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How the Palestinian Authority Denied the October 7 Massacre
An aerial view shows the bodies of victims of an attack following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip lying on the ground in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in southern Israel, Oct. 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg
The Palestinian Authority (PA)’s lies have launched a worldwide phenomenon of denial of the October 7 atrocities committed by Hamas.
The PA started this false narrative immediately after October 7, even though Hamas had proudly filmed its actions for the whole world to witness. Since then, the PA’s messaging has become progressively more extreme in its denial of the accusations, appropriation of victimhood, and libel of Israel as having made up the whole story. It has thus set the tone and talking points for Israel haters around the world.
These have been the components of the PA’s lie and libel:
PA denied evidence and accused Israel of lying
PA claimed that Israel fabricated and falsified evidence
PA blamed Israel for the deaths and atrocities
PA asserted that the hostages actually enjoyed the terror tunnels
Palestinians overall denied the atrocities, leading to world denial
PA denies evidence and accuses Israel of lying
The PA’s first step in its October 7 denial was to claim that there was “no evidence” and that Israel lied.
Palestinian reporter on Israeli affairs Ahed Farwaneh: “Israel achieved international support, and mainly American [support], through lies, because a number of the American channels reported on [Hamas] slaughtering Israeli children … At the start, these statements led to great support for the occupation state, especially in the US and the Western states, and we saw that even the European Union pressured the PA and attempted to stop the aid, but after the truth was revealed and it became clear that there is no evidence of what they (i.e., Israel) spoke about, and after the great damage that they inflicted on our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, the picture began to slowly turn upside down.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Oct. 16, 2023]
PLO Executive Committee member and PLF Secretary-General Wasel Abu Yusuf: “Since Oct. 7, there has been a Zionist narrative that [Israel] has attempted to spread worldwide out of tendentious propaganda, [claiming] that there was murder of children, rape of women, crimes, and the like.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Dec. 3, 2023]
PA libels Israel as a fabricator of evidence
The PA’s next step was to accuse Israel of “fabricating pictures and video clips”:
Official PA TV reporter: “From the first day of the [Israeli] attack, some Western media outlets deliberately took action to side with Israel and adopt the occupation’s narrative by broadcasting fabricated pictures and video clips, which tell stories and tales spun from the imagination that there are Israeli babies who were beheaded, and others about cases of rape and burning among captured women.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Oct. 31, 2023]
Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor: “They [the Israelis] have spread lies, falsehoods, and fabrications regarding what happened on Oct. 7, and therefore the world turned against the Palestinians.”
[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Dec. 5, 2023]
PA appropriates Israeli victimhood and says Israel committed the massacre
The PA then moved to libeling Israel as being the one to commit the massacre so that Israel could justify its war in Gaza.
Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs with the rank of minister Qadura Fares: “This whole [Israeli] outcry and this whole campaign against the Palestinian people is based on a lie, which it took Israel 24 hours to create and formulate properly.
They killed their [own] civilians [on Oct. 7], and they committed all these crimes and burned the bodies and they made up this story and said: ‘They [the Palestinians] raped, killed, and burned.’ … However, this narrative fell apart quickly… Israel’s lie is no longer tripping anyone up.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Nov. 20, 2023]
PA turns Israeli victims into “happy hostages”
The next step was to claim that the Israeli hostages, many of whose families were either partially or entirely wiped out, received “generous treatment” and left captivity “happy and laughing”:
Head of Radio and TV Department at Cairo University’s Faculty of Mass Communications Ashraf Jalal: “The generous treatment Palestine gave the Israeli prisoners caused an enormous positive response because after [the Israelis] lied and said that [Hamas] is abusing them, the [Israeli] people left [Gaza] happy and laughing … What is required is that we redirect the media spotlight to this issue.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, From Cairo, Feb. 12, 2024]
Result: Widespread Palestinian Oct. 7 denial
Consequently, when Palestinians were polled about whether they believed that Hamas committed atrocities on October 7, they were in complete denial as well. Only 9% of them think that Hamas committed war crimes, according to a poll by PSR.
In turn, the PA lies are now being echoed by Israel-haters worldwide, who adopt, embrace, and disseminate them so the uninformed public will deny the Palestinian atrocities as well. The Washington Post published an article on January 21, 2024, describing this phenomenon
. A prominent recent example is Roger Waters, who on Piers Morgan Uncensored eagerly parroted the PA’s claims that Palestinian terrorists did not rape Israeli women:
Roger Waters: “And wouldn’t it be great if we could have an actual real investigation…debunking all the filthy, disgusting lies that the Israelis told after October the 7th…about burning babies and women being raped which were all completely…”
Piers Morgan: “Actually, women were raped.”
