Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qasem said late Wednesday that the US envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt’s attack on Palestinian icons is part of his efforts to bolster the Israeli narrative.

“The Palestinian martyrs fought to restore their people’s freedom and usurped lands,” Qasem said, stressing that the Palestinians have a legal right, guaranteed by all international laws and conventions, to resist the Israeli occupation and restore their freedom.

Qasem’s remarks came in response to Greenblatt’s tweet in which he lashed out at Palestinian official and icon Khalil al-Wazir, who was assassinated by Israeli undercover forces in Tunisia.  

Commenting on a painting of al-Wazir in a Palestinian school in the occupied West Bank, Greenblatt tweeted that this painting is a “despicable glorification of violence and terrorism.”