“Palestinian holocaust" lie a "winning card” - for Palestinian Authority
- Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: The Oct. 7 war "is the Palestinian holocaust, and this is the winning card"
- Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad: "The whole world has begun to act against Israel... Who [would have] imagined... that Israel is now accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing?"
- Hamas seeks to increase number of dead Gazans and steals aid to create "starvation" narrative against Israel, and PA joins in selling false victimhood to the world
The Palestinian leadership is keenly aware that the strongest weapon in their arsenal against Israel in the Oct. 7 war is false victimhood, and that their challenge is to effectively play this "Palestinian holocaust Card "– "the winning card," as a senior Fatah official recently called it.
Both Hamas and the PA play a key role in this dirty tactic. Hamas actively seeks to increase the number of dead Gazans in order to "inflame public opinion" against Israel, as was exposed by Fatah TV. It also murders Gazans seeking food so as to maintain its monopoly over the vast quantities of humanitarian aid that it steals, thereby creating a narrative of "starvation." The PA then runs with this manufactured humanitarian crisis and sells this "Palestinian holocaust" to the world as being Israel's fault, in order to delegitimize Israel's defensive war through feigned victimhood.
One of the top Fatah leaders, Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, made this message very explicit on official PA TV when he called to exploit "the Palestinian holocaust... the winning card":
Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: "We the Palestinians, what is happening to us and what has happened to us for two years [in the Gaza war], and in fact it has been happening for 77 years [since Israel's creation] – but today the world is convinced of it. This is the Palestinian holocaust, and this is the winning card that we need to know how to use."
[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, Aug. 5, 2025]
Rajoub asserted that in the past two years of war the world has become "convinced" of Palestinian victimhood, and he emphasized the need to exploit this. Indeed, the PA has been trying to manipulate anti-Israel bias in various ways, including by pushing lawfare actions against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Palestinian Media Watch recently exposed these actions that violate American law in a report sent to the US State Department, and in response the US announced sanctions against PLO and PA members.
Aside from the PA led by Fatah, Hamas itself has been cynically pushing a narrative of victimhood. Hamas, which started the current war with a horrific massacre and continues to hold Israeli hostages in horrific conditions, also recognizes that the world has eagerly gobbled up the demonization against Israel's defensive war in Gaza.
The Oct. 7 massacre has brought various boons to the Palestinians, according to senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad. One of the main results listed by Hamad is the demonization of Israel on the world stage, which has come about through the extensive Palestinian victimhood campaign:
Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad: "The whole world believed that the occupation state (i.e., Israel) is a democratic, beautiful, oppressed, and persecuted state. Today I think that the whole world believes that this mask has fallen from Israel's face. The whole world has begun to act against Israel. The marches and rallies that are now in America, Britain, France, and Germany all speak of genocide. Who [would have] imagined that today occupation state [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] is wanted by the International Criminal Court? And that even its [Israeli Army] Chief of Staff (sic., former Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant) is wanted by the ICC? And that Israel is now accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing? All these things have exposed Israel."
[Al-Jazeera TV Live website, Aug. 2, 2025; Al-Jazeera TV Live, YouTube channel, Aug. 3, 2025]
In celebrating the so-called achievements of the Oct. 7 massacre, Hamad singled out the false accusations of "genocide and ethnic cleansing." These accusations are part of the Palestinian victimhood narrative – a narrative that has no basis in fact of course, as the population of Gaza has actually grown during the alleged "genocide."
But according to Hamad, by playing the victim card in the current war, the Palestinians have started the "collapse" of Israel, as he asserted in the same interview:
Ghazi Hamad: "In this war against the occupation on Oct. 7, the countdown to the collapse of the occupation state began, and I believe it has already entered a stage of collapse."
[Al-Jazeera TV Live website, Aug. 2, 2025; Al-Jazeera TV Live, YouTube channel, Aug. 3, 2025]
Given the number of Western states pledging to recognize "Palestine" as a state following Oct. 7, and the arms embargo on Israel recently announced by Germany, it seems the Palestinian strategy of playing the "winning" holocaust card has indeed been working. It remains to be seen if and when the world will stop being a tool of Palestinian terror organizations.
The following are longer excerpts of the items above and additional information:
Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad: "I want to tell you, look now at [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas. For more than 10 years no one has talked with him about the two-state solution, nor about the one-state solution, and not even about supporting the PA. They only talk about humanitarian aid to the PA. I want to say clearly: The weapons and resistance have sown in the Palestinian land and among the Palestinian people a kind of freedom and a sense of essence and human value. The weapons have also caused great damage to the occupation (i.e., Israel). I tell you now that Oct. 7, [2023] (i.e., Hamas' invasion and massacre to launch its terror war on Israel; see note below), this strong blow that was dealt to Israel, I believe it brought about three very great historic achievements. First, it brought back the Palestinian cause. Let me just give you an example: Why do all the states now recognize Palestine? Before Oct. 7, was there a state that dared to recognize the State of Palestine? ...Now the results of Oct. 7 are what caused the whole world to open its eyes to the Palestinian cause and to act on it with strength. The Palestinian people deserve a state and yearn for freedom. Secondly, the whole world believed that the occupation state is a democratic, beautiful, oppressed, and persecuted state. Today I think that the whole world believes that this mask has fallen from Israel's face. The whole world has begun to act against Israel. The marches and rallies that are now in America, Britain, France, and Germany all speak of genocide. Who [would have] imagined that today occupation state [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC; see note below -Ed.)? And that even its [Israeli Army] Chief of Staff (sic., former Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant) is wanted by the ICC? And that Israel is now accused of genocide and ethnic cleansing? All these things have exposed Israel. Thirdly, I clearly think that those who thought it was difficult to defeat Israel, [see that] today it has become the easiest thing…
In this war against the occupation on Oct. 7, the countdown to the collapse of the occupation state began, and I believe it has already entered a stage of collapse."
[Al-Jazeera TV Live website, Aug. 2, 2025; Al-Jazeera TV Live, YouTube channel, Aug. 3, 2025]