![Students who support Hamas gather to attend the debate held ahead of the student council elections, at Bir Zeit University in Ramallah, West Bank on 9 May 2017 [Issam Rimawi / Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/20170509_2_23573627_21901984.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
After severe criticism on social media the Saudi Arabian newspaper Al-Riyadh deleted a story from its website in which it described the Palestinian Islamic Movement Hamas as a “terrorist” group, the Huffington Post reported yesterday.
The newspaper published the story on Saturday with the headline, “Terrorist Hamas attends the inauguration of the Iranian president,” in reference to a Hamas delegation which visited Tehran this weekend for President Hassan Rouhani’s swearing-in ceremony.
Hamas denounced the story and stressed that this “dangerous description is detrimental to the resistance of the Palestinian people”.
In a statement Hamas said that this “defames the Palestinian people, its resistance and its history,” noting that “defaming the Palestinian resistance is a defamation of the whole [Muslim] nation”.
Read: Hamas is a legitimate resistance movement, Qatar envoy to Algeria says
The Palestinian Islamic Movement stressed that the Palestinian resistance movement carries out the “duty” of the whole Muslim nation regarding the defence and liberation of Palestine. It noted that this description serves only “the enemy of Palestine”.
Arabic-speaking spokesman of the Israeli army Avichai Adraee commented on the story, saying that finally one of our own recognises what Israel has been saying for a long time.