

This would presumably bode well for future permission from Riyadh for a hajj sea line from Eilat, although this may also come as part of Saudi Arabia’s own possible normalization of ties with Israel.

According to a report Saturday night on the Channel 12 news site, Mossad head Yossi Cohen has said in private conversations that Riyadh was going to wait until after the U.S. elections and then potentially make a “gift” of its diplomatic relations with Israel to the next administration.

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Here is a recap of the top Israel news stories on February 27, 2020.

And in case you missed our last recap…

The post WATCH: Daily Israel News Recap – February 27, 2020 appeared first on World Israel News.

A Palestinian was inspired to murder Israelis during a religious pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam’s holiest city. 

A Palestinian terrorist who seriously wounded an Israeli in a stabbing attack in the coastal town of Yavneh at the beginning of the month was inspired to commit the attack during a Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, according to an indictment filed against him on Monday.

The Israeli state prosecution filed an indictment against Ismail Abu Aram, 19, from the Hebron area, for the “attempted murder in terrorism circumstances” of Niv Nehama, a 42-year-old Israeli victim, during an attack at a local supermarket.

According to the indictment, Abu Aram recently became more religious and was encouraged to carry out the Muslim commandment of “Jihad [Muslim holy war] against the Jewish Israeli occupation.”

During the last Muslim month of Ramadan, which occurred during June, Abu Aram made a 12-day pilgrimage to the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, which is holy to Muslims. There, he decided to commit Jihad by murdering a Jew in Israel.

On August 2, Abu Aram infiltrated Israel illegally with the intent of attacking his former employer. Armed with pepper spray, he sought out his former employer, but failing to find him, he sought out another victim.

He entered a local supermarket, stole a knife that was on sale and hid it in his pants. He then engaged the victim in conversation, during which he extracted the knife and stabbed the victim multiple times in his upper body.

Nehama, a father of five, fought back despite his grave wounds, and the terrorist dropped his knife. Abu Aram then assaulted Nehama with pepper spray and fled the scene of the attack.

The terrorist was apprehended shortly after by a passerby and then turned over to the police.

The indictment noted “extreme severity” because the terrorist “did anything in his power to execute the attack,” and was calculated and retained a cool head throughout the entire attack.

His vicious and well-planned actions were “driven by a nationalist-racist motivation” which serve “as a thousand witnesses” to the terrorist’s “determination and dangerousness,” the indictment states.

Nehama, who was hospitalized in life-threatening condition, was released from the hospital on Sunday and hailed a hero by his treating doctors.

By: World Israel News Staff

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Days after a California Imam was exposed for calling for the murder of every Jew in the world, a second California Imam, Syrian-born Sheikh Mahmoud Harmoush, told followers at the Islamic Center of Riverside that Jews send undressed women into mosques, kill peaceful Muslims during their prayers and even plan to conquer Mecca in Saudi Arabia!

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