Abbas’ Advisor: “Israel orchestrated Oct. 7”
In a horrific example of Palestinian Authority hate speech, Mahmoud Al-Habbash—senior advisor to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas—has announced that Israel itself was behind the Oct. 7 atrocities committed by Hamas. According to Abbas' advisor, Israel "perhaps… prepared the conditions and led Hamas" to massacre, rape, burn alive, and kidnap Israelis, to use Hamas' terror as a pretext to eliminate the Palestinian cause.
Al-Habbash openly suggested that the Israeli government wanted Oct. 7 to happen and may have even collaborated with Hamas to make it possible. He claimed that Israel's supposed indifference to its hostages in Gaza proves this theory, alleging that Prime Minister Netanyahu's real goal was to use the massacre as an excuse to carry out a "pre-planned" operation to destroy Palestinian national aspirations.
This is just the latest example of the PA attempting to shift blame from the murderers and rapists to the victims. But accusing Israel of planning its own worst massacre since the Holocaust is a grotesque low:
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "This [Israeli] government was not really interested in the [Israeli] hostages from the beginning. Perhaps the coming days will reveal this issue, which is now being talked about in Israel by the media outlets and Israeli commentators regarding the role of [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu's government in the events of Oct. 7, [2023] (i.e., Hamas' Oct. 7 terror war on Israel). Perhaps it prepared the conditions and led Hamas to this issue, because it had a plan that it wanted to carry out in the Gaza Strip using what happened on Oct. 7 as an excuse. It is now carrying out this plan, which is based on eliminating the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian existence, and perhaps it used Hamas on this issue. Hamas may have even assisted, in one way or another, this Israeli objective."
Video title: "Al-Habbash to Al-Arabiya [TV]: Hamas should prioritize the interests of the Palestinian people over its party interests and hand over the Gaza Strip"
[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, April 21, 2025]
Palestinian Media Watch has exposed other PA officials making similar libelous statements, claiming Israel itself carried out the Oct. 7 massacre,
PA Oct. 7 massacre denial: Israelis "killed their civilians, committed all these crimes, and burned the bodies"
Palestinian Authority Oct. 7 libels: The PA/Fatah denied Hamas' massacre, alleged Israel committed the atrocities and wanted the attack
October 7 denial: Palestinian Authority lies led to worldwide phenomenon