Fatah applauds Hamas murderers and rapists: “A source of pride, heroism, and honor”

• Abbas’ Fatah deputy: “The blood of the [Hamas] heroes will turn into a curse that will haunt this occupier (i.e., Israel)”
   
• Fatah’s terror wing brags of supporting Hamas: “Our fighters are currently recording spectacular epics of heroism and sacrifice”
   
• “With spirit, with blood, we will redeem you, O Gaza” - Fatah celebrates Hamas’ terror war on Israel
   
• Fatah official called Hamas’ atrocities “a heroic operation”
   
• Fatah called for “days of strike” against Israel and “burning days of rage as a sign of support for the Gaza Strip”
   
• PA denies Hamas murdered Israeli civilians, claims it fought “military squads”
   
• Fatah official: Israel is a western creation, ”we taught it a lesson”

A few days after Hamas’ massacre of Israeli civilians – including the murder of at least 1,400, the wounding of at least 3,500, and taking at least 212 Israelis hostage, a senior official in PA Chairman Abbas’ Fatah Movement applauded the murderers as “a source of pride, heroism, and honor for the Palestinian people”:

Fatah Tulkarem Branch Secretary Iyad Jarrad: “They [the Israelis] went crazy because they received a lesson in history, in geography, about their entire system that collapsed through the act (i.e., Hamas’ massacre) that took place in the Gaza Strip, which was carried out by our fighters and our people there…We stand alongside our brothers in the Gaza Strip, because truly they are a source of pride, heroism, and honor for the Palestinian people”

[Official PA TV, Oct. 10, 2023]

Fatah’s terror wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, already expressed their support while the atrocities were happening on Oct. 7, exclaiming the Hamas terrorists, were “recording spectacular epics of heroism and sacrifice”:

Posted text: “The Al-Aqsa [Martyrs’] Brigades (i.e., Fatah’s military wing): We are fighting in this great battle (i.e., Hamas’ terror war on Israel) together with the resistance factions, and our fighters are currently recording spectacular epics of heroism and sacrifice.

The Al-Aqsa [Martyrs’] Brigades – military publicity”

[Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, Telegram channel, Oct. 7, 2023]

PA Chairman Abbas’ deputy in the Fatah Movement, Mahmoud Al-Aloul,praised the “blood of the heroes” – i.e., dead Hamas terrorist “Martyrs” – vowing that it will “turn into a curse that will haunt” Israel:

Posted text: “To the Fatah Movement members and all our Palestinian people everywhere – this is the time of difficulty, be strong, and we are for Palestine and for Jerusalem and the holy sites (refers to Hamas’ terror war on Israel; see note below -Ed.).

We say to you that the blood of the heroes will turn into a curse that will haunt this occupier, all those who stand behind it, and all those who do not support our people.”

[Fatah Deputy Chairman Mahmoud Al-Aloul, Twitter account,
Oct. 12, 2023]

Already three days after Hamas’ massacre, Al-Aloul stressed that the PA and Fatah should join Hamas:

“Fatah Movement Deputy Chairman [and Fatah Central Committee member] Mahmoud Al-Aloul emphasized that we must unite our positions to fight the aggression against us by the Israeli occupation.”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 10, 2023]

He further justified Hamas’ atrocities – “the explosion” - as a “natural response” to what the Palestinians “have experienced,” adding that the “Palestinian [PA] leadership” agrees with this “response”:

“Al-Aloul explained that from the first moment everyone’s responses were united: This explosion (i.e., the Hamas terror war) is nothing but a natural response... and this is also the position of the Palestinian [PA] leadership.”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 10, 2023]

Another Fatah official has referred to Hamas’ massacre against Israel as a “heroic operation”: 

Fatah member Raafat Alayan: “The Palestinian was left without a choice…. He had no option other than the option of resistance, and he went in the direction of resistance to the occupation. The resistance went in the direction of the heroic operation that was carried out (i.e., Hamas’ massacre on Israel). The heroic operation that the resistance carried out on Oct. 7, [2023,] is a natural result of the bias of the international institutions in favor of the US that is biased in favor of Israel.”

[Al-Mashhad TV (Dubai), YouTube channel, Oct. 17, 2023]

Since the day of the massacre, PA and Fatah officials have urged more violence, called for the end of the State of Israel and the extermination of all Jews, and expressed their excitement over Hamas’ atrocities – which included not only murder, but also rape, torture, beheading, and dragging elderly people from their beds to shoot them in the head in their living rooms and more. Fatah’s Shabiba Student Movement – tomorrow’s Fatah leaders – has called for terror in the West Bank and glorified Hamas’ massacre. PA Chairman Abbas’ advisor in religious affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, has stressed the PA’s unlimited support for Hamas’ war, labelling it “legitimate self-defense.” He has called for the end of Israel and claimed the US is part of the “occupation” via its “colony” Israel.

Palestinian Media Watch has exposed that children and youth in Nablus in the West Bank were taught to celebrate Hamas’ terror war. Already two days after Hamas’ massacre, Fatah’s Nablus branch called Hamas terrorist “giants” and urged terror against Israel in the West Bank in the form of “days of strike” and “burning days of rage as a sign of support for the Gaza Strip”:

Text: “[Fatah Movement –] Nablus Branch

May the coming days not just be days of strike but also burning days of rage as a sign of support for the Gaza Strip that is defeating the enemies (refers to Hamas’ terror war against Israel; see note below -Ed.), with the giants whom late Martyr [former PLO and PA Chairma] Yasser Arafat relied on and who were reliable.”

[Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, Facebook page, Oct. 9, 2023]

Almost a week into the war, when the nature of Hamas’ atrocities – torture, rape, and murder of Israeli babies, toddlers, youth, women, men, and the elderly – was widely known, Fatah’s Commission of Information and Culture had the nerve to call the responding Israeli army “the fascist Nazi Zionist occupation army.”Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, [Facebook page, Oct. 13, 2023] Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki likewise claimed Israel is “worse than the Nazis.”

Similarly, the PA denied Hamas murdered over one thousand civilians, falsely claiming they fought “only military squads”: 

Official PA TV political commentator Mahmoud Khalouf: “There are saddening positions that justify the slaughter of unarmed [Palestinian] civilians [in Gaza], and we are hearing them from a number of capitals in Europe and Washington. It is forbidden under any circumstances to respond to a military operation (i.e., Hamas’ massacre) – military squads against military squads – with a genocide of unarmed [Palestinian] civilians. This proves the extent to which [Israeli PM] Netanyahu’s government has reached complete [moral] bankruptcy.”

[Official PA TV, Oct. 11, 2023]

At a Fatah rally, also in Nablus, Palestinians were shouting out their support, waving Fatah flags and Palestinian flags: 

Crowd: “With spirit, with blood, we will redeem you, O Gaza”

[Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, Facebook page, Oct. 20, 2023]

Two weeks into the war, Fatah Tulkarem Branch Secretary Iyad Jarrad referred to the massacre as Israel – the creation of the West – being “taught a lesson”: 

Fatah Tulkarem Branch Secretary Iyad Jarrad: “All the enemies united against the Palestinian people… and they came to save this occupier (i.e., Israel), this first thieving entity of organized terror, which was brought [here] by the Americans, the British, the French, and the Germans. The entire West attempted to save this opposing entity, but we, the Palestinian people, taught it a lessonin the Gaza Strip (refers to Hamas’ terror war on Israel), the West Bank, Jerusalem, the 1948 territories (i.e., Israel), and the diaspora.”

[Fatah Movement – Tulkarem Branch, Facebook page, Oct. 20, 2023]

Hamas war on Israel October 2023 - At least 1,200 Israelis, including over 1,000 civilians, were murdered and over 4,800 wounded, in addition to approximately 244 who were abducted into the Gaza Strip (including 110 later released or liberated and at least 26 later killed), in a Hamas terror war that began when approximately 3,000 Hamas terrorists broke through Israel's security fence at the Gaza Strip border and launched a surprise attack, taking control of several Israeli towns and attacking a music festival on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, which fell on the Sabbath, Oct. 7, 2023. During the massacre the terrorists tortured, raped, shot, beheaded, and burned their victims alive, murdering entire families and leaving at least 21 children without parents. Hamas terrorists also fired at least 5,000 rockets at Israeli population centers. In response, Israel launched Operation Iron Swords to counter the Hamas terror threat. Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon joined Hamas' terror war starting from the following day, attacking Israel from the north. Occasional rocket launches and shootings continued from Lebanon throughout the war. A ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal began on Nov. 24, 2023, in which Israel agreed to release 150 terrorist prisoners, pause drone surveillance in the Gaza Strip, and allow movement between the northern and southern Gaza Strip, in return for 50 Israeli female and child hostages held by Hamas. The deal was subsequently extended with additional releases, until Hamas violated the agreement and resumed attacking on Dec. 1, 2023.

The following are longer excerpts of some of the statements cited above:

Headline: “Al-Aloul: We must unite our positions to fight the occupation’s aggression”

“Today, Tuesday [Oct. 10, 2023], Fatah Movement Deputy Chairman [and Fatah Central Committee member] Mahmoud Al-Aloul emphasized that we must unite our positions to fight the aggression against us by the Israeli occupation (refers to the Hamas terror war; see note below -Ed.)…

He noted that great efforts are being made in an attempt to make things easier for the Gaza Strip…

Al-Aloul explained that from the first moment everyone’s responses were united: This explosion (i.e., the Hamas terror war) is nothing but a natural response in the shadow of what the Palestinian people has experienced and the injustice caused to it, the violations, the daily acts of murder, the defilement of the land, and specifically what is being done in Jerusalem – and this is also the position of the Palestinian [PA] leadership.

He emphasized that our people is undergoing barbaric massacres by the Israeli occupation due to the fierce bombings of the Gaza Strip, which is considered a type of genocide.”

[WAFA, official PA news agency, Oct. 10, 2023]

Mahmoud Al-Aloul also serves as Fatah Central Committee member.

Raafat Alayan is Fatah’s former official spokesman in Jerusalem

Posted text: “The national action factions in the Tulkarem district declared a general strike of all fields of life tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, as a sign of mourning for the souls of the Martyrs of Tulkarem, the Gaza Strip, and the homeland, and as a sign of condemnation of the crimes and massacres that are being committed against our people by the fascist Nazi Zionist occupation army (refers to Israel’s response to Hamas’ terror war; see note below -Ed.).

Glory and eternity to our righteous Martyrs.”

[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page,
Oct. 13, 2023]