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Don’t Trust What the Palestinian Authority Says About Hamas

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) alongside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, July 26, 2023. Photo: Reuters/Palestinian Presidents’ Office

The Palestinian Authority (PA) received much attention over the weekend for having condemned Hamas. However, it is important to recognize that the Fatah statement was not a condemnation or an attempt to distance itself from the atrocities of October 7–  nor from Hamas terror in general.

Instead, the message was merely an issue of internal politics, and was a response to a Hamas statement that attacked Mahmoud Abbas.

Regarding the October 7 atrocities, the PA and Fatah have emphasized that they are proud to have never condemned Hamas.

Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor for Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash explained:

From the leadership, from President Mahmoud Abbas to the last of the people in the Palestinian leadership — has anyone heard from us one word against the Hamas Movement or against any Palestinian? [emphasis added]

[Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Nov. 6, 2023]

On the contrary, the PA and Fatah have consistently defended, justified, and glorified the October 7 massacre.

Fatah Jenin branch member Abd Al-Rahman Abu Al-Rub gloated

We say to our people and to the members of the Palestinian people: A morning of victory, and morning of joy, a morning of pride. We ask Allah to send a blessing to our heroic Martyrs in the Gaza StripWe [call] to all our brothers and to all our Palestinian people that they are compelled to take action and participate in this story of heroism. [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, Oct. 8, 2023]

At the end of November, when everyone knew the details of the horrific rapes, torture, and slaughter, Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub described the October 7 massacre as heroic:

What happened on October 7 was an earthquake, an unprecedented incident, and a war of defense full of epics and acts of heroism that the Palestinian people has been waging for 75 years. [emphasis added]

[Al-Anba, Kuwaiti news website, Nov. 26, 2023]

Fatah Secretary in Holland Zaid Tyam waxed ecstatic: 

“Our people in the Gaza Strip and our people in Palestine made our heads touch the clouds … We all bow in honor and appreciation to this lofty people.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, Nov. 7, 2023]

The criticism of Hamas that was expressed by Fatah was for a specific reason. Hamas had criticized Mahmoud Abbas for appointing a close personal associate as the new prime minister, without discussing this with Hamas.

In response, Fatah stressed that Abbas has the sole right to appoint a prime minister, and went on to criticize Hamas for what it called the destruction of the Gaza Strip caused by Israel’s military response. This was clearly an issue of internal politics:

The Palestinian National Liberation Movement ‘Fatah’ emphasized that the one who caused the re-occupation of the Gaza Strip by Israel and caused the Nakba that our people are undergoing, especially in the Gaza Strip, is not eligible to dictate the national priorities…Did Hamas consult with the Palestinian leadership or with any patriotic Palestinian party when it decided to set out on the October 7 adventure, which led to a more severe and difficult Nakba than the 1948 Nakba? Did Hamas consult with the Palestinian leadership when it is currently negotiating with Israel and making concession after concession, with the only goal being receiving guarantees for the personal safety of its leaders, and also to attempt to again reach an agreement with [Israeli PM] Netanyahu to preserve its divisive role in the Palestinian Gaza Strip and West Bank?

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 16, 2024]

Many in the international community may try to use such criticism of Hamas by the PA to lend the PA legitimacy. Israel is being pressured to have the PA serve as the governing body of Gaza to replace Hamas the “day after” the war.

It is therefore essential to recognize that notwithstanding this condemnation, the PA has not condemned Hamas terrorism, and has repeatedly invited Hamas to join the PLO and the next PA government. Just at the beginning of this month, the same PA daily wrote:

There is no alternative to national unity [with Hamas] — not unity of arenas, and not another unity. Here the PLO is opening its gates wide to anyone who wants national unity, with its strategic meaning and goals, which are certainly the goals of Palestine … and of the liberation project, the project of the Palestinian state from Rafah to Jenin, whose capital is East Jerusalem.

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 5, 2024]

Again, Abbas’ Religious Affairs Advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash also said:

Nationally speaking, not one of us is talking about excluding Hamas or others … Indeed, there is a disagreement between us and Hamas; that is true, but this disagreement does not reach the level of exclusion.

We are not excluders, and Hamas is part of the Palestinian people and an important part, and an extensive part of the Palestinian people supports the Hamas Movement. We do not deny this. [emphasis added]

[Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, March 3, 2024]

While the international community may be tempted to think that the PA is suddenly a peace partner and rejects terror just because it criticized Hamas, the reality is that the PA/Fatah has repeatedly defended Hamas’ October 7 atrocities.

Fatah and Hamas squabbling for political power does not erase the PA’s terror support.

Itamar Marcus is Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.

The post Don’t Trust What the Palestinian Authority Says About Hamas first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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North London Synagogue, Nursery Targeted in Eighth Local Antisemitic Incident in Just Over a Week

Demonstrators against antisemitism in London on Sept. 8, 2025. Photo: Campaign Against Antisemitism

A synagogue and its nursery school in the Golders Green area of north London were targeted in an antisemitic attack on Thursday morning — the eighth such incident locally in just over a week amid a shocking surge of anti-Jewish hate crimes in the area.

