Abbas’ “Israel committed 50 holocausts” libel unites the PA, Fatah with opposition terror orgs
After years of fighting, which pitted Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party against the opposition terror organizations such as Hamas, PFLP and others, Abbas has finally succeeded in achieving temporary Palestinian unity behind him. Speaking at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Aug. 16, 2022, Abbas declared that Israel “has committed 50 holocausts.” Whereas the international community’s reaction was swift in condemning Abbas’ hate speech, which forced him to backtrack somewhat and “clarify” his libel, the internal Palestinian world across the political spectrum sees Abbas as a hero for speaking the “truth”:
Editorial by the official PA daily: “President Mahmoud Abbas – he is not afraid to say the truth… The truth is painful, and the frantic Zionist racist incitement campaign against President Mahmoud Abbas proves this.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 21, 2022]
“The Hamas Movement expressed its opposition to and condemnation of the incitement campaign against [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas due to the statements he made in Berlin…
Islamic Jihad MovementPolitical Bureau member Khaled Al-Batsh condemned the fact that the German police launched an investigation over the statements of President Mahmoud Abbas, who spoke about the holocausts and massacres that the occupation has committed against the Palestinian people since 1948…
Palestinian National Council (i.e., PLO legislature) Chairman Rawhi Fattouh: “The attack against President Abbas constitutes direct and public incitement targeting our Palestinian people and its leadership.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 21, 2022]
Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Qais Abd Al-Karim: “The president said the truth… the crimes that were committed by Israel … for more than 74 years are no less horrible, and this is a historical fact that must be emphasized.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 20, 2022]
Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida: “Germany proved that it is a cardboard state, captive and enslaved to the Zionist movement [by] the responses of Germany Chancellor [Olaf] Scholz, his administration, and its political parties over the brave and wise Palestinian position of Palestinian President and leader Mahmoud Abbas.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 22, 2022]
“Official [PA] Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina expressed his fierce condemnation of the incitement campaign against [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 20, 2022]
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Political Bureau member Tayseer Khaled: “President Mahmoud Abbas was not off target when he said before German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that Israel has committed 50 holocausts against the Palestinian people.”
[Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, Aug. 17, 2022]
Secretary-General of the [Palestinian] People's Party and PLO Executive Committee member Bassam Al-Salehi: “Abbas’ statements in Germany, according to which Israel has committed and is still committing incessant ‘holocausts’ against the Palestinian people, are the embodiment of truth… President Abbas’ statements reflect the position of all the Palestinians.”
[Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, Aug. 17, 2022]
Palestinian National Council (i.e., the legislative body of the PLO) member Dr. Muhammad Ayyash: “Abbas’ statements in Germany are the truth… there is no vagueness in them, and … they reflect [the position of] all the Palestinians.”
[Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, Aug. 17, 2022]
Abbas’ representative to the Palestinian communities in Europe Mahmoud Ayyash: “Abbas’ statements in Germany, according to which Israel is committing incessant “holocausts” against the Palestinian people, are the embodiment of truth.”
[Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, Aug. 17, 2022]
Deputy Head of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate Dr. Tahsin Al-Astal: “The Germans and the world… still feel pain over the Nazi Holocaust, and therefore they must feel the same pain over the ongoing holocaust against the Palestinian people.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 20, 2022]
Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, regular columnist for official PA daily: “Some of the biggest weapons in the war against the truth, and those who produce false narratives, fabricate news, and turn the facts upside down, are the Zionist media machine and the Western media outlets… a crazy assault on [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, who said the truth… a transparent assault by the villains and bullies in the Zionist media and their German and American partners and their ilk.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 18, 2022]
Fatah Ramallah [Branch] Secretary Muwaffaq Sahwil: “The gathering came to emphasize that everything that the president said in his speech, his statements, and his positions represents our Palestinian people.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 19, 2022]
PA Supreme Shari’ah Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “They want us to forget history, while they want the world to remember a history that is mostly falsification, exaggerations, libels, and inventions… They criticize and attack the president because he said that Israel and the occupation committed more than 50 massacres, more than 50 holocausts against the Palestinian people since 1947 to this day. They were irate and went crazy… and launched an incitement campaign against the president, which is also an incitement campaign against every Palestinian.”
[Official PA TV Live, Aug. 17, 2022]
Former PA Ambassador to Greece Marwan Emile Tubasi: “They deny the crimes of the Zionist movement, which were no less despicable than the crimes of the Nazis, which we of course condemn. They act as if they forget the Zionist movement’s responsibility [for the Holocaust], in that it conspired with the Nazis in that historical villainous act (sic.), which was not only directed against the poor Jews in order to force them to migrate to Palestine as settlers.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 22, 2022]
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP): “Our entire people stands behind [PA President] Mahmoud Abbas.”
[Official Fatah Facebook page, Aug. 20, 2022]
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -PFLP Political Bureau member Maryam Abu Daqqa: “The incitement against the president comes because he is exposing the truth and what our people has been exposed to.”
[Official Fatah Facebook page, Aug. 20, 2022]
Fatah Information Office of the Mobilization and Organization Commission: “Your Honor the President, you have the truth and the one who has the truth is strong, continue with Allah’s blessing with a calm heart, you are the pride of this homeland, and we are all behind you.”
