Palestinian Journalists Demonize Israel: ‘You Are Worse Than the Nazis’

One columnist claims Israel commits crimes against Palestinian civilians who are “victims” like the Jews “in Hitler’s Nazi detention camps.”

By Nan Jacques Zilberdik, Palestinian Media Watch

Three Palestinian journalists have repeated the PA libel that Israel is doing to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to the Jews during the Holocaust.

During a broadcast that looked back on the Fatah/Hamas riot and rocket war of 2021, during which Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah terrorists fired over 4,300 rockets into southern and central Israel and Israeli Arabs rioted and attacked Jews throughout the country, journalist Ziyad Abd Al-Fattah stated that Israel is committing “acts of cruelty that are worse than the cruelty of the Nazis”:

“You filled the world with screams about how you are the victims of Nazism, that they persecuted you all around the world, and so on and so forth… Since Beirut (i.e., the First Lebanon War) to this moment, I see you committing against the Palestinians acts of cruelty that are worse than the cruelty of the Nazis.” [Official PA TV, 11 Days, Oct. 18, 2021]

A few weeks later another Palestinian journalist, Ahmed Issa, echoed this, claiming that Israel is doing “worse things” than was done to the Jews in the Holocaust:

Palestinian journalist Ahmed Issa: “Now the true face of this [Zionist] project is being revealed. When this state was established, the international community identified with it as if it were an answer to the Holocaust, or [as if] it saves the Jews worldwide from massacres. Now it is committing worse things against the Palestinians.” [Official PA TV, Personal Encounter, Nov. 12, 2021]

Commenting on a hunger-striking Hamas-affiliated prisoner, regular columnist for the official PA daily and Fatah Revolutionary Council member Muwaffaq Matar claimed Israel is imitating the Nazi atrocities. Matar argued that Palestinian diplomats and students abroad ought to show the hunger striking prisoner’s photo “with his skin hanging from his bones” to foreign ministry officials and fellow students – particularly Jewish ones:

“It would be good if they deliberately placed them [the pictures] before the eyes of Jewish students and civilians in those lands; perhaps that would remind them of the pictures of their ancestors in Hitler’s Nazi detention camps, and they would understand that ‘Israel’ – whose rulers claim… that it is an oasis of democracy in the desert of dictatorships in the region – is continuing to repeat this crime, but [this time] the victims are Palestinian civilians.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 4, 2021]

While the Nazis intentionally caused Jews to starve to death, the terrorist Miqdad Al-Qawasmi is suffering from the effects of a self-inflicted hunger strike. As part of his hunger strike, Al-Qawasmi is refusing both food and medical attention. Al-Qawasmi is protesting his administrative detention. Article 78 of the Fourth Geneva Convention provides unequivocal legal basis for Israel’s practice of detaining terrorists in order to thwart the severe danger they pose to society. In practice, the measures and legal framework Israel implements for terrorists such as Al-Qawasmi, far exceeds the minimum requirements set out in international law.

Palestinian Media Watch has documented the PA’s libel that Israel imitates Nazi crimes, as well as the PA’s equation of Israel and Israeli leaders to Nazism and Nazi leaders, and how the PA repeatedly uses Nazi terminology to demonize Israel.

The following is a longer excerpt of the column in the official PA daily demonizing Israel as being Nazi-like, written by Muwaffaq Matar, Fatah Revolutionary Council member and regular columnist for the official PA daily.

“Have you seen the painful picture of prisoner Miqdad Al-Qawasmi (i.e., hunger striking Hamas terrorist; PMW was unable to determine the nature of his crimes), in which his skin is seen hanging from his bones? What if every Palestinian ambassador would take it and place it on the table of the foreign minister in the state where he is representing Palestine? And what if he would continue to fulfill his duty and walk around with it in every corner of the office to show it to the foreign policy decision makers?

Do the Palestinian students learning in universities worldwide understand what a national achievement they would record if they would place this picture of the prisoner on the school benches, or walk around with it in the law and political science faculties? Perhaps it would awaken the conscience of students in universities worldwide…

It would be good if they deliberately placed them [the pictures] before the eyes of Jewish students and civilians in those lands; perhaps that would remind them of the pictures of their ancestors in Hitler’s Nazi detention camps, and they would understand that ‘Israel’ – whose rulers claim… that it is an oasis of democracy in the desert of dictatorships in the region – is continuing to repeat this crime, but [this time] the victims are Palestinian civilians.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 4, 2021]

Fatah/Hamas Riot and Rocket War 2021

On April 30, 2021, facing certain electoral defeat, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas cancelled the first PA elections scheduled in 15 years. Hamas, which expected to win the elections, denounced it as a “coup.”

In need of a conflict to divert public discontent, Abbas artificially generated a crisis over Jerusalem. His Fatah party called for “raising the level of confrontation,” and Abbas’ spokesman told Palestinians “the battle of all battles is here.” Jerusalem Arabs responded by attacking Jews with rocks and Molotov cocktails.

Hamas, Abbas’ political rival, could not allow Abbas to lead the battle, so on May 10, 2021, Hamas launched rocket barrages targeting Israeli population centers including Jerusalem. Over the next 11 days, Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired over 4,300 rockets into southern and central Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing nine Israelis and three foreign nationals, and wounding hundreds.

In response, Israel launched Operation Guardian of the Walls to target Hamas terror leaders and terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

Already in mid-April, a planned eviction of some Palestinian families illegally living in Jewish-owned buildings in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem had led to clashes between Palestinian residents and Israeli police. This dispute provided Palestinians with a pretext for violent rioting.

Adding to the crisis, Israeli Arabs started rioting throughout Israel, especially in cities with a mixed Jewish and Arab population. Two Jews were murdered and many were wounded. According to Walla, an independent Israeli news site, 10 synagogues were wholly or partly burned down; fires were set in 112 Jewish homes and 1 Arab home mistaken for a Jewish home; 386 Jewish homes were plundered and 673 were damaged; 849 cars were set ablaze; and there were 5,018 rock-throwing attacks.

In response, Jews started attacking Arabs and their properties as well, but on a much smaller scale. No mosques were burned; 13 Arab homes were damaged; 13 Arab-owned cars were burned; and there were 41 rock-throwing attacks by Jews [Walla, May 16, 2021]. The fighting between Israel and Hamas ended with a ceasefire on May 21, 2021.

The First Lebanon War

The First Lebanon War began on June 6, 1982 following a long period of PLO attacks against Israel and after terrorists from the Abu-Nidal terror group attempted to assassinate Israeli Ambassador to the UK Shlomo Argov.

The war began as a short-term operation called “Operation Peace for Galilee,” which aimed to destroy the militant infrastructure on Israel’s border with Lebanon. The war ended up lasting until 1985, when the Israeli army withdrew from Lebanon, leaving behind a token force (which withdrew in 2000) to aid the Lebanese in patrolling the security zone along the border. Israel suffered more than 1,200 fatalities in the war.