The synagogue and Jewish nursery were smeared with excrement in an antisemitic outrage echoing a series of recent incidents targeting the local Jewish community.

“The desecration of another local synagogue and a children’s nursery with excrement is a vile, deliberate, and premeditated act of antisemitism,” Shomrim North West London, a Jewish organization that monitors antisemitism and also serves as a neighborhood watch group, said in a statement.

“This marks the eighth antisemitic incident locally in just over a week, to directly target the local Jewish community,” the statement read. “These repeated attacks have left our community anxious, hurt, and increasingly worried.”

Local law enforcement confirmed they are reviewing CCTV footage and collecting evidence to identify the suspect and bring them to justice.

This latest anti-Jewish hate crime came just days after tens of thousands of people marched through London in a demonstration against antisemitism, amid rising levels of antisemitic incidents across the United Kingdom since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

In just over a week, seven Jewish premises in Barnet, the borough in which Golders Green is located, have been targeted in separate antisemitic incidents.

According to the Metropolitan Police, an investigation has been launched into the targeted attacks, all of which involved the use of bodily fluids.

During the incidents, a substance was smeared on four synagogues and a private residence, while a liquid was thrown at a school and over a car in two other attacks.

As the investigation continues, local police said they believe the same suspect is likely responsible for all seven offenses, which are being treated as religiously motivated criminal damage.

No arrests have been made so far, but law enforcement said it is actively engaging with the local Jewish community to provide reassurance and support.

The Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters, condemned the recent wave of attacks and called on authorities to take immediate action.

“The extreme defilement of several Jewish locations in and around Golders Green is utterly abhorrent and deeply distressing,” CST said in a statement.

“CST is working closely with police and communal partners to support victims and help identify and apprehend the perpetrator,” it continued.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) also denounced the attacks, calling for urgent measures to protect the Jewish community.

“These repeated incidents are leaving British Jews anxious and vulnerable in their own neighborhoods, not to mention disgusted,” CAA said in a statement.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, the United Kingdom has experienced a surge in antisemitic crimes and anti-Israel sentiment.

Last month, CST published a report showing there were 1,521 antisemitic incidents in the UK from January to June of this year. It marks the second-highest total of incidents ever recorded by CST in the first six months of any year, following the first half of 2024 in which 2,019 antisemitic incidents were recorded.

In total last year, CST recorded 3,528 antisemitic incidents for 2024, the country’s second worst year for antisemitism despite being an 18 percent drop from 2023’s record of 4,296.

In previous years, the numbers were significantly lower, with 1,662 incidents in 2022 and 2,261 hate crimes in 2021.

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Germany to Hold Off on Recognizing Palestinian State but Will Back UN Resolution for Two-State Solution

German national flag flutters on top of the Reichstag building, that seats the Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, March 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

Germany will support a United Nations resolution for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but does not believe the time has come to recognize a Palestinian state, a government spokesman told Reuters on Thursday.

“Germany will support such a resolution which simply describes the status quo in international law,” the spokesman said, adding that Berlin “has always advocated a two-state solution and is asking for that all the time.”

“The chancellor just mentioned two days ago again that Germany does not see that the time has come for the recognition of the Palestinian state,” the spokesman added.

Britain, France, Canada, Australia, and Belgium have all said they will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly later this month, although London said it could hold back if Israel were to take steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and commit to a long-term peace process.

The United States strongly opposes any move by its European allies to recognize Palestinian independence.

Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the US has told other countries that recognition of a Palestinian state will cause more problems.

Those who see recognition as a largely symbolic gesture point to the negligible presence on the ground and limited influence in the conflict of countries such as China, India, Russia, and many Arab states that have recognized Palestinian independence for decades.

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UN Security Council, With US Support, Condemns Strikes on Qatar

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

The United Nations Security Council on Thursday condemned recent strikes on Qatar’s capital Doha, but did not mention Israel in the statement agreed to by all 15 members, including Israel‘s ally the United States.

Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with the attack on Tuesday, escalating its military action in what the United States described as a unilateral attack that does not advance US and Israeli interests.

The United States traditionally shields its ally Israel at the United Nations. US backing for the Security Council statement, which could only be approved by consensus, reflects President Donald Trump’s unhappiness with the attack ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Council members underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar. They underlined their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar,” read the statement, drafted by Britain and France.

The Doha operation was especially sensitive because Qatar has been hosting and mediating negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire in the Gaza war.

“Council members underscored that releasing the hostages, including those killed by Hamas, and ending the war and suffering in Gaza must remain our top priority,” the Security Council statement read.

The Security Council will meet later on Thursday to discuss the Israeli attack at a meeting due to be attended by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.

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