RSS
If Mahmoud Abbas Won’t Condemn Oct. 7, the UN Should Not Meet With Him
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York, US, Sept. 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
As Western leaders plan to meet at the UN on June 17 to possibly give Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas recognition of a Palestinian state, Abbas continues to prove how unworthy the PA is of being a state. Abbas and the PA’s continued embrace of Oct. 7, 2023, show that the PA remains a terror-supporting entity, diametrically opposed to the values of the very countries that plan to recognize a Palestinian state.
Abbas has reminded us once again that if the PA were to become a state, it would be a terror state.
Last Sunday, the PA’s official daily published an interview that Abbas gave in August 2024, which included the straightforward question of how Abbas views the Oct. 7 atrocities. It turns out that the brutal murders, rape, torture and kidnappings are not atrocities at all from Abbas’ perspective, but rather Hamas’ attempt to achieve “important goals” which embarrassed Israel and showed its weaknesses.
Abbas defined Oct. 7 by listing the “important goals” that Hamas achieved:
- Hamas “killed 1,200 Israelis, abducted 250 others, and took them as hostages. This attack shook the foundations of the Israeli entity”;
- Hamas “exposed the [false] claims that … [Israel] has an invincible army”;
- Hamas exposed the “glaring failure of this entity’s [i.e., Israel’s] components, especially the army and the various security forces”; and
- The “entity” failed “to discover what Hamas was planning, and failed to block the attack and prevent heavy losses”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 1, 2025]
However, according to Abbas, there was one problem with Hamas’ achieving these “important goals”: they were not equal to the devastation that Hamas brought on Gaza:
As important as the goals that Hamas attempted to achieve through this attack may have been, they are not comparable to the damages and heavy losses that the Gaza Strip, its residents, and the Palestinian cause have suffered …
Without absolving the hated Israeli occupation of the primary responsibility for the destruction of the Gaza Strip, Hamas provided this occupation [i.e., Israel] with the excuses to do what it did: genocide and war crimes against our people.
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 1, 2025]
The publication of Abbas’ interview lauding Hamas’ accomplishments comes shortly after an interview given by Abbas’ senior advisor, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, who defended the Oct. 7 atrocities as “legitimate resistance,” five times in one interview:
Al-Habbash: “What Hamas carried out on Oct. 7, I start from the assumption that resistance is legitimate. We agreed from the start that the resistance is legitimate, and no one can dispute the legitimacy of the resistance … What happened on Oct. 7 is a legitimate thing, okay? It’s legitimate.” [emphasis added]
Abbas’ interview and his advisor’s recent defense of Oct. 7 must serve as a wake-up call for all Western countries that plan to attend the UN event later this month.
To his people in Arabic, Mahmoud Abbas remains a terror-supporting leader. When he meets world leaders, he continues his years of deception.
Palestinian Media Watch calls on France and Saudi Arabia — the sponsors of the June 17 UN event — to condemn Mahmoud Abbas’ support for Oct. 7, and demand that Abbas retract this statement and publicly condemn the Oct. 7 massacre in Arabic on official PA TV, in the official PA daily, through the official PA news agency WAFA, and in mainstream and popular Arabic media.
If Abbas refuses to condemn the Oct. 7 atrocities, there is no justification for the June 17 UN event, and it should be cancelled.
The author is the Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.
The post If Mahmoud Abbas Won’t Condemn Oct. 7, the UN Should Not Meet With Him first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Netanyahu Criticizes Nation-Wide Strike That ‘Strengthens Hamas’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday harshly criticized nationwide demonstrations calling for the release of hostages and an end to the Gaza war.
Speaking at a government meeting, Netanyahu argued that such protests only strengthen Hamas and risk repeating the atrocities of October 7.
“Those who call today for an end to Hamas’s war not only harden the terrorist group’s position and delay the release of our hostages, but also guarantee that the horrors of October 7 will be repeated and that we will have to fight an endless war,” Netanyahu said.
The prime minister defended Israel’s ongoing military operations, citing strikes carried out in recent days: “In the last 24 hours, the navy attacked power stations in Yemen, IDF soldiers struck Zeitoun and eliminated dozens of terrorists in Gaza, and the air force targeted Hezbollah commanders and launch sites in Lebanon.”
He added that Israel’s response in Lebanon was consistent with the ceasefire agreement: “According to this agreement, we will meet with fire any violation and any attempt to arm Hezbollah.”
Netanyahu reaffirmed Israel’s conditions for ending the conflict, stressing the need for continued security control in Gaza and the group’s long-term demilitarization. He rejected Hamas’s demand for a full Israeli withdrawal: “They want us to leave Gaza entirely — from the north, the south, the Philadelphi corridor, and the security perimeter. That would only allow them to reorganize, rearm, and attack us again.”
The war has now entered its 681st day, with 49 hostages still held by Hamas.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Israelis joined a general strike organized by the Hostage Families Forum, calling for the return of all captives in a single deal and for an end to the war. Demonstrations spread across the country, at major intersections, government ministers’ homes, and familiar protest hubs such as Kaplan Junction and the Ayalon highways.
RSS
Family Releases Footage of Matan Zangauker in Captivity
A screenshot of a video released by the family of hostage Matan Zangauker.
i24 News – The family of Matan Zangauker, the Israeli hostage held by Hamas since October 7, shared new footage of him from captivity on Sunday evening.
The video, obtained by the IDF, was recorded several months ago.
In the recording, 32-year-old Matan looks directly into the camera, addressing his loved ones: “Tato, Shani, Ilana, I miss you. God willing, we’ll see each other soon. All my friends and acquaintances, go out and make noise like only you know how.”
Matan was kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with his partner Ilana Gritsievsky, who was released in a hostage deal last year. Since then, Matan has remained in Hamas custody while his family continues to fight for his return.
On the national protest day calling for the release of hostages, Ilana staged a poignant display at Hostages Square. Dressed in a wedding gown beneath a chuppah, she symbolically “married” Matan in his absence. “Matan, my curly-haired one, if you hadn’t been abducted, we could already be married. In a single day, our world was destroyed, and you’re not here to hold me. I’m fighting for you until you come back,” she said.
Matan’s mother, Einav, has emerged as a leading voice in the campaign for the hostages’ release and has sharply criticized Israel’s political leadership, accusing them of undermining potential hostage deals.
RSS
Hamas Rejects Israel’s Gaza Relocation Plan
Palestinians, displaced by the Israeli offensive, shelter in a tent camp as the Israeli military prepares to relocate residents to southern Gaza, in Gaza City August 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Palestinian terrorist group Hamas said on Sunday that Israel’s plan to relocate residents from Gaza City constitutes a “new wave of genocide and displacement” for hundreds of thousands of residents in the area.
The group said the planned deployment of tents and other shelter equipment by Israel into southern Gaza was a “blatant deception.”
The Israeli military has said it is preparing to provide tents and other equipment starting from Sunday ahead of its plan to relocate residents from combat zones to the south of the enclave “to ensure their safety.”
Hamas said in a statement that the deployment of tents under the guise of humanitarian purposes is a blatant deception intended to “cover up a brutal crime that the occupation forces prepare to execute.”
Israel said earlier this month that it intended to launch a new offensive to seize control of northern Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban center. The plan has raised international alarm over the fate of the demolished strip, which is home to about 2.2 million people.