ByMICHAEL STARR

A terrorist involved in the murder of a bus driver and released in both the 2014 Gilad Schalit and February 2025 October 7 Massacre hostage deals is scheduled to lecture activists in Hungary and Spain on Thursday evening.

Nael Barghouti, set to speak remotely from Egypt at events in Budapest and Madrid as part of events commemorating Palestinian Prisoners' Day, was convicted in 1978 for being part of a Fatah terrorist cell that stabbed Mordechai Yekuel to death. While he was given a life sentence, he was released as part of a deal to return Shalit. He was rearrested in 2022, before being released last February's ransom to free hostages Avera Mengistu, Eliya Cohen, Hisham al-Sayed, Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, and Tal Shoham.

The Budapest event, held at the Open Doors Hungary office and organized by Tariq El Tahrir and the Uncivilized Book Club, described Barghouti in promotional materials as a "symbol of resistance for Palestinians."

"Palestinian prisoners are our compass in the struggle for liberation and return," wrote Budapest for Palestine in a Monday Instagram post marketing the event.

Thirty minutes after his Budapest speech, Barghouti is set to speak at the Ecooo event hall in a program organized by Tariq el Tahrir, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Masar Badil Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path, and the Alkarama Palestinian Women's Movement.

Omer Shem Tov, Eliya Cohen and Omer Wenkert, hostages held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, are released as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, February 22, 2025.
Omer Shem Tov, Eliya Cohen and Omer Wenkert, hostages held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, are released as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, February 22, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed)

'The central role the prisoner movement plays in the struggle for Palestine's liberation'

"We will have the presence of an exceptional guest: the freed prisoner Nael Al-Barghouti, a symbol of resistance and dignity, whose life has been marked by decades of imprisonment under the Zionist colonial regime," Alkarama wrote on April 6 on Instagram. "His testimony will bring us closer to the first-hand experience of prison, everyday resistance behind walls, and the central role the prisoner movement plays in the struggle for Palestine's liberation."

Alkarama, Masar Badil, Samidoun, and Tariq El Tahrir are affiliated with a network of organizations tied to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the European Union.