JERUSALEM – Despite initially claiming that the rocket launched from Gaza that leveled a private home in central Israel on Monday was a “mistake” and that Hamas had “no interest” in firing projectiles at Israel, the terror group’s official TV station continued to air calls to murder Israelis, telling Palestinians to “scatter the enemies’ body parts, make the skulls fly in the sky.”
Hamas’ Al Aqsa TV, which Israel officially deemed a terrorist organization earlier this month, aired a music video calling for the resumption of suicide bombings and for Palestinians to “stab, bomb, and make eyes weep,” according to a translation by Palestinian Media Watch, which first reported on the video.
“Wrap the explosive belt around you. … Oh brave one,” the song lyrics read. “Blow up the Zionists.”
The footage includes images of actual terror attacks including three stabbings, two car rammings, and bombings. Fatima Omar Mahmoud Al-Najjar, who at 59 was the oldest Hamas female suicide bomber when she blew herself up near Israeli soldiers in 2006, injuring two, is also featured on the video.
The song opens with brief interviews with released female prisoners, one of whom attempted to carry out a suicide attack. Wafa Al-Bis explained that she sought to “kill as many Jews as possible.”
The other said: “I can’t live beside Israel. There are people who can live in peace beside Israel. I can’t live in peace because it occupied my land.”
Another music video also aired during Hamas’ rocket barrage on Israel called for the Jewish state’s death and to “turn [Israelis] into body parts, roast them.”
“The soldiers of Muhammad have started to return,” the song says while showing images from Israeli funerals. “Be red death. Have no mercy on the army of aggression.”
That music video was also broadcast on Al Aqsa TV last November, a half hour before Israel bombed the TV station’s headquarters.
The Hamas-run TV network was designated a terror organization after it was found by the Shin Bet security service to be broadcasting hidden messages and cues in order to direct terror attacks. It was revealed that Gaza-based journalists on the channel had been acting as operatives of Hamas’s Izz ad-Din al-Qassam military wing, and used gestures and quotes from the Quran to relay messages to terrorists.
The network was designated a terror group by the U.S. in 2010.
On Monday, a rocket fired the Gaza Strip leveled a private home in central Israel, injuring seven people, including three children.
The attack prompted a response from the IDF which struck dozens of terror targets in the Strip. On Monday evening and Tuesday, more rockets were fired into Israel, triggering more retaliatory strikes. Wednesday saw relative clam restored.