Abbas: ‘These statements clearly declare that their (Iran’s) goal is to sacrifice Palestinian blood.’
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas criticized the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for praising Hamas’s October 7th massacre of Israelis.
Although the PA rarely criticizes Iran, Abbas said that the Iranian leader wasn’t taking into consideration the consequences that October 7th, namely the current war between Israel and Hamas, has had on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
At an event in Tehran commemorating 35 years since the death of former leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the current supreme leader said the October 7th invasion — known to terrorists as “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” — was precisely what the region needed and was a strike against Israel.
“This operation was a decisive blow to the Zionist regime,” he added.
Making a veiled reference to Saudi and Israeli normalization talks preceding the war, Khamenei praised the massive terror attack for thwarting a US-sponsored conspiracy to allow Israel to “dominate the politics and economy” of the Middle East.
“This scheme had reached its final moments. At such a critical moment, the Al-Aqsa Flood attack began and destroyed all the enemy’s plans,” he said.
Khomeini said the attack put Israel “on a path that will end in nothing but decay and destruction.”
The PA chairman condemned these statements, and according to PA official news agency WAFA, said it was the Palestinians who paid the price for October 7th.
Abbas said, “The Palestinian people are paying the price of the Israeli war. They are the first to be affected by this war, which sheds their blood.”
He added, “These statements, which clearly declare that their goal is to sacrifice Palestinian blood … will not lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
Abbas explained the Palestinians “do not need wars that do not serve their ambitions for freedom and independence.”
“What we want is to end the occupation and embody our independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” he added.
Although Abbas’s Fatah Party tries to represent itself as a moderate force in Palestinian politics, its military arm, al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, has been involved in continuous terrorist violence in Judea and Samaria and also participated in the massacre of Israelis on October 7th.
The Biden Administration recommended that a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority govern Gaza after the war, but Netanyahu has refused this proposal given the extensive involvement of the PA in terror.