Left: Poster glorifying the perpetrator of the vehicular attack in Jerusalem, March 6, 2015 (Facebook page of the Islamic Bloc at Al-Najah University, March 7, 2015). Right: The Hamas association’s display at Al-Najah University, simulating a masked Palestinian stabbing an Orthodox Jew (Facebook page of the Islamic Bloc at Al-Najah University, March 5, 2015)
Overview
1. On March 1, 2015, the Islamic Bloc at Al-Najah University in Nablus opened an exhibition on Jerusalem. The event was attended by the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the university, and by Mona Mansour, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council on behalf of Hamas. The prominent themes in the weeklong exhibition were glorification of the perpetrators of terrorist attacks against Israel and incitement to carry out further terrorist activities.
2. At the exhibition, incitement was reflected in the various pictures and exhibits, including an exhibit of a vehicular attack showing a car running over an Israeli civilian. The exhibition also includes a poster with a picture of Yehuda Glick (an Israeli Jewish activist advocating access to the Temple Mount by Jews, who recently survived an assassination attempt), with targets marked on him (Facebook page of the Islamic Bloc at Al-Najah University, March 1, 2015; PALDF Facebook page, March 1, 2015).
3. The recent vehicular and stabbing attack in Jerusalem (March 6, 2015), in which 7 people were wounded,[1] was also supported by the Islamic Bloc at Al-Najah University. A day after the attack, a poster was uploaded to the Facebook page of the Islamic Bloc presenting the perpetrator of the attack as follows: “The hero Mohammad al-Salaima […], the perpetrator of the heroic Jerusalem attack, March 6, 2015 […] Glory to the lion of Jerusalem.”
4. Al-Najah University has been known since the intifada as a center of incitement and terrorism by terrorist organizations, especially Hamas, which operates its student association there (the Islamic Bloc)to this end. Through the Islamic Bloc, Hamas conducts intensive activity at the university, designed to incite terrorism and hatred against Israel. This incitement has found expression in practice in the past – during the intifada, many students attending the university were involved in carrying out terrorist attacks, including suicide bombing attacks. Moreover, other universities in Judea and Samaria are fertile ground for incitement to terrorism and recruitment of operatives, mainly due to their high level and the students’ political and ideological awareness.
5. Attached are two appendices:
A. Photos from the recent exhibition at Al-Najah University
B. Al-Najah University as a center for incitement in the past and present
[1]On March 6, 2015, Mohammad al-Salaima carried out a vehicular and stabbing attack near the Light Railway in the north of Jerusalem. Seven people were injured. The terrorist, a resident of East Jerusalem, was shot and seriously wounded by the security guard at the train station and was evacuated to the hospital.