[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Aug. 18, 2022]
The front page of the official PA daily published the words of the leader of the Jewish extremist, anti-Zionist Neturei Karta movement that denies Israel's right to exist:
“We strongly condemn the Zionist incitement against our president. Whoever knows history knows that Zionist is itself a denial of the Nazi Holocaust, because whoever has read the history books knows that they clearly note the role of the Zionist movement, which was involved in the murder of the Jewish people (sic.). It was a partner of the Nazis in the Holocaust.”
The following are longer selections from the vast number of articles and statements supporting Abbas and endorsing his statement about Israel's alleged “50 holocausts” against the Palestinians:
Excerpt of an editorial by the official PA daily
Headline: “Once again, he is President Mahmoud Abbas”
“On the stage in Germany, where the Nazis committed the crime of the Holocaust during World War II, the massacres committed by Israel against his people weighed down on the heart [of PA President Mahmoud Abbas] and their flames burned in his memory, and therefore he counted their number and said the truth. How similar a massacre is to a holocaust! Just as we condemn and will continue to condemn the Holocaust, we will continue to pursue the massacre – not just with curses and condemnations, but we will also continue our just and legitimate struggle until they stop behaving according to double standards, and until the international community condemns the massacre and puts its perpetrators on trial.
This is President Mahmoud Abbas – he is not afraid to say the truth in rebuke, does not behave hypocritically, and does not ingratiate whenever the matter relates to his homeland’s cause and his people’s interests…
It remains for us to say: The truth is painful, and the frantic Zionist racist incitement campaign against President Mahmoud Abbas proves this.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 21, 2022]
Excerpt of a column by Bassem Barhoum, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “The Holocaust is a crime against humanity, and the Palestinians are not the ones who committed it”
“Why should we agree with them that we will be on defense, while they – in other words the Europeans, those who exported to the world fascism and racism, and those who burned peoples, slaughtered them, and took control of them for colonialist purposes? On everything concerning the Holocaust that the Nazis committed against the Jews, we need to discern between three issues:
The first is that the Holocaust is the most despicable crime in the history of humanity, a crime against humanity, and it is an outcome of the racist fascist ideology and of the insanity that swept up Europe a bit before World War II and during it.
The second issue is the way in which Zionism exploited this crime to take control over Palestine and expel the Palestinian people.
The third issue is that the Palestinian people was not involved in this disaster under any circumstances (sic., there was collaboration with the Nazis, most notably by Haj Amin Al-Husseini; see note below). It unjustly paid the price when the Jewish problem in the old continent was resolved at its expense and at the expense of its historical homeland.
Therefore, not one member of the Palestinian people has an interest in denying the Holocaust. On the contrary, they have an interest in telling the true history so that it will be known to all that the Holocaust is a tragedy produced by Europe, and so that the world will understand that the Palestinian people was a victim of this entire European tragedy.
What happened last week with [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas is a lowly Zionist attempt to collect from the Palestinian people the price of a history that is not its history.
Why should Europe not be ashamed of itself, when it is the one that spread colonialism, racism, and fascism in the world, and it is the one that persecuted the Jews and committed a long list of massacres and holocausts against them? Who are the ones who invented ‘Antisemitism,’ this unjust template of hatred and loathing?
Let us remind Europe how many massacres it committed against the Jews, which were the reason for the so-called ‘Jewish problem,’ which Europe exported to our region, and which was resolved at the Palestinian people’s expense. These are the massacres committed by the Russian tsar in the last quarter of the 19th century, which caused the first Jewish waves of immigration to Palestine, even before the appearance of Zionism and its aspirations in Palestine.
The Palestinians warmly received the Jews who immigrated due to the massacres and persecution by the Europeans, and in many cases even had them live in their homes, according to the admission of Israeli historians (sic., Jews in pre-state Israel were subjected to ongoing waves of Arab violence).
The Palestinian people is the one with an interest in the Holocaust being revealed in its ugliness and in people knowing the extent of the injustice caused to the Jews by European fascism – and on the other side, in people also knowing the injustice that was caused and is continuing to be caused to the Palestinian people due to the Europeans’ foolish actions, racism, and Antisemitism.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 22, 2022]
Haj Amin Al-Husseini - the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem from 1921-1948 and during the British Mandate. Declassified American intelligence shows the lethal 1936-1939 Arab Revolt led by Al-Husseini was made possible by Nazi funding. During World War II he was a Nazi ally and an associate of Hitler, living in Germany from 1941 until the war’s end and receiving funding from the Nazi government. Detailing a 1941 meeting with Hitler in his memoirs, Al-Husseini wrote: “Our fundamental condition for cooperating with Germany was a free hand to eradicate every last Jew from Palestine and the Arab world.” He broadcast in Arabic on Nazi radio during the war, saying: “Kill the Jews wherever you find them – this pleases God, history and religion.” Al-Husseini was on Yugoslavia's list of wanted war criminals, and was responsible for a Muslim SS division that murdered thousands of Serbs and Croats. When the Nazis considered freeing some Jewish children Al-Husseini fought against their release, and as a result 5,000 children were sent to the gas chambers. After the war Al-Husseini fled to Egypt where he was connected to terror activity in the region, including the 1951 assassination of Jordan’s King Abdullah I.
