Illustrative: Israeli police at the scene of a car-ramming terrorist attack near a market in Jerusalem on Monday, April 24, 2023. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters.

Would an innocent young Palestinian with no intention of carrying out a terror attack leave behind a farewell message in which he stated his wish to become a “Martyr”?

Would an innocent young man present himself as waging holy war and say he “set out with the determination of the Jihad fighters”? Would he instruct his family how to behave at his “wedding in Paradise,” if he wasn’t on his way to carry out a terror attack?

Despite all this evidence, the Palestinian Authority (PA) claimed that terrorist Luay Abu Na’asa was innocent and “assassinated” by Israel.

Before terrorist Abu Na’asa set out with his two terrorist accomplices, Naif Abu Sweis and Bara Ahmed Fayez, to commit a shooting attack, he left behind a farewell video.

In the video, Abu Na’asa stated that “Martyrdom called to me after I desired it for a long time,” telling his family “not to cry” but to “hand out dates and make sounds of joy at the wedding of Martyrdom.”

The terrorists, who were killed by Israeli soldiers, acting on military intelligence about their imminent attack, had an M16 assault rifle in their car, as well as ammunition magazines with pictures of dead terrorists from Jenin attached to them. Abu Na’asa’s video, in which he is masked and dressed in military garb, holding a Koran and reading his message from a cell phone, clearly proves his intention to carry out one or more attacks, during which he was obviously prepared to die:

Terrorist Luay Abu Na’asa: “I have realized my wish and received Martyrdom for Allah. With the determination of the Jihad fighters I set out from this world, and I am going to a pure world, to Paradise … My family: Know that I did not leave you out of distress or a grudge against you, but rather Martyrdom called to me after I desired it for a long time. Dear mother: Please forgive me, as Allah’s satisfaction depends on you being satisfied with me, and my wish [to be a Martyr for Allah] will not be realized without this condition … Do not cry over me, rather make sounds of joy, as this is the wedding of your Martyr son … My last will is that no one cry at my funeral procession that leads to Paradise, rather hand out dates and make sounds of joy at the wedding of Martyrdom.”

[Fatah Movement – Bethlehem Branch, Telegram channel, Aug. 7, 2023]

A Martyr’s funeral is considered his wedding to the 72 virgins in Paradise in Islam.

However, in their reports, the PA and Fatah both presented Israel’s killing of terrorist Abu Na’asa and his accomplices as a random killing of innocents, referring to them as “3 young people” who were “assassinated” based on an Israeli “claim” that they belonged to a “cell” that “was on its way to carry out an attack” against Israelis. [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 7, 2023]

This is far from the first time that the PA/Fatah have presented dead terrorists as innocent “young people.”

Palestinian Media Watch exposed a similar case of an “innocent” terrorist shooter who before his attack stated his intention of dying: “Allah will honor me and I will die for Him and become a Martyr.”

The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.