Palestinian reactions to the incident on the Israeli-Egyptian border in which three Israeli fighters were killed

Overview

• An Egyptian border policeman infiltrated Israeli territory, fired at two IDF soldiers manning a guard post and killed them. Another fighter was killed during a pursuit after the shooter. The Egyptian army issued an official statement according to which the policeman had acted to prevent drug trafficking.
• In general, senior figures in the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestinian organizations refrained from officially commenting on the attack. This is apparently due to the sensitivity of relations with Egypt and the desire not to confront its leaders. ^[1] However, on the unofficial popular level, the Palestinian media (mainly journalists and daily columnists) and social media users did not hide their glee over the attack and its consequences. They noted the IDF’s “operational failure” and praised the Egyptian policeman who carried out the attack. Some of them interpreted his act as proof of the “unity of the arenas” and as a symbol of the Arab world’s enlistment and partnership in the Palestinian struggle against Israel and for Al-Aqsa Mosque. They also called on others to follow in his footsteps (Al-Khalij al-Jadeed, June 3, 2023). Many have also pointed out the fact that peace between Egypt and Israel, as with other countries in the region, is just a mirage. The Palestinian media also published cartoons expressing glee over the attack and the deaths of the Israeli soldiers.
• After the terrorist’s identity was revealed, the Palestinian media and social networks began publishing many pictures of him, along with praise. Many of them called the perpetrator “the new Suleiman Khater.”^[2] In several places in Judea and Samaria (Nablus and the Jenin refugee camp), mourning houses were opened in his memory and the public was invited to visit them. In Ramallah, a symbolic funeral was held for him.

Palestinian reactions

Social media

•  On the Palestinian social media, many Palestinian web surfers praised the attack under the hashtags #Egyptian_soldier, #Long_live_Egypt, #The_Arabs’_true_pride, and subsequently #Muhammad_Salah (the name of the Egyptian policeman who carried out the shooting), #The shaheed_Muhammad_Salah, and #Suleiman_Khater. Thus, for example, Heba al-Natsheh, who presented herself as a media figure from Hebron who lives in Ramallah and follows the issue of Palestinian female prisoners held in Israeli jails for security reasons and the political arrests in the PA, wrote under the hashtags #Egyptian_soldier and #Long_live_Egypt, “Good morning to the honorable weapon that healed our hearts” (Heba al-Natsheh’s Twitter account, June 3, 2023). She attached a photo of a weapon attributed to the perpetrator of the attack, with the caption “One Nation.”

