Several members of the anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox sect Neturi Karta entered the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on Monday and met with Palestinians from local militant groups.
According to Hebrew and Arabic language reports, Neturei Karta members met with officials from the leading Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group as well as the families of the terrorist attackers. The Jenin camp is seen as a stronghold of Palestinian terrorism.
Neturei Karta opposes the modern state of Israel on religious grounds, regularly protests against the Jewish state, and has in the past met with Holocaust deniers and Iranian government leaders.
Two members of Neturei Karta were photographed wearing scarves with Palestinian national colors and carrying Palestinian flags.
Videos shared on social media showed him visiting the home of senior PIJ official Bassam al-Saadi, who is jailed in Israel. Saadi’s detention last year triggered a period of fighting between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
The Cannes public broadcaster reported that another video showed him at the entrance of the Jenin refugee camp with former terrorist prisoner Maher al-Akhras, also linked to the PIJ.
Akhras, who left in 2020 hunger strike for more than 100 days The two visitors are seen praising Israel for not recognizing the State of Israel, for protesting his detention by the Israeli authorities.
In the center of the Jenin refugee camp: a delegation from the ultra-Orthodox faction Neturi Karta was documented with PLO flags pic.twitter.com/FSA57Vp9hT
— Sapir Lipkin | Sapir Lipkin | Sapir Lipkin (@sapirlipkin) January 9, 2023
This morning in the refugee camp of Jenin: Neturi Karta. He had come to meet the family of senior Islamic Jihadist Bassam Saadi arrested in Israel pic.twitter.com/EbNym6JHB1
— Carmel Dangor Carmel Dangor (@carmeldangor) January 9, 2023
Channel 12 news reported that although local gunmen tried to harm the delegation, they were prevented from doing so.
Saadi, 61, is went to jail seven times over the years by Israel according to the Shin Bet.
He was arrested by Israeli soldiers in Jenin on 1 August. At the time PIJ announced it was declaring a state of alert, and the Israel Defense Forces said there were “concrete” signs of an “imminent” attack on the Gaza border, placing the area on lockdown for several days.
Three days later the IDF launched a series of airstrikes in Gaza against a senior PIJ commander and several anti-tank guided missile squads, which fired rockets from the Strip. A ceasefire agreement was signed after nearly three days of fighting, which reportedly included an “Egyptian commitment to work towards the release” of Saadi and another Palestinian detainee, Khalil Awadeh, a spokesman for a militant group.
The Shin Bet has stated that in the months before his arrest, Saadi “worked even harder to restore PIJ activities, including building up a significant military force of the organization in Samaria in general and Jenin in particular”. was behind,” referring to the North West Coast.
