PA: The US is directing the war against Gaza, Israel is its “colonialist pawn”
Abbas’ advisor:
- “The US is using Israel as a pawn… to weaken Arab/Islamic region, and keep it divided, backward, strife-ridden”
- “Israel is not an independent state but rather a state that is subordinate to the US”
- Israel’s counter-terror response against Hamas is “a purely American massacre committed by Israel, [its] pawn state”
- Oct. 7 massacre served Israel as “an opportunity” to “uproot the Palestinian people”
A central element of the PA narrative is that Israel is a “colonial implant” created by the West to steal the resources of the Arab world and make sure it doesn’t develop.
The PA now uses this narrative to explain Israel’s current counter-terror operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
PA Chairman Abbas’ advisor on Religious Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, has claimed several times that the US is “using Israel as a pawn” in the current war to “weaken” not only the Palestinians but the entire “Arab/Islamic region” and keep it “divided, backward, strife-ridden”:
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “The truth is that Israel is just a pawn of the US,which is the inheritor of the old colonialism. The one who established Israel was the old colonialism for colonialist goals… The US is using [Israeland] maintains a connection with Israel because it is a pawn with a defined duty that is to tear apart the Middle East, weaken the Arab and Islamic region, and keep this region divided, backward, strife-ridden, and living under the pressure of crises so that it will not fulfill its pioneering and true role for which it is suited.”
[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Nov. 14, 2023]
Similarly, Al-Habbash has described Israel’s counter-terror response against Hamas as“a purely American massacre committed by Israel, [its] pawn state”:
Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “Whoever thinks that Israel truly wants to eradicate Hamas [only] (i.e., Israeli counter-terror operation) is deluded. This is idle talk, excuses, and lies whose goal is to market the elimination of the Palestinian people. The entire Palestinian people – in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip – the entire Palestinian people is currently in the heart of the holocaust… The aggression is actually an American aggression. We are being subjected to American aggression. We are being subjected to a purely American massacre that is being committed by Israel. Israel is a pawn state. Israel is a pawn state that is fulfilling a role, and this role is being directed by the US, by the colonialist circles in the US, which is the inheritor of the old colonialism.”
[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Nov. 15, 2023]
Al-Habbash has also said that “Israel is not an independent state but rather a state that is subordinate to the US.” Website of Sputnik Arabic, Russian state-owned news agency, Nov. 17, 2023]
Al-Habbash has also accused the US of making all “final decisions” about what Israel does or does not do in the war:
Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “I don’t think that the Israeli war government, [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu, or his entire government have any final decision regarding the continuation of the aggression or the ceasefire (i.e., Israeli counter-terror operation against Hamas)... The opinion, position, and decision are in Washington. The one who can order the junta that rules the occupation state to make a ceasefire or continue the aggression is only the American administration.The decision is American and the ceasefire decision is American. The ones who can stop the aggression are only American President [Joe Biden] and the American administration.”
Posted text: “[PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud] Al-Habbash to [Egyptian] Al-Qahera News: A noticeable turnaround in the West towards the Palestinian truth against the Israeli lies”
[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Nov. 17, 2023]
Fatah Revolutionary Council member Bayan Al-Tabib has called the US “a partner in the crime against the Palestinian people”:
Fatah Revolutionary Council member Bayan Al-Tabib: “The US is a partner in the crime against the Palestinian people (i.e., Israel’s counter-terror operation against Hamas)… This criminal state [the US] is the one that prevents us from our right to establish our free Palestinian state and supports the [Zionist] entity with all its might, with military equipment, money, and political support at the [UN] Security Council. Therefore, it is a partner in spilling our blood, a partner in these crimes that are being committed against us, and history will not forgive anyone who participated in annihilating the Palestinian people.”
[Official PA TV, Nov. 12, 2023]
Finally, Al-Habbash has also claimed that the horrific events of Oct. 7 were “an opportunity” for Israel to “uproot the Palestinian people”:
Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “Israel has announced unreal and untrue goals. It has said that it is responding to the Oct. 7 events, but the Oct. 7 events were only an opportunity for it. It has said that it wants to eliminate and uproot the Hamas Movement, but this is not true. It wants to uproot the Palestinian people.”
