Extremists behind Huwara rampage released, Hamas condemns

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
4 Mar 2023 14:00
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The resistance movement's spokesperson called on the international community to take serious measures against Israeli authorities and hold them accountable for the Huwara pogrom.

A Palestinian man walks between scorched cars in a scrapyard, in the town of Hawara, near the West Bank city of Nablus, Feb. 27, 2023 (AP)

The Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, denounced the Israeli judiciary decision to release the terrorist settlers responsible for the Huwara murder, confirming the occupying regime's racism against Palestinians.

"The Israeli judiciary’s decision to release the terrorist settlers, who carried out the Huwara pogrom in Nablus, confirms once again the occupying Israeli regime’s fascism and racism against the Palestinian nation.”, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said in a statement on Friday.

“The act also shows the regime’s complicity in the crime perpetrated against Palestinians before the eyes of the international community, and thus emboldens Israeli settler militias to exhibit more aggression," he added.

Qassem called on the international community to take serious measures against Israeli authorities and hold them accountable for the Huwara pogrom along with other discriminatory crimes toward Palestinians.

Israeli judicial officials released most of the settlers who were arrested after the Huwara pogrom on Thursday night. They were released based on a court ruling that claimed that there was not enough evidence to convict the settlers.

“I think the village of Huwwara needs to be wiped out. I think Israel should do it,” Israeli minister of finance Bezalel Smotrich was quoted by Israeli media outlets on Wednesday. The European Union condemned Smotrich's remarks calling them "unacceptable and intolerable."

The horrific remarks came days after the illegal Israeli settlers' rampage, which left one Palestinian murdered and Palestinian cars, homes, and businesses burnt to the ground. The rampage followed a week of brutal aggression against Palestinians in Nablus, in which 11 were killed in an Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raid.

“We call on the Israeli administration to disavow those comments and to work together with all the parties involved to defuse tensions,” the EU pointed out.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar also commented on the Israeli minister, calling his remarks "racist and irresponsible."

The Saudi Foreign Ministry expressed its “complete rejection of such racist and irresponsible statements, which reflect the massive violence and extremism the Israeli occupation entity is exercising against the brotherly Palestinians.”