Balad Party Chairman Denies Supporting Armed Struggle Against Israel

Sami Abu Shehadeh, chairman of the Balad party, has recently claimed he never supported armed struggle against Israel. However, statements he made in a February 2021 interview contradict this assertion.

During the 2021 interview on 103FM radio, while serving as a Member of Knesset for the Joint List, Abu Shehadeh refused to label perpetrators of attacks against Israelis as 'terrorists.' Instead, he referred to them as 'freedom fighters' or 'political prisoners.' When directly asked if those responsible for the Dolphinarium discotheque and Park Hotel bombings were terrorists, he evaded a direct answer, stating it was a complex question that could not be answered with a simple 'yes' or 'no.' He also criticized then-MK Mansour Abbas for stating he did not 'hug terrorists,' urging Palestinians not to adopt the 'Zionist narrative.'

Abu Shehadeh argued that if terrorism is defined as the use of violence to advance political decisions, then Israel, as an occupying power, is also involved in terrorism. He stated, 'We call them freedom fighters, or political prisoners. The audacity of the occupier is sometimes incomprehensible.' He also accused interviewers of taking his words out of context and emphasized the ongoing occupation as the root cause of the conflict.