Palestinian Groups, Gazan Jihadi Clerics, Pro-Hizbullah Lebanese Journalist Celebrate Tel Aviv Stabbing By Moroccan Holder Of U.S. Green Card, Call To Emulate It

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On the evening of January 21, 2025, four people were injured in a stabbing in the major Israeli city of Tel Aviv. The attacker, who was shot dead at the scene, was identified as Abdelaziz Kaddi, a Moroccan citizen with a U.S. green card who had entered Israel from the U.S. on a tourist visa on January 18.

Palestinian militant groups praised the attack and its perpetrator, as did Gazan jihadi clerics and a Lebanese journalist supporting Hizbullah.

PIJ, Palestinian Mujahideen Movement Claim Attack Shows International Muslim Solidarity With Palestine, Call To Emulate It

In a January 21 statement, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) celebrated the "heroic operation" committed by a "Moroccan youth in the heart of Tel Aviv," which injured several "usurping settlers." The group claimed the attack demonstrates the solidarity of "Arab and Muslim nations" with the Palestinian cause and that they "will not let the occupation's crimes go unpunished and will chase them where they do not expect." Asking Allah to have mercy on the perpetrator, it declared that "his pure blood will turn into a curse that will pursue the occupation and rob sleep from the criminals all over our occupied land."[1]

The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement issued its own statement, declaring the attack "in the heart of the entity" a "practical response" to the "aggressive Zionist military operation" in Jenin and other West Bank towns. The operation shows that "Palestine and Jerusalem are the compass and focus of the jihad of all free and noble members of our ummah [Islamic nation]," and that "the Zionist crimes will not remain without a response from our people and the noble members of the ummah." According to the group, the attack demonstrates "the true will of the ummah, which has been chained by restrictions and borders from defending Palestine," showing "the triumph of sincere will over restrictions." The statement urged Muslims to "follow the path of the Moroccan martyr and the ummah's other martyrs, and unite the compass of jihad and effort toward the ummah's true enemy, the Zionist entity and its allies worldwide."[2]

Gaza-Based Jihadi Clerics Praise Attacker, Contrast Him With Palestinians In The West, Declare Attacks On Israelis Will Continue

Gaza-based jihadi cleric Na'el bin Ghazi Musran shared videos and photos of the stabbing, writing that the attacker flew from the U.S. to Israel "answering the call to defend Palestine," and falsely claiming that he killed four "settlers" before becoming a "martyr." Praising Kaddi as a "Moroccan monotheist" who "did not make excuses of inability, weakness, or helplessness," Musran wrote that he "was linked to his brothers through the strong ties of religion," contrasting him with "the 'Palestinian' who loiters in the streets of Western countries conveying a message that defames the resistance and its soldiers, while he stays in the rooms of cowardice and fear."[3]

Another Gaza-based jihadi cleric, Ahmad Qanitah, shared a post by Hamas supporter Yasin 'Izz Al-Din featuring a photo of Kaddi, apparently taken in Morocco. Describing the perpetrator as "an American of Moroccan origin," the post stated: "The Zionists should be sure that the Al-Aqsa Flood will not stop until they leave our land. If it began in Gaza, it will not end there."[4]

Pro-Hizbullah Lebanese Journalist: Israel Will View All Citizens Of Countries That Normalized Relations As Potential Terrorists

Pro-Hizbullah Lebanese journalist Khalil Nasrallah wrote that the fact the attacker was from a country that had normalized relations with Israel proves regional nations will never consider the Jewish state a "natural state." Noting that this was not the first time tourists had carried out attacks inside Israel, as a Turkish tourist perpetrated a similar attack in Jerusalem "during the Al-Aqsa Flood battle,"[5] Nasrallah predicted that Israel's security bodies would from now on regard with distrust citizens of countries that have normalized relations with it, suspecting them of being would-be "martyrdom-seekers."[6]

The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement has previously claimed attacks inside Israel and called for more.[7]