Saudi paper praises
Passover bomber

By Jon Dougherty

A columnist for one of Saudi Arabia’s government-controlled daily newspapers has come out in support of the Palestinian suicide attacker who detonated a bomb at a Passover Seder in a hotel in Netanya, Israel.

Calling ‘Abd Al-Baset ‘Oudeh a “quiet hero who infiltrated so elegantly and spoke so gaily,” columnist Dr. Khalil Ibrahim Al-Sa’adat, writing for the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah, called the lone bomber’s act a defense of his religion and people, according to a translation of the column by the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI.

The bomber “attached no importance to [any] Arab summit; you did not wait for international agreements; you did not follow television interviews; you did not pause because of dead Arab and international reactions that neither help nor hinder,” Al-Sa’adat wrote.

Because the suicide bomber “courageously waged jihad,” the columnist said of ‘Oudeh, “you executed your assignment and sacrificed your pure soul for your religion and your homeland.”

“The Israeli tanks did not strike you with dread; the Israeli military, armed to the teeth with all types of modern weaponry, did not move a hair on your head; the prime minister of this aggressive state that occupies your land and your homeland did not frighten you; Israeli intelligence, experts in terrorist espionage and treacherous collaboration, did not expose you,” Al-Sa’adat wrote.

“You could not stand the killing, the destruction and the exile carried out by the Zionist army. … You knew that the Zionists do not honor treaties, promises and agreements, and understand only the language of resistance and jihad,” he wrote, adding that ‘Oudeh did not wait for “international Arab help that might never arrive” and instead “took matters into [his] own hands.”

Al-Sa’adat said the suicide bomber “evoked hope that had begun to dissipate; you restored life that had begun to expire; you revived the Arab pride, valor, chivalry and sacrifice that had begun to die, and you caused pain to [the people] who had begun to celebrate and sing atop the bodies of the children, youths and mothers of your people.”

“What heroism, courage and strength – almost unmatched on the face of the earth!” he wrote.

The Saudi columnist also praised the actions of another Palestinian bomber, 16-year-old Ayat Al-Akhras.

“Your knew not where you were headed, and knew not that you had chosen the way of martyrdom. There was nothing to stop you. … You proceeded with a determination, will and strength rarely found, even impossible to find, in a 16-year-old girl,” he said.

“You raised our heads high and told the oppressing world, biased towards Zionism, that a young girl had infiltrated [into] Israeli society despite the tight security closure, and had profoundly shaken it without tank, missile or rifle – [merely] with her small, pure soul. You say to us, ‘Despair not; it is simpler than you think. Be filled with faith in Allah, with a quest for jihad and martyrdom,'” he wrote.

Praising her actions, Al-Sa’adat continued: “May Allah have mercy on you, oh ‘Abd Al-Baset, Ayat and all the male and female mujahedin. We ask Allah that the angels welcome you as righteous martyrs and beseech Allah to give you the highest level of Paradise.”

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Jon Dougherty

Jon E. Dougherty is a Missouri-based political science major, author, writer and columnist. Follow him on Twitter. Read more of Jon Dougherty's articles here.