Palestinian Authority Observers See Little Difference Between Abbas and Hamas in Views Toward Israel, Jews

JERUSALEM, Israel  – As the world watches the evil of Hamas, many believe their West Bank counterpart, the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, is a moderate alternative to the terror group.

Evidence from this past week of action taken by the group's religious leaders disputes that idea.

Last Friday, the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Religion sent a notice to its mosques, instructing imams to make a certain point in their sermons and prayers: that point, say critics, advocates killing Jews.

CBN News spoke with Palestinian Media Watch Director Itamar Marcus, who reports on and publicizes what the P.A. and its various arms tell their own people. 

“One of the things (the religious leaders say) they should talk about is quoting the Hadith, the Islamic tradition that calls for literally the genocide of Jews.  This is what the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Religion told their religious leaders to talk about," Marcus explained.

The quote from the Hadith reads: "The hour will not begin until you fight the Jews, until a Jew will hide behind a rock or a tree, and the rock or tree wil say: 'O Muslim, slave of Allah, here is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.'" (Book 54, Hadith 103)

Marcus continued, "That's what the P.A .told its people today.  And if you go to our website, palwatch.org, you'll find many examples of Palestinian religious leaders saying that on official Palestinian TV for many, many years.”

For close to three decades, Itamar Marcus has reported on this promotion of terror. After the October 7 massacre, Marcus posted how the deputy chairman of the Fatah political party – an aide to President Abbas – praised Hamas in this tweet on X: 

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

[Fatah Deputy Chairman Mahmoud Al-Aloul, (X) account, Oct. 12, 2023]

“We think of the Hamas as being the ones who denied us (in Israel) the right to exist," Marcus pointed out. "Fatah does as well. The basic difference is Hamas was a stronger military. They succeeded. They did what Fatah would love to have done, but didn't do it because they were unable.”

When asked what the relationship is between Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, Marcus responded, "The Palestinian Authority is basically one in the same. The head of the Palestinian Authority is Mahmoud Abbas. The head of Fatah is Mahmoud Abbas. Many of the senior officials in Fatah are the senior officials of the Palestinian Authority.  It – Fatah – is the political party that rules the Palestinian Authority. so that they're essentially one in the same.” 

Even so, President Joe Biden pledged $100 million to the P.A., as well as humanitarian aid for Gaza, and he remains committed to a two-state solution in the Middle East.

“Biden also said that Hamas (leaders) don't represent the Palestinian people,and that was just a terrible mistake," Marcus insisted. 

He added, "I don't know what intelligence people he has or if he's just expressing a wish from his heart, but if you look at the Palestinian world – not just today after this atrocity, but the Palestinian world for the last few years – Hamas has been the more popular. And in fact, two and a half years ago, when elections were scheduled, a month before elections, Mahmoud Abbas canceled the elections because all the polls indicated that Hamas was going to win both for the presidency as well as for the legislature, we would have a Hamas-ruled Palestinian authority as well. So, Hamas definitely represents the Palestinian people at this point.”

Marcus said the P.A. is now calling on West Bank Palestinians to rise up against Israel. 

“We're, right now, publicizing all of the Palestinian Authority support for this terror invasion. (The) Palestinian Authority has been broadcasting calls for people to join for West Bank, for Judea-Samaria Arabs, to join in the terror against Israel.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman, Jordan, to discuss the Hamas massacre, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Marcus believes the world is not seeing the true face of the P.A. 

“The tragedy is that the world has seen the Palestinian Authority as a quote, unquote, "peace partner" all these years.They have funded them. They've given them money. They used all that money to educate a generation of Palestinians that they have the obligation to fight to destroy Israel, the obligation to fight to kill Jews."

He continued, "Hamas today and its power is the result, not of Hamas education. It's the result of Palestinian authority education. They're the ones who educated this entire generation. And when Hamas comes with an agenda that fits the P.A. education, that's why they're so popular today. They're seen as the authentic movement that's fulfilling the education that the Palestinian Authority has been teaching them. That's why the Palestinian Authority is not the solution.  They are the fundamental source of the problem.” 

The Palestinian Authority still enforces the policy of supporting terrorists called, "Pay to Slay," which rewards terror operatives who end up in prison or are killed, and their families.

“Palestinian Media Watch did a calculation (of) 1,500 terrorists who were killed," Marcus explained. "In Israel, across the border – did the massacres, did the atrocities, the rapes –those 1,500 terrorists are going to be getting, the families of those killed terrorists will be getting, close to 3 million dollars already for the first month, and then they will continue getting a stipend of about 350 dollars a month for the rest of their lives.”

Following the massacres of October 7, it remains unclear whether this Palestinian policy will continue.

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