Waters: “No they weren’t!”
Piers Morgan: “Yes, they were.”
Waters: “Well, there’s no evidence! You can say anything you want, but there’s no evidence. There is no evidence!”
[Piers Morgan Uncensored, July 2, 2024]
Palestinian Media Watch has reported extensively on how the Palestinian Authority consciously and maliciously attempts to rewrite ancient history. Now, we are seeing the PA’s rewriting of history as it is occurring.
Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Itamar Marcus is PMW’s Founder and Director. A version of this article originally appeared at PMW.
The post How the Palestinian Authority Denied the October 7 Massacre first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Treasure Trove is cheering for Israel’s soccer team at the Paris Olympics
The Paris Olympics open on Friday, July 26. For the first time since the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Israel will compete in the Olympic soccer tournament (the team’s first game is against Mali on July 24). Soccer (known as football outside North America) was introduced to Israel in the 1910s and was popularized by the British during […]
The post Treasure Trove is cheering for Israel’s soccer team at the Paris Olympics appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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French Police Arrest Knife-Wielding Assailant Expressing Support for Hamas on Terrorism Charges
Illustrative: French police secure access to the Bir-Hakeim bridge after a security incident in Paris, France, Dec. 3, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
French police arrested on Friday a man on terrorism charges accused of trying to murder a taxi driver with a knife while expressing support for Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, a source at the terrorism prosecutor’s office said.
France is on its highest state of security as it gears up to host millions of visitors, athletes, and world leaders during the Paris Olympic Summer Games, kicking off on July 26.
The man, already known by authorities as someone who had been radicalized, stopped a taxi on Tuesday night while brandishing a gun in the city of Le Mans, and asked to be taken to an isolated area near Ferte-Bernard.
He then forced the driver out of the car, bound him, and attacked his neck with the blade, the source said.
The driver managed to escape to a local resident’s home, where he was eventually treated by emergency services. The assailant was arrested early on Friday morning in Yvelines, west of Paris, the source said.
He is being investigated on terrorism, attempted murder, and kidnapping charges, the source said.
On Thursday, a police officer was critically injured in a stabbing attack in Paris’ Champs Elysees shopping district, in the latest in a string of unrelated security incidents in the French capital this week.
A soldier was stabbed and wounded by a man armed with a knife at a railway station on Monday. Authorities are also investigating whether a man who rammed a car into the terrace of a cafe on Wednesday evening did so deliberately.
The post French Police Arrest Knife-Wielding Assailant Expressing Support for Hamas on Terrorism Charges first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Soccer Team Allowed to Compete in Paris Olympics After FIFA Postpones Decision About Ban
A long exposure shows FIFA’s logo near its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland February 27, 2022. Photo: Reuters
Soccer’s world governing body FIFA has postponed a decision on a Palestinian proposal to suspend Israel from international soccer tournaments until after the Olympic Games, giving Israel’s men’s national soccer team the opportunity to compete in the Paris Olympics.
“Following requests for an extension from both parties to submit their respective positions, duly granted by FIFA, more time is needed to conclude this process with due care and completeness,” FIFA announced on Thursday. “The assessment will be shared with the FIFA Council for any subsequent decision to be taken no later than Aug. 31, 2024.”
The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) submitted a proposal in May to suspend Israel from all international soccer matches because of its military actions in the Gaza Strip as it targets Hamas terrorists responsible for the Oct. 7 deadly attacks in Israel. FIFA responded to PFA’s proposal, which was backed by the Asian Football Confederation, by ordering an immediate legal evaluation. The FIFA Council had originally promised to address the matter and share insight from its independent legal assessment by Saturday, which is just four days before the start of the Olympic soccer tournament.
The Paris Olympics will be held from July 26 – Aug. 11 and group matches for the men’s soccer tournament start on July 24. Israel is set to play Mali, Paraguay, and Japan in the group phase. The men’s Olympic soccer final is scheduled to take place on Aug. 9.
The PFA said it received a letter from FIFA on Thursday about the postponement. The PFA said it wanted clarification from FIFA regarding its process for the legal assessment.
“FIFA’s letter did not indicate the mechanism by which the independent legal opinion will be dealt with by the Council when it is presented to it,” the PFA said in a statement on Friday, adding that it “has previously addressed the International Federation more than once asking for clarifications regarding this.”
A group of lawyers who specialize in international law and human rights also urged FIFA to ban Israel this week, claiming that the Jewish state has violated several of FIFA’s statutes related to human rights and humanitarian objectives because of its “conduct in Palestine” during the ongoing war in Gaza.
The post Israeli Soccer Team Allowed to Compete in Paris Olympics After FIFA Postpones Decision About Ban first appeared on Algemeiner.com.