‘Puppets on Strings’: Foreign Anarchists Instructed by Radical Palestinian Group to Deceive Israeli Authorities

Israeli activists say the foreigners, who enter Israel as ‘tourists,’ are exploited as human shields for violent Palestinians and to provoke incidents that can be blamed on Israelis.

By Anna Epshtein, TPS

Anti-Israel foreign activists, including American students, are being used by a radical Palestinian organization and told to lie their way into Israel, according to a document obtained by The Press Service of Israel.

The annual Faz3a campaign, organized by the Ramallah-based Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, is timed around the olive harvest season, which typically takes place in October and November.

“When asked about where you are going, you can say Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. Do not mention Palestine, the West Bank, nor your intentions to go there. When asked why you are coming, answer tourism. Do not wear anything that can be connected to Palestine,” the document advises the foreigners.

It further instructs them to delete Palestinian contact numbers and photos from their phones and to set their social media accounts to private if they contain posts about the Palestinian conflict.

Once in the country, the foreigners are directed to travel to Ramallah for two days of intensive training. This includes orientation, legal rights and obligations, and “adherence to Palestinian leadership,” according to the PSCC website.

 

Israeli lawmakers are due to discuss the situation of the foreign anarchists on Thursday. In response to questions from TPS-IL, MK Tzvi Sukkot, who chairs the Knesset subcommittee for Judea and Samaria said in a WhatsApp message, “In my committee, we have exposed the anarchists sitting in Tel Aviv and making calls to the police blatantly accusing settlers of violence. They are joined by anarchists from abroad, who enter Israel under the guise of a tourist and with a tourist visa and go wild in Judea and Samaria.”

The Faz3a campaign, which began in 2019, describes itself as providing “non-violent international civil protection of Palestinian farmers from Israeli violence” during the olive harvest season. But closer investigation reveals a more complex and potentially dangerous reality.

Several individuals associated with the campaign have histories of violence and arrests. Ayman Gharib, whose phone number appeared on last year’s campaign materials, served two and a half years in an Israeli prison for security offenses. Another organizer, Muhamad Khatib, has been arrested multiple times by Israeli police for violent behavior.

Many photos of last year’s olive harvest clashes featured Sami, Muhammed and Hussein Huraini of Mount Hebron all of whom have records of violent behavior. In 2019, Hussein Huraini, Ayman Gharib and Munter Amira attacked Israeli farmer Tzuriel Lilintal in the Jordan Valley.

In 2020, PSCC anarchists were involved in a violent attack on 17-year-old Benyamin Ben Zimra near the Givat Assaf settlement in Samaria. Recounting the attack to TPS-IL, Ben-Zimra said the men came from the nearby Palestinian village of Kfar Burka, all wearing the same gray T-shirts with the Faz3a logo.

“None of them had any olive harvesting tools,” he recalled.

Since the Palestinians were not accompanied by the army, which is usually the case in olive harvesting, he approached them to check what they were doing. They circled the teenager, beat him with stones and tried to put him into one of their cars. Ben-Zimra was saved when a friend was able to get help from Givat Assaf residents.

‘Puppets on Strings’

“The Palestinians use foreign citizens as puppets on strings for their own purposes, endangering them and pushing them to become criminals. The Palestinians are using them,” a spokesperson for Documenting and Monitoring Unauthorized Activities (DMU), an Israeli organization that monitors anarchist activities in Judea and Samaria, told TPS-IL.

Israeli activists argue that the PSCC’s true goal is to use the foreigners as human shields between violent Palestinians and Israeli security forces and to provoke incidents that can be blamed on Israelis.

“Under the guise of tourists and ‘peace activists,’ dozens and hundreds of foreign anarchists enter the country every year and create the ‘harvest season’ that allows them to approach Jewish settlements, for the benefit of incitement, creating blood libels against the settlers, and starting violent riots,” Elisha Yered, a representative of the Israeli Forum “Fight for Every Dunam,” told TPS-IL.

The Israeli Population and Immigration Authority is responsible for managing entry and exit procedures at Israel’s airports and border crossings and issuing visas. It also monitors and enforces regulations regarding permitted lengths of stay for foreign visitors. In response to questions, the Authority told TPS-IL, “We are aware of the problem and we take measures to prevent the arrival of these activists.”

The PSCC, the organization behind the Faz3a campaign, did not respond to TPS-IL’s request for comment.