“The Israeli colonialist occupation authorities and its pawns are leading an escalation campaign by targeting the symbol of Palestinian legitimacy, leader [PA President] Mahmoud Abbas. This is while exploiting the fact that he described the dozens of massacres committed by the Israeli state of Zionist gangs against the members of the Palestinian people – civilians, children, young people, elderly, and women – as a holocaust, without hinting in any way at a denial of the crime committed by the State of Germany against the Jews …
Germany proved that it is a cardboard state, captive and enslaved to the Zionist movement, which was labelled as racist, extremist, and terrorist.
The responses of Germany Chancellor [Olaf] Scholz, his administration, and its political parties over the brave and wise Palestinian position of Palestinian President and leader Mahmoud Abbas… revealed that:
The German policy is biased in favor of Israel that has a colonialist, terrorist, racist, and aggressive policy…
[Germany] has not been released from the control of the Zionist movement, which is supported by the US, out of fear of being accused of Antisemitism, which the Israeli entity is exploiting as a weapon to silence all the voices criticizing its aggressive and racist path…
[Germany took] a double standard, as at a time when the German government supports Ukraine, provides it with weapons, and defines the Ukrainian people’s resistance to the Russian forces as bravery and self-defense, we discover that it relates in an opposite manner to the struggle of the Palestinian people that is fighting for the sake of freedom and liberation from the Israeli colonialism.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 22, 2022]
Excerpt of an op-ed by Fawzi Al-Samhouri
Headline: “The campaign against President Mahmoud Abbas: Proof of Israel’s international isolation?”
Headline: “National consensus around the support for the [PA] president and condemnation of the racist incitement campaign against him”
“The Hamas Movement expressed its opposition to and condemnation of the incitement campaign against [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas due to the statements he made in Berlin, the capital of Germany (refers to a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Aug. 16, 2022, in which Abbas claimed Israel “has committed 50 holocausts” instead of apologizing for the murder of 11 Israeli athletes by the Palestinian Black September terror group at the Munich Olympics in 1972, which a journalist asked him to do -Ed.). Hamas Political Bureau member Husam Badran said on behalf of Hamas: ‘Hamas condemns and opposes the German police declaring the launch of an investigation against President Mahmoud Abbas over his statements regarding the occupation’s crimes against our people.’
Islamic Jihad Movement Political Bureau member Khaled Al-Batsh condemned the fact that the German police launched an investigation over the statements of President Mahmoud Abbas, who spoke about the holocausts and massacres that the occupation has committed against the Palestinian people since 1948. Al-Batsh said that President Abbas’ statement is ‘part of the Palestinian national narrative, which our people defends against the entire world in order to expose the occupation’s crimes.’
[Palestinian] National Council (i.e., the legislative body of the PLO) Chairman Rawhi Fattouh condemned ‘the incitement campaign’ against President Mahmoud Abbas following the statements he made in Berlin, the capital of Germany. In a press release, Fattouh warned that the attack against President Abbas constitutes direct and public incitement targeting our Palestinian people and its leadership…
Fatah Movement Deputy Chairman [and Fatah Central Committee member] Mahmoud Al-Aloul said that the reason for the incitement campaign against President Mahmoud Abbas is his firm adherence to our people’s causes and principles, despite the pressures that are being exerted on him, especially on everything concerning the salaries of the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners (apparently refers to Israel’s Anti “Pay-for-Slay” Law to deduct PA terror salaries; see note below -Ed.)…
The Fatah deputy chairman explained that the goal of the attack on the president is to deny the massacres that were committed against our people throughout history and those that are continuing to this very day.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 21, 2022]
Rawhi Fattouh also serves as Fatah Commissioner of International Relations and Fatah Central Committee member.
Husam Badran (Abu Imad) – Palestinian terrorist and senior Hamas official and spokesman during the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005). Badran served as the contact person between Hamas headquarters in the West Bank and Hamas headquarters abroad, and was suspected of being connected to several large terror attacks. Badran was sentenced to 17 years in prison, but was released in the exchange deal for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011 and deported to Qatar.
Israel's Anti "Pay-for-Slay" Law - Israeli law stating that the PA payments to terrorists and the families of dead terrorists is a financial incentive to terror. The law instructs the state to deduct and freeze the amount of money the PA pays in salaries to imprisoned terrorists and families of "Martyrs" from the tax money Israel collects for the PA. Should the PA stop these payments for a full year, the Israeli government would have the option of giving all or part of the frozen money to the PA.
The law was enacted by the Israeli Parliament on July 2, 2018. During the parliamentary vote, the law's sponsor Avi Dichter said: “The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee received much help in its deliberations... from Palestinian Media Watch who provided us with authentic data that enabled productive and professional deliberations, nuances that are very difficult to achieve without precise data.” [Israeli Parliament website, July 2, 2018] In accordance with the law, as of September 2021 Israel’s Security Cabinet had ordered the freeze of 1.857 billion shekels ($580.15 million) - the sum equivalent to the PA payments to terrorists in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
Headline: “Abu Rudeina: The incitement campaign against the [PA] president is unacceptable and condemned, and it is a red line that we will not accept from any party”
“Yesterday, Friday [Aug. 19, 2022], official [PA] Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina expressed his fierce condemnation of the incitement campaign against [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas by different parties in order to harm the justice of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian right. He emphasized that this incitement campaign is unacceptable and condemned, and it is a red line that we will not accept from any party…
He added: ‘This world with double standards has not acted and continues to be silent over the barbaric crimes that the Israeli occupation has committed and is still committing on a daily basis.’ …
Abu Rudeina continued: ‘Despite the statement of clarification that President Mahmoud Abbas issued in which he clearly announced his positions, this campaign is still continuing, which confirms its true goal that is an attempt to eliminate the Palestinian resolve, but this policy will fail.’ …
PLO Executive Committee Secretary Hussein Al-Sheikh said that there are a number of parties who are insisting on continuing the incitement campaign against the president and the attempt to turn the facts upside down and falsify and distort them, despite the presidential statement of clarification that was issued after the press conference with the German chancellor.
