TEL AVIV – Last month, Palestinians commemorated the anniversary of the death of Hamas bomb-builder Yahya Ayyash, the terrorist behind the use of suicide bombs in the 1990s and 2000s, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported.
Known as “the engineer,” Ayyash built bombs that killed dozens of Israelis and injured hundreds of others, before he himself was blown up by Israel on January 5, 1996 by a bomb hidden in his cellphone.
Independent Palestinian news agency Donia Al-Watan documented the social media posts singling Ayyash out as a hero. The agency noted the new hashtag, #Ayyash_is_coming, coined in honor of the anniversary of the bomb-maker’s death. The news wire also hailed Ayyash as being “one of the most outstanding Palestinian military leaders in recent years.”
“The engineer Yahya Ayyash laid the foundations for a blow in the depths of the occupation by finding scientific and chemical solutions for producing explosives from basic materials that can be found in the market,” Donia Al-Watan reported.
“His name was linked to the car bombs that struck Tel Aviv and the explosions of buses that occurred there, and which led to the deaths of dozens,” the article continued.
One social media post noted that Ayyash was “the first to arrange free collective death rides for the Zionists” while another praised the terrorist for “embarrassing” Israel and wished him well in Paradise.
“He embarrassed the enemy with his actions, and was the first figure to pave the way to liberation and the arrival in Jerusalem. May his soul rest in Paradise, and may his students endure and be victorious.”
Following Ayyash’s death, the Palestinian Authority named a street in Jenin and a town square in Ramallah after him.