Hamas

• Immediately after the incident, before its details were published, Ibrahim al-Madhoun, a Hamas publicist, wrote that it was too early to know and analyze what happened on the Egyptian border, but no matter what happened, the borders would not remain secure for Israel forever. Israel is surrounded by nations that will not accept it and will not live in harmony with the existence of a border (Ibrahim al-Madhoun’s Twitter account, June 3, 2023).
• Salah al-Bardawil, a member of Hamas’s political bureau in the Gaza Strip, wrote under the hashtag #The_Egyptian_soldier that no one but Allah knows what the Egyptian soldier was thinking before he left his home, nor before he left his base, and no one told what he said when he prepared his weapon, and what his thoughts were when he saw an “enemy” committing crimes against his ancestors and forefathers… Bardawil blessed him to go to paradise, where he would be together with his friend, Suleiman Khater, and with the prophets, the righteous, and the shaheeds (Salah al-Bardawil’s Twitter account, June 4, 2023).
• In a later statement, Salah al-Bardawil, under the hashtag #Naksa_and_honor, wrote that the “heroic operation” of the “heroic Egyptian shaheed” Muhammad Salah, which took place on the anniversary of Naksa and after 66 (it should be 56) years of treachery, restored hope to the Arab nation. He expressed his joy “that there are men who can restore honor…” and noted that what was taken by force will be returned with faith, will, and force (Salah al-Bardawil’s Twitter account, June 5, 2023).
• Dr. Yusuf Rizqa, a senior Hamas figure and former minister of information and endowments in Haniyeh’s government, gave his daily column the title “The People’s Hand Takes Revenge.” According to him, they have always said, and continue to say, that normalization with Israel is political normalization between official levels only. On June 3, an Egyptian border policeman expressed his opposition to normalization, “killing three Israeli soldiers and wounding an officer before being killed.” According to Rizqa, there is great sadness in Israel, not only over the killing of the three and the wounding of the officer, but also because normalization has proven its failure, proving that a respectable Egyptian does not forget his homeland, nor the martyrs of his homeland, nor does he forget Jerusalem and Israel’s aggression against the residents of Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank. The bullets of the Egyptian soldier are the bullets of the Egyptian people who have not yet been fired, waiting for a good opportunity to be fired. Rizqa also noted in his column that all those who suffered injustice because of the “Zionist occupation” praised the heroic action of the Egyptian soldier… The free people in Islamic countries do not forget the oppressed, not the martyrs, not the prisoners, they do not forget Al-Aqsa Mosque, and they do not forget their religious and national duty. “Soon will the wrong-doers know the end that they shall reach” (Quranic verse 26:227, Islamicstudies.info) (Palestine Online, June 4, 2023).
• In a column that he wrote the next day, Dr. Yusuf Rizqa wonders why Israel is shocked by the killing of three soldiers. Because, according to him, Israel kills Palestinians every day based on the smallest suspicion and justifies the killing on ridiculous grounds. “They kill Egyptians, Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, and others. They enjoy killing, and they’re proud of it, and they sometimes mention it in their memoirs years later.” Rizqa added that the Arabs do not forget their right and their revenge, and they carry it out when they have the right opportunity, which is, according to him, what probably motivated the Egyptian soldier to take revenge. Rizqa also said that according to several versions, the policeman was the son of a shaheed killed by the Israelis (Palestine Online, June 5, 2023).
• Fayez Abu Shamala, a publicist from Khan Yunis who is close to Hamas, wrote in his column in the daily Felesteen that although the Israeli military exercise “Fist Punch” was not held on the Egyptian border but focused on northern Israel and the Gaza and West Bank fronts, death suddenly came from an unexpected place, from the Egyptian front. According to him, the multiplicity of arenas is a message to Israeli society that even 75 years after the declaration of the state, it will not live in security, and 56 years after the Israeli victory in 1967, Israel is surprised that its victories were false. He noted that there are indications that the Egyptian, Syrian, and Jordanian fronts are awakening to fight and are on their way to fulfilling their duty to defend the holy sites of Islam. He also said that the Egyptian people would continue to be “the spearhead of the Arab nation,” waving the Palestinian flag and willing to sacrifice everything in defense of Al-Aqsa Mosque (Palestine Online, June 4, 2023).
• On his Twitter account, Fayez Abu Shamala wrote that “this is the unity of the arenas” (Fayez Abu Shamala’s Twitter account, June 3, 2023). The next day, on June 4, 2023, he published the photo of Sgt. Lia Ben Nun, who was killed in the attack, and added a caption thanking, inter alia, “beloved Egypt, mother of heroes” (Twitter account of Fayez Abu Shamala, June 4, 2023).
• Mustafa al-Sawwaf, a Hamas commentator, praised the “son of Egypt” who avenged his religion, his people, and the Palestinian people, and carried out a heroic attack against Israeli soldiers (“the Zionist occupation”), killing three of them and wounding several others. He said it was heroism and sacrifice, and that this hero was a role model not only for the Egyptian people but for all Arab and Islamic peoples, in the hope that his deed and heroism would inspire everyone (Shehab, June 4, 2023). In another article, he wrote that Muhammad Salah (“the heroic shaheed”) seems to have opened the door for the free people of the nation and its heroes, not only in Egypt but in all Arab and Islamic countries, to carry out heroic deeds, of which they hope for more, in response to the “terror of the Zionist occupation,” in defending the holy sites of Islam and in standing against the Zionists wherever they may be until the occupation is removed from Palestine. Al-Sawwaf called on the nation’s youth, “Follow in the footsteps of the Egyptian hero” (Shehab, June 6, 2023).

   
A Gaza resident prepared bags of food for distribution to the needy, in memory of Muhammad Salah (Twitter account of Gaza journalist Jihad al-Sharif, June 6, 2023)

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)

• Khaled Sadeq, the editor-in-chief of the PIJ-affiliated daily Al-Esteqlal, wrote that Israel, which systematically carries out “crimes” against the Palestinians, kills innocent civilians, and attacks houses while their residents are asleep, condemns the “heroic operation in the Negev” and its consequences. However, it does not see itself committing “heinous crimes” in Hammam al-Shatt (the attack against the PLO headquarters in Tunisia on October 1, 1985), in Kafr Qana,^[3] attacking Damascus, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, and Sinai. These massacres and others are all etched in the minds of Arabs, who instinctively believe that Israel is a hostile entity whose presence in the region threatens its stability, security, and tranquility, and it is robbing it of its natural resources. According to Sadeq, the “heroic operation in the Negev” was not the first one but was repeated four times on the Egyptian border since the “ring states” (referring to Egypt and Jordan) cannot be friendly with Israel (the “Zionist entity”) or believe it because they know its intentions well enough (Al-Esteqlal, June 5, 2023).

Fatah

• The @fateh_pal65 Twitter account, which presents itself as Fatah’s official account, published the picture of Egyptian terrorist Muhammad Salah with the inscription, “They rejoice in the blessing that Allah has bestowed upon them” (part of Quranic verse 3:170, Al Imran) (@fateh_pal65 Twitter account, June 5, 2023).
• Senior Fatah figure Munir al-Jaghoub^[4] also posted a picture of Muhammad Salah, above which he wrote the name of a love song for the Egyptian homeland (Facebook page of Munir al-Jaghoub, June 5, 2023). The post received several dozen comments, mainly “May he rest in peace” and “Glory be to the Shaheeds.”

• The Fatah movement in Nablus issued a death notice and announced the opening of a mourning house in honor of Muhammad Salah on June 6 between 17:00-19:00 (New Press Twitter account, June 5, 2023).