In his tweet on his official Twitter account, he added: ‘While emphasizing our condemnation of the Holocaust, and we do not deny it, we emphasize that our people has been and still is being subjected to the occupation’s crimes.’ …
The Fatah Movement emphasized in a statement by the [Fatah] Commission of Information and Culture that… there are parties who are insisting on reinterpreting the president’s words and taking them out of context in a way that is consistent with their aggressive goals against the Palestinian right and the Palestinian narrative, which rest on the facts and reality.
Fatah explained in a statement that the president’s position expresses the position of all the Palestinians with all their varieties and colors, which demands that the international community punish the criminal and not the victim…
Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Qais Abd Al-Karim… explained in an interview with the [official PA] radio station The Voice of Palestine that the president said the truth when he said that he does not deny the Holocaust, but rather emphasizes that the crimes that were committed by Israel during the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) that has been continuing against our people for more than 74 years are no less horrible, and this is a historical fact that must be emphasized.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 20, 2022]
Nabil Abu Rudeina also serves as PA Deputy Prime Minister, PA Minister of Information, Fatah Commissioner of Information, Culture, and Ideology, and Fatah Central Committee member.
Hussein Al-Sheikh also serves as Head of the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department, Fatah Central Committee member, and Head of Civil Affairs in the PA.
Headline: “Tayseer Khaled: Yair Lapid, pay attention – your hands are stained with Palestinian blood”
“In a post on social media, [Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Political Bureau member and former PLO Executive Committee member] Tayseer Khaled responded to the responses of Israel’s leaders to statements made by [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas during his visit in Germany regarding the crimes committed by the State of Israel against the Palestinian people. [Khaled] wrote: ‘President Mahmoud Abbas was not off target when he said before German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that Israel has committed 50 holocausts against the Palestinian people.’ He said that the hysteria in Israel and the irate responses to the president’s statements in the capital of Germany were expected.
Khaled added that what is infuriating in the Israeli responses is the use of the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews to justify the Israelis’ crimes against the Palestinians – especially when Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid responded to President Abbas’ statements by saying: ‘The fact that in Germany President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of committing 50 holocausts is not just a moral disgrace, but also a lie and awful distortion. History will never forgive him.’
He added that at this opportunity it is fitting to recall the prophecy of Prophet Isaiah, who said: ‘And when you lift up your hands, I will turn My eyes away from you; Though you pray at length,
I will not listen. Your hands are stained with blood’ [Isaiah 1:15] (sic., PMW found no record of Lapid quoting Isaiah in his response).
Tayseer Khaled concluded his post by addressing Lapid: ‘Lapid, pay attention – your hands are stained with Palestinian blood, as you have committed many crimes and massacres. I dare you to open your state’s archive on the topic of the Israeli army’s crimes against the Palestinians, so that the entire world will know that President Abbas was not off target, and that the memory of the Palestinian people – which condemns the crimes of the Nazi monster – still lives. The children and grandchildren of the victims of your crimes are still alive, and they too will not forgive you for your crimes.’”
[Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, Aug. 17, 2022]
Headline: “Al-Salehi: President Abbas’ statements in Germany are the embodiment of truth”
“On Wednesday [Aug. 17, 2022], Secretary-General of the [Palestinian] People's Party and PLO Executive Committee member Bassam Al-Salehi responded to [PA] President [Mahmoud] Abbas’ statements in Germany (refers to Abbas claiming Israel “has committed 50 holocausts” in a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Aug. 16, 2022 -Ed.). He wrote on his Facebook page: ‘Mahmoud Abbas’ statements in Germany, according to which Israel has committed and is still committing incessant “holocausts” against the Palestinian people, are the embodiment of truth.’
He added: ‘President Abbas’ statements reflect the position of all the Palestinians.’”
[Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, Aug. 17, 2022]
Bassam Al-Salehi also serves as Head of the PLO Department of Social Affairs.
Headline: “Ayyash: The [PA] president’s statements are the truth and reflect [the position of] all the Palestinians”
“[Palestinian] National Council (i.e., the legislative body of the PLO) member Dr. Muhammad Ayyash emphasized that [PA] President [Mahmoud] Abbas’ statements in Germany are the truth, that there is no vagueness in them, and that they reflect [the position of] all the Palestinians (refers to Abbas claiming Israel “has committed 50 holocausts” in a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Aug. 16, 2022 -Ed.).
President [Abbas’] representative to the [Palestinian] communities [in Europe Mahmoud Ayyash] said in a press release from his office in Bucharest, the capital of Romania: ‘Mahmoud Abbas’ statements in Germany, according to which Israel is committing incessant “holocausts” against the Palestinian people, are the embodiment of truth.’
