Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Abbas Condemns Deadly Attack That Killed 3 Israeli Settlers

(JTA) — An aide for Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, said that Abbas opposed the slaying of three Israelis by a terrorist near Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Nabil Abu Rudeinah, Abbas’ chief of staff, told the Voice of Palastine radio station on Thursday of Abbas’ disapproval of the killing, when he was asked about the subject during an interview.

Rudeinah said that Abbas’ “longstanding position” is to “condemn all acts of violence, including this one, and all those who perpetrate them.”

Haaretz, the left-leaning Israeli daily, called this statement “an indirect condemnation by Abbas.” The right-leaning Israeli radio station Arutz 7 labeled the condemnation “faint.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benajmin Netanyahu on Tuesday urged Abbas to condemn the attack.

Abbas rarely supports violence against Israelis explicitly. He occasionally issues direct condemnations of attacks, especially when they involve the slaying of civilians. The security forces loyal to Abbas cooperate regularly with Israeli counterparts to foil terrorist attacks.

However, media under Abbas’ control in the West Bank regularly lionizes Palestinian murderers who killed Israelis and disseminates anti-Semitic propaganda and glorification of the murder of Israelis.

“The murderous attack” Tuesday, in which Nimr Mahmoud Ahmed Jamal, 37, shot and killed a Border Police officer and two Israeli security guards near the Israeli settlement of Har Adar, “Is a direct result of systematic incitement by the Palestinian Authority and others,” Netanyahu said. “I expect Abbas to condemn the attack and to not try to justify it.” Jamal, the father of four whose wife recently left him because he beat her, was killed by soldiers during the incident.

Separately, Jason Greenblatt, President Donald Trump’s envoy for promoting a peace plan between Israel and the Palestinians, visited Thursday three families of the Israelis whom Jamal killed.

“I visited with the loved ones of THREE families whose sons were murdered by a terrorist at Har Adar. Despicable. Please pray for them,” Greenblatt wrote on Twitter Thursday. “It has been a very difficult & sad evening.”

.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.