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Top Palestinian Authority Official Still Says Oct. 7 Was ‘Legitimate’
Partygoers at the Supernova Psy-Trance Festival who filmed the events that unfolded on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: Yes Studios
One of Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas’ top aides still celebrates Hamas’ massacre and slaughter of over 1,100 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023 as “legitimate resistance.”
Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, used the word “legitimate” five times in reference to the Oct. 7 massacre.
Al-Habbash then added that the only problem with Oct. 7 is the “catastrophic consequences” of tens of thousands of Palestinians casualties in the Gaza Strip, which makes “what Hamas carried out illegitimate”:
Al-Habbash: “What happened on Oct. 7, [2023,] 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, but its consequences? … 60,000 [unverified Hamas statistics] people were killed … [t]his makes the thing illegitimate. Therefore, what Hamas carried out in terms of its consequences is illegitimate because it led to catastrophic consequences.” [emphasis added]
Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, March 11, 2025]
This terror support echoes past statements Mahmoud Abbas himself, explaining that the reason the PA has not renewed violent conflict with Israel since the Second Intifada (the PA’s terror campaign 2000-2005) was not because Abbas opposes violence, but because the Palestinians were not prepared militarily and because a war would heavily damage the infrastructure of the Palestinian areas:
Abbas: “We tried the [Second] Intifada [i.e., PA terror campaign 2000-2005, more than 1,100 Israelis murdered] in 2000, and it destroyed everything that we had built. If the Arabs would want to fight, we’d be the first to fight.
I told them at the [Arab] Summit in Sirt [Libya]: ‘If you want war, take the lead.‘ It’s not possible for us [Palestinians] to go ahead alone; they must be first, with us behind them.” [emphasis added]
[Al-Ayyam, independent Palestinian newspaper, Sept. 6, 2010]
Similarly to Al-Habbash, a spokesman of Abbas’ Fatah party, Iyad Abu Zneit, stated that “if Oct. 7 hadn’t happened,” the Gaza Strip would not have been destroyed. He did not blame Hamas, though.
Rather, he blamed Israel, claiming that Israel “is always waiting for [Palestinian] mistakes”:
Fatah Spokesman Iyad Abu Zneit: “If Israel could have not left any Palestinian alive in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip since 1967, it would have done so.
Israel is always waiting for [Palestinian] mistakes. For example, after Oct. 7, [2023,] Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and carried out this destruction in the Gaza Strip. If Oct. 7 hadn’t happened, this wouldn’t have happened [emphasis added]
[Al-Hadath TV, YouTube channel, March 19, 2025]
The PA has never expressed criticism of the terror and atrocities of Oct 7. It has only criticized Hamas for the destruction it has brought in its wake.
Itamar Marcus is the Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
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