He added that the ones who should feel shame are [Israeli Prime Minister Yair] Lapid, [Israeli Defense Minister Benny] Gantz, and all the rulers of Israel, who have committed and are continuing to commit war crimes against the Palestinian people.”
[Ma’an, independent Palestinian news agency, Aug. 17, 2022]
Excerpt of an op-ed by Deputy Head of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate Dr. Tahsin Al-Astal
“The Zionist media and the Israeli politicians attacked [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas claiming that he denied the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. This was even though the president did not mention it, but rather even confirmed it by comparing it to the approximately 50 holocausts that the Israeli occupation has committed against the Palestinian people, at a time when the international community is still not taking any true position to defend the Palestinian people.
I can say that the president succeeded in addressing the human sentiment of the Germans and the world, who still feel pain over the Nazi Holocaust, and therefore they must feel the same pain over the ongoing holocaust against the Palestinian people…
President Mahmoud Abbas stands today against the Zionist propaganda, against the holocaust that the Palestinian people is being subjected to, and against the Nazi Holocaust that the Israeli occupation leaders want to exploit in order to deny the legal rights of the Palestinian people, as if the Palestinians are the ones who committed the Nazi Holocaust.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 20, 2022]
Excerpt of a column by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, regular columnist for official PA daily and former advisor to former PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on national affairs
Headline: “The insanity of the Zionist lies goes out of control”
“Some of the biggest weapons in the war against the truth, and those who produce false narratives, fabricate news, and turn the facts upside down, are the Zionist media machine and the Western media outlets that follow after it. This machine opened its mouthpieces… in a crazy assault on [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, who said the truth amid legitimate defense of himself as the leader of the national enterprise, of the choice of the leadership and the people, of the national rights and interests, and of the Palestinian narrative.
This is a transparent assault by the villains and bullies in the Zionist media and their German and American partners and their ilk… on President Mahmoud Abbas’ statement two days ago, Tuesday, Aug. 16 [2022], during a [joint] press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin. [Abbas] rejected the logic behind the question (i.e., about whether he plans to apologize for the Munich Olympics massacre in which 11 Israelis were murdered; see note below -Ed.), which was meant to twist the arm of the PLO chairman and extract an apology from him over a self-sacrificing operation that took place 50 years ago. He responsibly and courageously answered the media member who asked the question, and said: ‘There are 50 massacres, 50 acts of slaughter (sic., Abbas said “50 massacres, 50 holocausts”), and Israel is a state of apartheid and ethnic cleansing.’ Abbas’ goal was to clearly note that if you want to go back to history, it did not start with the Munich operation in 1972, but rather even before 1948, the year of the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel), and after the Zionist terror organizations committed more than 50 massacres including Deir Yassin (see note below -Ed.), Al-Dawayima (see note below -Ed.), Tantura (see note below -Ed.), Kafr Qassem (see note below -Ed.), Safed, Al-Shajara, Sabra, Shatila (see note below -Ed.), Jenin, Khan Yunis (see note below -Ed.), and Gaza…
Therefore, the conflict began before the heroic self-sacrificing operation, which is part of the ongoing war between the Palestinian truth and the Zionist-American lie and terror, between historical justice and framing lies about history and twisting it, between the truth that gleams like snow and the mercenaries of the present time and the pawns of the capitalist West – the Jewish Zionists – and their lies…
President Mahmoud Abbas did not deny the Holocaust, which the European fascists and Nazis committed against the Jews from among their peoples and against all of humanity. He wanted to compare the Holocaust that was committed against the Jews to what the Zionists – those who hijacked Judaism to use it as merchandise – are committing against his people. The Zionist media outlets will not succeed in distorting the truth, especially because the entire world is already aware of the Israeli state’s barbarism and fascism. Therefore, Israeli, American, and international human rights organizations have shamed it as an ethnic cleansing state and an apartheid state…
Therefore, the leaders of the Israeli apartheid state must be silent and shut their mouths before they boast and deny the facts of history.
It is no longer possible to understand the German logic behind refusing to define Israel as an apartheid state. The time has come for the [German] inferiority complex to pass, and for them to abandon the provinces of fear and terror of the Zionist movement and its allies in the world government. The time has come for them to adopt the option of peace, recognizing the Palestinian state, stopping the Zionist project state’s crimes against the Palestinian people, and commitment to the demands of a political agreement based on the two-state solution in the June 4, 1967 borders, with a guarantee of the [Palestinian refugees’] right of return based on international [UN] Resolution No. 194 (see note below -Ed.).”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 18, 2022]
Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul is also a former PLO Central Council member.
The Munich Olympics massacre – Deadly terror attack in which eight Palestinian terrorists from the terror organization Black September, a secret branch of Fatah, broke into the athletes' village at the Munich Olympics on Sept. 5, 1972. The terrorists took Israeli athletes and coaches hostage, and ultimately murdered 11 of them when the German police tried but failed to rescue the hostages and subdue the terrorists at an airport near Munich.
Deir Yassin - On April 9, 1948, Jewish fighters from the Irgun and Lehi military groups, part of the forces opening the blockaded road to Jerusalem, attacked the Arab village of Deir Yassin. When the battle was over, the village had fallen and in addition to the Arab fighters killed, 107 civilians were also killed. Narratives differ as to whether the civilians were killed in the crossfire or were intentionally murdered by the Irgun and Lehi fighters.
