Hamas' deputy leader Ismail Haniyeh on Sunday praised the Palestinian Arab media for continuing to play a major role in strengthening the morale of the Palestinians during the intifada. Speaking at an event of Hamas’s Communications Department honoring journalists who won international awards in 2015, Haniyeh said that "there is an ongoing campaign without guns and without the noise of bullets, and that campaign is the siege on the Gaza Strip, and it is more dangerous than aircraft and cannons, and so the Palestinian media must show it and remind the world of the suffering of the residents of Gaza." Haniyeh added, "The media people must protect the culture of the intifada, to keep the problem under the media microscope, follow the developments on the local, national and international arenas, and focus at this point on protecting the internal front and supporting the morale of Palestinians in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank, because the volume of the counter-media is so large and the other side works non-stop in an attempt to circumvent the achievements recorded by our people during the years of conflict and confrontation." "We are in a sensitive stage and we need to strengthen the national fraternity, and the media must protect the Palestinian morale in light of the difficult conflicts and the psychological media war that the occupation is conducting,” he claimed. Hamas media, as well as media associated with Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement, have continued to incite to terrorism against Israelis. The success of this incitement was proven once again on Sunday, when it was cleared for publication that Murad Bader Abdullah Adais, the 16-year-old Arab terrorist who last Sunday stabbed to death Dafna Meir at the entrance to her home in Otniel, was inspired by Palestinian TV . Meanwhile, Hamas has made sure to silence journalists who are critical of the movement and its stronghold on Gaza. Reports two weeks ago said that two journalists who were openly critical of Hamas were arrested by the group and then were beaten and tortured for nine days in prison. One of them decided upon his release that he would no longer write about politics.
