PA officials express ‘great joy’ over Hamas atrocities

An Israeli NGO has released a video compilation of senior Palestinian Authority officials expressing their support for Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel.

By Akiva Van Koningsveld, JNS

Hamas terrorists killed at least 1,400 Israelis and wounded more than 4,500 in a savage cross-border attack from the Gaza Strip, which included the firing of thousands of rockets at Israel and the infiltration of the Jewish state by terrorist forces.

During the attack, at least 222 people were taken to Gaza as hostages.

Titled “Palestinian Authority and Hamas: What’s the difference,” the two-minute compilation by NGO Regavim highlights recent comments by five Fatah officials in Judea and Samaria, as well as by an official P.A. reporter in Gaza.

“We were wishing that something similar to what happened in the Gaza envelope would happen, but we thought this was only wishful thinking,” says Fatah Revolutionary Council member Jamal al-Huwail. “Inshallah [‘God willing’], we may see similar scenes in the West Bank,” he adds.

Fatah Tulkarem Branch Secretary Iyad Jarrad declares that Hamas’s actions are “a source of pride, heroism and honor for the Palestinian people,” and that Palestinian leaders in Ramallah “stand alongside our brothers and sisters in the Gaza Strip.”

Said Abbas Zaki, a veteran member of the Fatah Central Committee: “After Oct. 7, there has been a Palestinian revival. We thank [Hamas’s] Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades for making these preparations. Once they set out, they knew how to finish the job, without relinquishing our goals.

“The ruse by Hamas, how it prepared [for the attack] and how it accomplished this victory—I believe that people will emulate this,” added Zaki, a loyalist of P.A. chief Mahmoud Abbas and a former PLO representative in Lebanon.

Regavim spokesperson Tamar Sikurel commented, “The statements in the video by senior P.A. officials prove what we have long contended: The P.A. is not different from Hamas in any way; it pursues precisely the same goal of eradicating the Jewish people.

“The Palestinian Authority and those it represents celebrate the incineration of innocents in their homes, horrific acts of rape, kidnapping and murder, butchering of women and babies and the destruction of flourishing communities in southern Israel as a ‘dream come true,’ ‘miraculous victory’ and a ‘source of great joy.’”

On Oct. 15, reportedly under pressure from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Abbas released a statement noting that “Hamas’s policy and actions do not represent the Palestinian people.”

The missive distanced the P.A. “from Hamas’s atrocities but was not even close to a condemnation,” noted Palestinian Media Watch, an Israel based media watchdog group. The same day, Abbas amended the statement, removing the word “Hamas” and instead referring to “any other organization.”

“Even that mild distancing was too much for the P.A.,” stated Palestinian Media Watch.

On Saturday, P.A. Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh explicitly refused to condemn Hamas’s crimes against humanity, telling CNN‘s Becky Anderson that “what has happened yesterday is yesterday.”

“Israel is not under existential threat… The Israeli government policy has to be held responsible for all what has happened,” said Shtayyeh. “[The] Palestinian story does not start on Oct. 7. Palestinian catastrophe has been there for 75 years and we have been crying loud and we have been shouting loud and clear.”

Meanwhile, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a U.S.-designated terror group affiliated with Abbas’s Fatah faction, claimed that its “fighters” joined Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 and carried out attacks “behind enemy lines” in Israel.

“The Al-Aqsa [Martyrs] Brigades … carried out several operations [terror attacks] behind enemy lines as part of the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ battle, which constituted a crossroads in the history of our struggle with the occupier, and praise Allah, we killed and took captive occupation soldiers,” the terror group’s spokesman said on Oct. 9.

In propaganda videos distributed on social media, the Brigades claimed to have taken at least one “Zionist” hostage. The footage appears to show a blood-soaked civilian being taken to Gaza by an armed terrorist wearing a Fatah headband.