Al-Dawayima - On Oct. 29, 1948, during Israel’s War of Independence, Arab civilians were also killed in addition to combatants during a battle for the capture of the Arab village of Al-Dawayima in southern Israel. Accounts differ as to whether the civilians were killed during the fighting, as the combatants were fighting from the homes, or were killed after the fighting. While some sources claim a death toll of over 100, a UN report stated that 30 Arab women and children died in the incident.
Tantura - During Israel’s War of Independence, the Israeli army carried out an operation to take control of the Arab village of Tantura on the northern Israeli coast, which was serving as a port through which Arab fighters were receiving weapons and reinforcements from Lebanon. In addition, forces from Tantura were blocking the Tel Aviv - Haifa road and attacking Israeli vehicles. During the battle, on May 22-23, 1948, 70 of Tantura’s residents were killed, after which most of the residents left for the neighboring Arab villages, primarily Fureidis. What exactly happened in Tantura is the subject of debate. Some claim there was a massacre; others claim there was a “transfer” or “expulsion” of Arabs. On the other hand, a record in the Israeli army archives refutes that a massacre took place, and likewise, a report on the battle in the book "Al-Tantura," written by Yahya Mahmoud, a son of one of the village’s families, does not mention a massacre, and mentions that actually 52 residents were killed in the battle.
Kafr Qassem Massacre – With the outbreak of the Israel–Egypt war in Sinai Israel on Oct. 29, 1956, Israel imposed a curfew on Arab villages for security reasons. Israeli border police were given orders to shoot anyone who broke the curfew, and 43 Israeli Arabs of the village of Kfar Qassem, including women and children, who were outside the village and unaware of the curfew were shot and killed. An Israeli military court determined that the soldiers had a duty to disobey the order as it was manifestly illegal. The families of those killed were compensated financially, the border policemen were prosecuted and sentenced to prison - but pardoned after one year, and the brigadier commander was given a symbolic fine. This massacre is condemned in Israel and is considered a seminal event in its history that is studied in the Israeli army at all levels. In addition it is taught in Israeli schools and efforts are being made to increase its study. Former Israeli President Shimon Peres formally apologized for the massacre in December 2007, and President Reuven Rivlin has condemned it, calling it a “terrible crime” that weighs heavily on Israel’s collective conscience.
Sabra and Shatila - Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. In 1982, during the first Lebanon War, Muslim residents of the camps were massacred by Christian Phalangists. The PA has a longstanding policy of falsely accusing Israel of committing the massacre or actively helping to carry it out.
“Khan Yunis massacre” and “Rafah massacre” - What the Palestinians call the “Khan Yunis massacre” and "Rafah massacre" refers to battles during the Sinai War (Operation Kadesh, the Suez Crisis) of 1956. Following years of terror attacks from the Gaza Strip against Israelis, and then the Egyptian nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956, Israel together with Britain and France attacked and defeated the Egyptian army and took control of all of the Sinai, and the Gaza Strip. Palestinians claim that Israeli soldiers murdered 275 non- combatant men in Khan Yunis on Nov. 3, 1956, and 111 in Rafah on Nov. 12, after the war had ended. Israel reported that as the army approached Khan Yunis, armed locals joined Egyptian soldiers and attacked, resulting in deaths in an armed battle. In Rafah, civilians broke into UN storehouses apparently thinking that the Israeli army had already left, sparking a clash. Egyptian soldiers and armed men later attacked Israeli soldiers and there too sustained casualties. The actual numbers of Egyptian soldiers and local fighters who died in these two battles are unknown.
UN Resolution 194 (Chapter 11, Dec. 11, 1948) states that "the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." Palestinian leaders argue this means that all Arabs who left Israel during the war (hundreds of thousands) and their descendants (a few million) have a "right of return" to Israel. Israel argues that the resolution only calls for a limited return and only under certain conditions, especially focusing on the words "wishing to return... and live at peace with their neighbors.” It should be noted that according to the UN Charter itself, UN General Assembly resolutions are only "recommendations" and have "no legal power that affects the outside world." UN Security Council Resolutions are only binding if they were adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Resolutions adopted by the UN Human Rights Council are clearly prejudiced as noted by human rights expert Christine Cerna: “In my view Israel has a unique status in the UN Human Rights Council. Impartiality is not a requirement sought by the Council for the appointment of experts when it comes to Israel."
Headline: “The [PA] president’s reception – Palestine, the right, and the truth”
“Yesterday evening, Thursday [Aug. 18, 2022], our people received [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas at an impressive mass reception, as the Palestinian masses gathered at the sides of the road where the president passed next to the northern entrance of El-Bireh after he returned from an official visit in Germany, in order to emphasize the positions that he emphasized and expressed regarding our people’s aspirations and dreams.
The reception came after popular public calls to receive the president and to emphasize our people’s unity around his statements and political positions. Those crowded together on the road held signs for the president on which was written: ‘You are not alone, Your Honor the President.’
Fatah Movement Revolutionary Council Secretary Majed Al-Fatiani said: ‘This reception is an expression of loyalty to the father of the loyal, who carried our Palestinian people’s message, its causes, and its history with full heroism and courage, while armed with the people’s willpower and the Palestinian national memory that is still full of the Zionist crimes.’ He continued: ‘Why are the Israelis angry? Were we partners in the massacres against them? They are the ones who sank in our blood in dozens of massacres throughout 74 years.’