[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Nov. 22, 2023]
A Palestinian NGO, the Al-Haq Institute for Human Rights,which Israel has designated as a terror organization due to its affiliation with the PFLP terror organization, has also announced that a lawsuit will be submitted in the US against US President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Austin for their support of Israel in its counter-terror response against Hamas. In the words of the NGO, the lawsuit targets them “as partners in the genocide that is being carried out in Palestine”:
Director of the Al-Haq Institute for Human Rights Sha’awan Jabarin: “We established a work group that includes international lawyers from around the world, whose word counts in this field and they are experts in international law, and we agreed that this is genocide (sic., refers to Israeli counter-terror operation against Hamas’ terror war on Israel)… Today, Monday [Nov. 13, 2023]… a lawsuit will be submitted in the American court against [US President Joe] Biden, [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken, and American Secretary of Defense [Lloyd Austin] as partners in the genocide that is being carried out in Palestine.[This is] not just because they are providing weapons, but also because on the one hand they are preventing stopping the genocide by using the veto [at the UN Security Council] and avoiding pressure on Israel, and they are encouraging Israel, and are also partners in planning, they are part of the joint [Israeli-American] operations room.”
[Official PA TV, Nov. 13, 2023]
In all of its attacks on the US and Israel, the PA conveniently ignores Hamas’ brutal terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, as if the murder of over 1,200 people – including over 1,000 civilians – the wounding of over 4,800, and the kidnapping of over 240 Israelis and foreigners never happened, or at the most was Palestinian “self-defense.”
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 statements cited above:
Headline: “Al-Habbash to [Russian state-owned news agency] Sputnik: The invasion of the hospitals in the Gaza Strip is being done with American agreement”
“Today, Friday [Nov. 17, 2023], Palestinian [PA] President [Mahmoud Abbas’] Advisor on Religious Affairs [and Islamic Relations] Mahmoud Al-Habbash announced that the US possesses the decision and it is the one that gave Israel a green light to attack hospitals and more (refers to Israeli counter-terror operation against Hamas’ terror war on Israel; see note below -Ed.), and he emphasized that Israel is not an independent state but rather a state that is subordinate to the US.”
[Website of Sputnik Arabic, Russian state-owned news agency, Nov. 17, 2023]
Mahmoud Al-Habbash also serves as Supreme Shari’ah Judge and Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'ah Justice.
Official PA TV, interview with Director of the Al-Haq Institute for Human Rights Sha’awan Jabarin – Al-Haq is a designated terror organization
Director of the Al-Haq Institute for Human Rights Sha’awan Jabarin: “From the start we established a work group that includes international lawyers from around the world, whose word counts in this field and they are experts in international law, and we agreed that this is genocide (sic., refers to Israeli counter-terror operation against Hamas’ terror war on Israel). I will let you in on a secret, my brother Hassan – today, Monday [Nov. 13, 2023], but according to American time, a lawsuit will be submitted in the American court against [US President Joe] Biden, [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken, and American Secretary of Defense [Lloyd Austin] as partners in the genocide that is being carried out in Palestine.[This is] not just because they are providing weapons, but also because on the one hand they are preventing stopping the genocide by using the veto [at the UN Security Council] and avoiding pressure on Israel, and they are encouraging Israel, and are also partners in planning, they are part of the joint [Israeli-American] operations room. The lawsuit will be submitted today. Currently we are not announcing this in the media, but I am giving this news for the first time to [official] PA TV, but it is not advisable to repeat this currently.”
Official PA TV host: “Yes, we thank you.”
[Official PA TV, Nov. 13, 2023]
Banning of 6 Palestinian NGOs October 2021 - Israel designated six Palestinian NGOs as terror organizations on Oct. 22, 2021, due to their affiliation with the PFLP terror organization. The six NGOs are: Al-Haq, Addameer, the Bisan Center, Defense for Children International - Palestine, the Union for Agricultural Work Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees.