Speaking on condition of anonymity, the top apparatchik, who works closely with British officials, said: 'I know the officers accused of killing him personally. They are good ones.'
August 25, 2022 13:08
A leading Palestinian Authority official has defended the gruesome murder of political activist Nizar Banat, telling the JC he would have participated in the killing himself.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the top apparatchik, who works closely with British officials, said: “I know the officers accused of killing him personally. They are good ones. I know their wives, their families, everyone.
“When they came to arrest him, he was very rude, impossible. He cursed their mothers and their sisters. If I’d been there, I would have joined in the beating.”
Nizar Banat
He added: “I believe Banat deserved what happened to him. When you listen to his videos you can see he was not stable. He exaggerated his case. He was attacking the whole social system.”
This is the first time such a high-ranking figure has spoken so candidly in support of the brutal political murder. He also defended the routine use of torture by the PA.
“I say [to British partners], yes we use torture if it’s needed. If I know I will save your kids’ lives if I torture someone, I will torture him.”
Human rights activist and politician Mr Banat was beaten to death by a West Bank security squad in June last year after he called on the EU to suspend aid to the PA when it cancelled Palestinian elections.
He had been arrested numerous times for insulting national sentiment, damaging the PA and inciting hostility towards the PA on Facebook.
In the weeks before his death, the campaigner had received a number of threats. Two days before the killing, security officers had shot at his house in Hebron and he told his lawyer that he feared he was about to be murdered.
The PA official insisted that the assassination was justified. “I have given my career to achieve a Palestinian state, doing my duty to make that happen,” he told the JC.
“What is more important? Banat or the Palestinian mission?
“Now it’s a matter for the courts, but it’s being made into a political issue. Does Banat equate to three million Palestinians?
“Our officials don’t think the Banat case is something big, something we have to think about. What was the importance of Banat’s life?
“If he had been a responsible father, he should have thought about the future of his kids. He should have matched his desires to reality.
“Only the PA can achieve the goal of a two-state solution, and by criticising PA corruption, Banat was undermining it.”
He added that the international outcry provoked by the murder — particularly by Britain and other countries that support the PA security services — was calling the PA’s future into doubt.
Jamal Khashoggi (Photo: Getty Images)
