During the current wave of terror attacks in Israel, social media is playing a major role as a platform for extreme incitement to carry out more attacks.[1] Following the attack on the evening of May 25, 2022 in the town of Elad, in which Palestinian terrorists armed with axes murdered three Israelis, social media was filled with expressions of support and praise for the attacks as well as incitement for more like them.

Numerous hashtags were started on Twitter, such as "#Operation Axe," "The Glorious Axe," and "#Operation Elad," and so on. Under these hashtags, many users tweeted praise and admiration for the Elad attack, calling the perpetrators "heroes" and expressing glee. Also tweeted under the hashtags were many posters and cartoons praising the use of axes and meat cleavers in attacks on Israelis, depicting these weapons as an effective way to chop down Israel and its independence, and to terrify the Israelis and cause them to flee.

Many of the Twitter users referenced the April 30 speech by Hamas leader in Gaza Yahyah Sinwar, in which he urged Palestinians to carry out lone wolf attacks and Israeli Arabs to carry out attacks using firearms, axes, and knives.[2]

To view the clip of Sinwar's speech on MEMRI TV, click here or below:

This report will present examples of the tweets, posters, and cartoons circulated on Twitter following the Elad attack.

Calls For Carrying Out Axe And Knife Attacks

User @ malakhreish tweeted: "Grab a knife and stab your enemy. Oh power of God in Palestine." The tweet included a photo of the scene of the attack.[3]

User @ Abotagoog tweeted: "Chop off their heads with your axe, shoot them with your gun, and do not fear them."[4] He included a graphic of the scene of the attack and a bloodied axe.

User Yasser Al-Bahri tweeted, under the hashtag #Heroic Operation in Elad": "Stabbing, car-ramming, axe. The Elad operation in Palestine dismembers the enemy and shakes his entity. Oh revolutionary Al-Aqsa, we long for many more [such operations]. Heroism."[5]

Twitter.com/albhry_yasr, May 6, 2022.

User "Bint Al-Hassan" tweeted a poster depicting a bloody axe representing Palestine with its blade embedded in an Israeli army helmet and quoted Sinwar in his speech: "Do not wait for a decision from anyone. Whoever does not have a gun should prepare his cleaver..."[6]

Twitter.com/a__Alhasan_M, May 6, 2022.

Gaza user Muhammad Abu 'Aid tweeted a video of Sinwar's speech calling on Palestinians and Israeli Arabs to carry out attacks with guns, axes, and knives, and wrote: "Oh Hajj [Sinwar, the attack was carried out] with a meat cleaver, in accordance with [your] order."[7]

User Eliane Haddad tweeted a photo of the scene of the attack and wrote: "Multiply your operations in the depth of the plundering entity so that the culture of resistance will triumph in our Arab world."[8]  

Twitter.com/WHITE_HEARTLADY, May 6, 2022.

User Salem Abo Ghalieh tweeted a drawing of a Palestinian flag flying from the handle of an axe and hinted that there should be more attacks, and quoted Sinwar in his speech: "Do not wait for a decision from anyone."[9]

Posters, Cartoons, And Tweets: Praise For The Axe Murder Of Israelis, Glee At The Attack On Israel's Independence Day

Gaza journalist Ahmad Abu Nasser tweeted a cartoon depicting a bloodied meat cleaver in pursuit of an orthodox Jew and an Israeli solder. The cleaver is saying "Just not Al-Aqsa, oh sons of the Jewess." Abu Nasser added: "Praise for the cleaver."[10]

Gaza user Muhammad Al-Dayya tweeted a graphic showing a machine gun and a bloody meat cleaver against the backdrop of Al-Aqsa mosque and the scene of the Elad attack, and wrote: "Elad: We came to you with a machine gun and a cleaver, as vengeance for Al-Aqsa."[11]

User Ali Walid Kanaan tweeted: "Even as weapons advance, the meat cleaver continues to have a special effect on the hearts of the Zionists... The cleaver satisfies the thirst [for vengeance] more than all the rockets and bullets."[12]

Gaza journalist Yousef Al-Husni tweeted a graphic of a rocket and a knife, with the text: "The knife glitters."[13]

A pro-Hizbullah user tweeted: "Sliced by the knife, oh watermelon" along with a poster reading: "Sliced by the knife, oh Zion."[14]

Mohamed Al-Shinqiti, a lecturer at the University of Qatar and member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), tweeted: "A homeland that is sundered by a simple axe on the day celebrating its false independence is not a homeland, but a spiderweb: 'And indeed, the weakest of homes is the home of the spider, if only they knew' (Quran 29:41)."[15]

Sweden-based Palestinian cartoonist Ahmad Qaddura tweeted a cartoon depicting an axe chopping down an Israeli flag.[16]

Graphic artist Raid Al-Qatanani tweeted his poster showing an axe as part of the year "2022" in Arabic. He added part of a Quranic verse (12:49) about a year in which people will be saved.[17]

Gaza user Muhammad Abu 'Aid tweeted a poster featuring the word "Palestine" with an axe forming the "P" and added: "Palestine" with a heart.[18]

[1] On the role played by social media as a platform for incitement to Palestinian terror attacks, see: MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6185, Social Media As A Platform For Palestinian Incitement - Praise For Stabbing Attackers, Threats Of Further Attacks, October 14, 2015; Special Dispatch No. 6186, Social Media As A Platform For Palestinian Incitement – Part II: Video Tutorials, Tips For Achieving More 'Effective' Attacks, October 14, 2015; Special Dispatch No. 6197, Social Media As A Platform For Incitement – Part III: Posting Pictures Of Small Children Wielding Knives As Praise, Encouragement For Terrorism, October 22, 2015; MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6237, Social Media As A Platform For Incitement – Part IV: Hashtag 'Stab' On Twitter, Facebook, December 10, 2015.

[2] See also MEMRI TV clip No. 8828, Senior Hamas Official Fathi Hammad To Palestinians In Jerusalem: Buy 5-Shekel Knives And Cut Off The Heads Of The Jews, May 7, 2021;  MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 9943, Hamas Gaza Leader Yahya Sinwar: We Will Desecrate Synagogues Throughout The World If Al-Aqsa Is Desecrated; Israel Wants A Religious War – We Accept The Challenge; This Will Scorch The Earth, Change The Planet; Palestinians Should Carry Out Lone Wolf Attacks; Israeli-Arabs Should Prepare Their Guns, Cleavers, Axes, Knives, May 2, 2022.

[5] Twitter.com/albhry_yasr, May 6, 2022.

[6] Twitter.com/a__Alhasan_M, May 6, 2022.

[8] Twitter.com/WHITE_HEARTLADY, May 6, 2022.

[13] Twitter.com/elhasani_yousef, May 6, 2022.

[17] Twitter.com/qatanani73/with_replies, May 5, 2022.

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