He added: ‘The president said the truth, he threw it before the world and demanded that they do something for the sake of our people and for the sake of easing the siege that is being imposed on it in the Gaza Strip and stop the crimes and bloodshed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.’ …
Fatah Ramallah [Branch] Secretary Muwaffaq Sahwil said that ‘The gathering came to emphasize that everything that the president said in his speech, his statements, and his positions represents our Palestinian people.’”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 19, 2022]
PA Supreme Shari’ah Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “His Honor [PA] President brother Mahmoud Abbas is dealing today with a one-sided racist attack by all the occupation’s leaders, all of them, those in the opposition and those in the government. They all agreed on one aggressive position against President Mahmoud Abbas. Why? Because President Mahmoud Abbas defends his people, and he wants to remind the world of the consecutive ongoing massacres that the occupation has committed against the Palestinian people since 1947 until today. They want us to forget history, they want us to forget history, while they want the world to remember a history that is mostly falsification, exaggerations, libels, and inventions, which have no cover in reality. [For them] their false history is truth, while history that has had mere days pass [since it happened] did not exist and has no credibility.
They criticize and attack the president because he said that Israel and the occupation committed more than 50 massacres, more than 50 holocausts against the Palestinian people since 1947 to this day. They were irate and went crazy… and launched an incitement campaign against the president, which is also an incitement campaign against every Palestinian, every one of us. Mahmoud Abbas does not represent himself, and he does not speak on his own behalf, but rather he speaks on behalf of us all…
If Israel did not commit massacres against the Palestinian people, then how do you call the war crimes that Israel is committing against us? Did the murder of Muhammad Al-Shaham (i.e., terrorist, attempted to stab Israeli soldiers) not happen two days ago [Aug. 15, 2022] in his home before his family? …Was this not a massacre? It does not matter if the one murdered was one person or a million…
Those who killed five children in the Gaza Strip a number of days ago with a rocket (apparently refers to Islamic Jihad terrorists killing at least 4 Palestinian children in a failed missile launch in Jabaliya on Aug. 6, 2022 -Ed.) – it is as if they killed all the people. It is as if they killed all of humanity. Therefore, when we do not forget what was done to us and what was done to our people, this is not a crime, it is not a deviation, and it is not like they say in quotation marks ‘Antisemitism.’ What semitism? We are semites…
Because we are the people [of the land], we are the true semites, the Jebusite Canaanites (sic., the Palestinians have no connection to the Jebusites or Canaanites and no history prior to the modern period), the Muslim Arabs, who have never left this land since it was settled.
Since people settled in this land we have been here and remained here. Many have come through, they passed through, and then they disappeared in the darkness of history…
Mahmoud Abbas, who is now being subjected to this Israeli attack, represents us all. What he said represents us all… and it is our duty now to stand behind him, all of us… Let not one of us be absent, because he expresses the conscience and consciousness of every Palestinian child, every Palestinian mother, every father, and every Palestinian person, and expresses the true hopes and aspirations of this people.”
[Official PA TV Live, Aug. 17, 2022]
Mahmoud Al-Habbash also serves as Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'ah Justice and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations.
Muhammad Al-Shaham – Arab terrorist who attempted to stab Israeli soldiers while they were conducting a search for weapons in his house in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Kafr Aqab on Aug. 16, 2022. The soldiers shot and killed Al-Shaham in self-defense. Al-Shaham’s father falsely claimed the soldiers broke into their house and shot his son before saying they got the wrong house.
Operation Breaking Dawn - Following the arrest of Islamic Jihad's West Bank commander Bassam Al-Sa'adi on Aug. 1, 2022, the terror organization planned to attack Israeli civilians living near the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli military intelligence. Israel was forced to put those civilians in total lockdown, closing all roads and cancelling buses and trains. After three days of lockdown, on Aug. 5 Israel began attacking the terror organization's infrastructure and killed two of its top leaders, northern Gaza commander Tayseer Jabari and southern Gaza commander Khaled Mansour. Islamic Jihad fired over 1,100 rockets and missiles at Israeli residential areas, with approximately 200 rockets falling short inside Gaza, killing at least 16 Palestinian residents including children. Hamas reported a total of 44 Palestinians killed during the operation, at least 15 of whom were members of terror organizations. Operation Breaking Dawn ended with a ceasefire under Egyptian mediation on Aug. 7, 2022.
Excerpt of an op-ed by former PA Ambassador to Greece Marwan Emile Tubasi
Headline: “The truth and the [PA] president against the Holocaust scarecrow and the West’s hypocrisy”
“For a number of days Israel and the West are waging a deliberate attack against [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, because he used the word ‘holocaust’ to describe the Israeli crimes. They deny the crimes of the Zionist movement, which were no less despicable than the crimes of the Nazis, which we of course condemn. They act as if they forget the Zionist movement’s responsibility [for the Holocaust], in that it conspired with the Nazis in that historical villainous act (sic.), which was not only directed against the poor Jews in order to force them to migrate to Palestine as settlers… but also against all the peoples of Europe and the resistance movements there that fought against the Nazi monster.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 22, 2022]
The image shows Deputy Secretary-General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Qais Abd Al-Karim being interviewed while standing next to a DFLP flag, featuring the PA map of “Palestine” that presents all of Israel together with the PA areas as “Palestine.”
