Mahmoud Abbas Lauds Hamas Oct. 7 Atrocities

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas lauds Oct. 7 massacre:   

• Hamas attempted to achieve "important goals"

• "On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas launched a sudden attack… killed 1,200 Israelis, abducted 250 others, and took them as hostages. This attack shook the foundations of the Israeli entity"
• "It exposed the [false] claims that… it has an invincible army"
• "It exposed the… glaring failure of this entity's (i.e., Israel's) components, especially the army and the various security forces"
• The "entity" failed "to discover what Hamas was planning, and failed to block the attack and prevent heavy losses"
• "As important as the goals that Hamas attempted to achieve through this attack may have been, they are not comparable to the damages and heavy losses that the Gaza Strip residents… have suffered"

The Western countries, especially France, which has led the call to recognize a PA state, must demand that Abbas retract these statements and clearly condemn Oct 7, before the UN meeting next week.

As Western leaders plan to meet at the UN in September to give PA leader Mahmoud Abbas a present of recognition of a Palestinian state, Abbas continues to prove how unworthy the PA is of being a state. Abbas reminded us once again that if the PA were to become a state, it would be a terror state.

On June 1, the PA's official daily published an interview that Abbas gave in August 2024, which included the straightforward question of how Abbas views Oct. 7. He did not relate at all to the atrocities. Rather, he noted how Hamas embarrassed Israel and showed Israel's weaknesses.

Abbas defined Oct. 7 by listing what Hamas achieved:

• Hamas "killed 1,200 Israelis, abducted 250 others, and took them as hostages. This attack shook the foundations of the Israeli entity"
• Hamas "exposed the [false] claims that… [Israel] has an invincible army"
• Hamas exposed the "glaring failure of this entity's (i.e., Israel's) components, especially the army and the various security forces"
• The "entity" failed "to discover what Hamas was planning, and failed to block the attack and prevent heavy losses."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 1, 2025]

However, according to Abbas there was one problem with Hamas' attack: it was not equal to the devastation that Hamas brought on Gaza:

"As important as the goals that Hamas attempted to achieve through this attack may have been, they are not comparable to the damages and heavy losses that the Gaza Strip, its residents, and the Palestinian cause have suffered...

Without absolving the hated Israeli occupation of the primary responsibility for the destruction of the Gaza Strip, Hamas provided this occupation (i.e., Israel) with the excuses to do what it did: genocide and war crimes against our people."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 1, 2025]

The publication of Abbas' interview lauding Hamas' accomplishments came shortly after an interview given by Abbas' senior advisor, Mahmoud Al-Habbash,who defended the Oct. 7 atrocities as "legitimate resistance," five times in one interview:

Al-Habbash: "What Hamas carried out on Oct. 7, I start from the assumption that resistance is legitimate. We agreed from the start that the resistance is legitimate, and no one can dispute the legitimacy of the resistance... What happened on Oct. 7 is a legitimate thing, okay? It's legitimate."

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, March 11, 2025]

Abbas' interview and his advisor's recent defense of Oct. 7 must serve as a wake-up call for all Western countries that plan to attend the UN event. PMW calls on France and Saudi Arabia – the sponsors of the UN event – to condemn Mahmoud Abbas' support for Oct. 7. They should demand that Abbas retract this statement and publicly condemn the Oct. 7 massacre in Arabic on official PA media as well as in mainstream and popular Arabic media. If Abbas refuses to condemn the Oct. 7 atrocities, there is no justification for the UN meetings to discuss recognition of the terror-supporting Oct. 7-lauding Palestinian Authority.

The following is a longer segment from the interview with Mahmoud Abbas:

Interviewer:

"The events of Oct. 7, [2023] inflicted a disaster on the residents of the Gaza Strip because of the criminal and destructive war that Israel waged against the Gaza Strip. What is your response to the Oct. 7 attack and its consequences?"

Mahmoud Abbas:

"On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas launched a sudden attack on the Israeli towns adjacent to the eastern border of the Gaza Strip and on several Israeli army posts and bases. In this attack, it killed 1,200 Israelis, abducted 250 others, and took them as hostages. This attack shook the foundations of the Israeli entity and exposed the [false] claims that Israel disseminated for decades, according to which it has an invincible army. This is because this attack was a glaring failure of this entity's (i.e., Israel's) components, especially the army and the various security forces, which on the one hand failed to discover what Hamas was planning, and on the other hand failed to block the attack, prevent heavy losses on the Israeli side, and prevent the abduction of hostages.

Israel launched an all-out counterattack on the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas' attack, which has so far led to the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and its near total destruction...

As important as the goals that Hamas attempted to achieve through this attack may have been,they are not comparable to the damages and heavy losses that the Gaza Strip, its residents, and the Palestinian cause have suffered...

Without absolving the hated Israeli occupation of the primary responsibility for the destruction of the Gaza Strip, Hamas provided this occupation (i.e., Israel) with the excuses to do what it did: genocide and war crimes against our people."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 1, 2025]