   
Right: The mourning house opened by Fatah in Nablus. The sign reads, “Welcoming those who praise the death of the Shaheed of the Arab Homeland and Shaheed of the Egyptian Republic, the heroic Shaheed Muhammad Salah.” Left: Palestinians visit Fatah’s mourning tent in Nablus (Palestine Post Twitter account, June 6, 2023)

• The national and Islamic forces in the Jenin refugee camp also announced the opening of a mourning house in honor of Muhammad Salah (Filastin al-A’an, June 5, 2023).

   
The mourning house in the Jenin refugee camp (QudsN Twitter account, June 5, 2023)

• A symbolic funeral ceremony was held in Ramallah in his memory, during which his pictures and Egyptian flags were waved (Palestine Post Twitter account, June 6, 2023).

   
Palestinians wave the Egyptian flag and pictures of Egyptian terrorist Muhammad Salah at the symbolic funeral ceremony in Ramallah (Palestine Post Twitter account, June 6, 2023)

Cartoons

• Many media outlets and social networks published cartoons glorifying the attack. The following are some examples.

    
Right: Cartoon by Palestinian cartoonist Mahmoud Abbas who is a Swedish citizen (Twitter account of Mahmoud Abbas, June 3, 2023). Left: Cartoon titled “From where they didn’t expect.” The Egyptian soldier shouts “Allahu Akbar”
(alresalah.net Twitter account, June 4, 2023)

   
Right: “Dangers threatening Israel,” a cartoon by Mohammad Sabaaneh in the PA organ Al-Hayat al-Jadida (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 5, 2023). Left: “The Egyptian border” (Al-Quds, June 4, 2023)

   
Cartoons glorifying the image of Muhammad Salah. Right: Cartoon by Alaa al-Laqta, posted on his Twitter account under the hashtag #The_Arabs’_true_pride (Palestine Online, June 6, 2023). Left: Cartoon published in Al-Quds, June 6, 2023

Appendix

The course of events

• In the early morning hours of June 3, 2023, an Egyptian border policeman infiltrated Israeli territory and shot and killed two IDF fighters (a man and a woman) manning a post on the Egyptian border. Several hours later, after attempts to communicate with the two proved futile, an IDF force dispatched to verify the situation found them both dead. Many troops were deployed to the area and instituted a search. In the afternoon, the forces identified the Egyptian policeman in Israeli territory. An exchange of fire developed, and the Egyptian policeman was shot and killed. One IDF soldier was shot and later died; another was wounded. IDF forces continued searching the area to rule out the presence of additional terrorists (IDF Spokesman’s Office, June 3, 2023).
• The Egyptian army spokesman said in an announcement that a member of the security forces assigned to secure the border was looking for drug smugglers. During the search, he broke through the checkpoint, and exchanges of fire ensued, leading to the deaths of three Israeli soldiers and the wounding of two others, in addition to the death of the Egyptian security guard in the exchange of fire. According to the statement, searches were carried out in the area and legal measures were taken. The spokesman offered condolences to the families of the soldiers who had been killed and wished the wounded a speedy recovery (Egyptian Army Spokesman Twitter account, June 3, 2023).
• According to the initial investigation, Muhammad Salah, 23, from Al-Qalyubia Governorate in northern Egypt, premeditated the attack. He deserted his position, and armed with a gun and two knives, he walked the three miles to an emergency crossing. He used a knife to cut the zip ties closing the crossing and entered Israeli territory. He then walked to the IDF post, stood in a blind spot, shot the soldiers, and ran away. According to the initial assessment, he was working alone and not a member of any organization, although it is suspected he had a jihadist-religious background; a copy of the Quran was found on his person.
• His relatives rejected claims that he had undergone religious radicalization but claimed that he felt anger and hostility towards Israel after his colleague was killed by the IDF. It was also noted that he was “troubled about his military service,” implying that he may not have been at peace with his service in the Egyptian army (BBC in Arabic and Al-Jazeera, June 5, 2023). An examination of his Facebook page revealed that he had an affinity for Islam, though he did not express extremist thoughts. The Facebook page did not include at the time of examination any references to the Palestinian issue (@mohamedsalah Facebook page). Muhammad Salah was buried in Al-Qalyubia, in northern Egypt, in a small ceremony attended by a small number of people.

^[1] At the time of the attack, delegations of senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) officials were in Egypt. Muhammad Shtayyeh, the PA prime minister, had visited Egypt a week earlier. ↑
^[2] Suleiman Khater was an Egyptian border policeman who carried out the shooting attack in the resort of Ras Burqa in eastern Sinai in October 1985. Seven Israelis, including four children, were killed. ↑
^[3] A village in southern Lebanon where civilians were killed by an Israeli attack during Operation Grapes of Wrath in 1996 and an attack in the Second Lebanon War (2006). ↑
^[4] Served as chief of the Information Bureau in Fatah’s Commission for Recruitment and Organization until his arrest by Palestinian Military Intelligence on January 18, 2023. He is currently responsible for public relations and information in the PLO’s Negotiations Department. ↑

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