Text on image: “The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP): Our entire people stands behind [PA President] Mahmoud Abbas.”
[Official Fatah Facebook page, Aug. 20, 2022]
The texts on the images refer to a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Aug. 16, 2022, in which Abbas claimed Israel “has committed 50 holocausts” instead of apologizing for the murder of 11 Israeli athletes by the Palestinian Black September terror group at the Munich Olympics in 1972, which a journalist asked him to do.
The image on the left shows PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas with a Palestinian flag behind him.
Text on image: “Deputy Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) [Jamil Mazhar] spoke by phone with [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas] and emphasized that he opposes the incitement campaign against him.”
The image on the right shows PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas giving a speech at the UN.
Text on image: “The incitement against the president comes because he is exposing the truth and what our people has been exposed to.
Maryam Abu Daqqa
PFLP Political Bureau member”
[Official Fatah Facebook page, Aug. 20, 2022]
Posted text: “A statement of support for [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas
O, masses of our heroic Palestinian people wherever they are,
We understand the scope of the fierce attack against the president, his brave positions, and his welcome measures while defending the Palestinian rights, particularly his latest position in Germany (refers to a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Aug. 16, 2022, in which Abbas claimed Israel “has committed 50 holocausts” instead of apologizing for the murder of 11 Israeli athletes by the Palestinian Black September terror group at the Munich Olympics in 1972, which a journalist asked him to do -Ed.), and [while defending] our entire Palestinian cause and our national rights that were written in the blood of our righteous Martyrs. We believe in our unavoidable duty to unite the ranks behind our leader the president while he is waging the battle of defending our people and our fundamental principles, at a time when Israel and its supporters are using all means to tarnish the president’s image, his noble position in Germany, and his refusal to condemn the heroic Munich operation that was carried out by Fatah in 1972 (refers to Munich Olympics massacre, 11 murdered; see note below -Ed.), which was meant to release a large number of prisoners from the occupation’s prisons. Therefore, Fatah’s northern Gaza Strip branch calls on the members of the Palestinian people wherever they are to support the Palestinian president and his noble positions in all the international meetings and circles. We emphasize our great confidence in our Palestinian leadership that is represented by President Mahmoud Abbas and his ability to defend the Palestinian rights and fundamental principles while armed with the blood of our Martyrs, and also in our people’s willingness to sacrifice all that is precious to it in order to defend its national rights and fundamental principles.”
The image shows PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas with the Dome of the Rock in the background. In the top center is the Fatah logo that includes a grenade, crossed rifles, and the PA map of “Palestine” that presents all of Israel together with the PA areas as “Palestine.”
Text on image: Fatah Information Office of the Mobilization and Organization Commission
“Your Honor the President, you have the truth and the one who has the truth is strong, continue with Allah’s blessing with a calm heart, you are the pride of this homeland, and we are all behind you
President leader Mahmoud Abbas”
[Facebook page of the Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Aug. 18, 2022]
Front page of official PA daily published the words of the leader of the Jewish extremist, anti-Zionist Neturei Karta movement that denies Israel's right to exist:
Headline: “The leader of Neturei Karta condemns the Zionist incitement against President Mahmoud Abbas”
“Leader of the Jewish ‘Neturei Karta’ movement (i.e., an extremist, anti-Zionist, Jewish group that denies Israel's right to exist until the Messiah comes. They support the Palestinians – Ed.) Rabbi Meir Hirsch condemned the Zionist incitement against [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas. In an interview with [official] PA TV, he said: ‘We congratulate His Honor President Mahmoud Abbas, our president, over his speech in Germany and raising the awareness at the international level on everything concerning the Palestinian cause, which has been pending for more than 74 years. We strongly condemn the Zionist incitement against our president. Whoever knows history knows that Zionist is itself a denial of the Nazi Holocaust, because whoever has read the history books knows that they clearly note the role of the Zionist movement, which was involved in the murder of the Jewish people (sic.). It was a partner of the Nazis in the Holocaust.’ …
Rabbi Meir Hirsch added: ‘It is very important that the entire world understand that it is important to achieve a just resolution for the Palestinian problem… and we must raise the international community’s awareness of the Zionist crimes that were committed during the Nazi Holocaust. We must publish a report that will expose their crimes.’
He noted that the Zionists ‘are imprisoning two million Palestinians today and enclosing them like the Nazis enclosed the Jews during the years of the Holocaust,’ and said: ‘The Palestinian people is under siege in the Gaza Strip under an oppressive occupation. Every day innocents are murdered, and the world is silent. It only wakes up when people talk about the Nazi Holocaust, but what about the holocaust that the Zionists are committing? What about the giant prison in which the Gaza Strip residents are enclosed? No one talks about this at all, and this is unbelievable.’ …
The leader of ‘Neturei Karta’ said that he thinks that the solution based on establishing two states for two peoples is fundamentally unacceptable, and that there is no partial solution. He added that the true solution is restoring all of Palestine to the Palestinian people, which has existed here for 1,500 years (sic., the Palestinians have no history prior to the modern period), and noted that this is a historical fact that cannot be denied.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 22, 2022]