Palestinian Authority’s official newspaper filled with antisemitic op-eds – study

20% of opinion columns published by the PA’s official newspaper are antisemitic, denying the existence of the Jewish people and pushing traditional anti-Jewish canards of world domination, a new study shows.

By World Israel News Staff

The Palestinian Authority is directly involved in spreading antisemitic canards, according to a new study.

On Tuesday, the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) published the results of the study, which examined content in the official newspaper of the Palestinian Authority, Al-Hayat al-Jadida (The New Life), between January 2022 and August 2025.

The researchers – Yaakov Katz, Shlomi Breznick, and Eli Kanai – utilized advanced AI-driven tools to assess more than 2,300 opinion columns published in Al-Hayat al-Jadida, monitoring the articles for antisemitic content and criticism or support for Hamas, a longtime rival of the PA’s ruling Fatah party.

The artificial intelligence tools were used to gauge sentiment and linguistic patterns and to identify formulations with antisemitic characteristics, including delegitimization of Israel. For the purposes of the study, the term “antisemitism” follows the IHRA definition, which is accepted by both the Israeli government and most Jewish organizations worldwide.

Roughly 20% of the articles examined mention Jews or Judaism in clearly antisemitic context, including denial of the very existence of a “Jewish people,” claims of Jewish control over the global economy and American elites, and comparisons between Israel and Nazism, the Crusaders, or various colonial entities.

Even in articles that do not mention Jews, Zionism is almost always portrayed as a settler-colonial movement and the source of Palestinian suffering.

Notably, no significant change was found in the level of antisemitism before and after Oct. 7, 2023.

While the paper’s opinion pieces generally portray Hamas in a negative light, there was a temporary moderation in tone immediately after Oct. 7.

Prior to Oct. 7, 62% of the articles on Hamas were classified as “very negative,” 21% as negative, and 5% as “somewhat negative.” About 10% were classified as “neutral.” In 82% of the articles, Hamas was described as “illegitimate.”

However, during the first weeks after Oct. 7, no articles were classified as “very negative,” and only 22% were classified as negative. Sixty-seven percent of the articles in that period were neutral toward Hamas and its legitimacy, and about 11% were classified as “somewhat positive.”

Positive articles on Hamas are rare and, in most cases, are couched as calls for national unity under the PLO rather than direct expressions of support for the organization.

After the ceasefire in Nov. 2023, the columns returned to sharp criticism and condemnation of Hamas; 47.5% of the articles were classified as “very negative,” 19.5% as negative, and 12% as “somewhat negative.” Nineteen percent of the articles were classified as neutral. In 76% of the articles, Hamas was portrayed as illegitimate.

The paper’s opinion pieces were generally critical of the Oct. 7 invasion – primarily because the authors feared they would give Israel a “pretext” for a major regional escalation rather than due to a moral rejection of Hamas’ actions.

Two-thirds of articles touching on Oct. 7 presented the invasion in a negative light, with 25% taking a neutral stance and 7% presenting the attacks positively.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida‘s opinion section also took a broadly negative stance on the idea of reaching a peace deal with Israel, with 62% of articles on the subject portraying peace with Israel negatively, while 30% expressed support for such a deal.

The authors of the study warned that the paper, which effectively serves as a spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority, has maintained a consistently hostile line toward Israel and Zionism and is tainted by “blatant antisemitism.”

The harsh criticism of Hamas “stems from a rejection of political Islam as part of the power struggle over control of the Palestinian people” rather than a moral objection to terrorism, the authors added.

“The findings reveal that the PA’s official newspaper maintains an antisemitic narrative that rejects Zionism; at the same time, it repudiates Hamas and depicts it as an extreme and illegitimate actor,” said JPPI President Prof. Yedidia Stern.

“This discourse reflects a profound lack of trust both toward Israel and toward Hamas, which the PA views as a political rival and a threat to its status,” he explained.

“Antisemitism, blaming Israel, and discourse delegitimizing Zionism are not incidental – they are part of a fixed normative framing in the PA’s official press. This is a clear reflection of internal discourse that shows how far Palestinian public opinion is from being prepared for reconciliation.”