‘Moderate’ Peace Partner? PA Diplomats Celebrated October 7 Atrocities

Keep in mind Palestinian diplomats’ social media posts next time you are assured the PA is ‘moderate’ and can be trusted to take over Gaza.

By Hugh Fitzgerald, FrontPage Magazine

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is supposed to be the arch-enemy of Hamas ever since Hamas’ violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, which included its killing of hundreds of Fatah members — Fatah is the main component of the PA. But whatever misgivings the PA may have about Hamas as its political rival, it apparently has no second thoughts about the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, when 3,000 Hamas operatives smashed into Israel and proceeded to rape, torture, mutilate, and kill 1,200 Israelis, and kidnap another 251.

Neither Mahmoud Abbas nor any other PA official has yet to condemn the atrocities committed by Hamas on that day. And now we learn that the PA’s diplomats not only did not condemn, but celebrated those atrocities. More on this dismaying display of hate can be found here: “Revealed: Dozens of Palestinian diplomats celebrated October 7,” by Jane Prinsley, The Jewish Chronicle, August 29, 2024:

Scores of Palestinian diplomats at the United Nations, across Europe and around the world celebrated the attack on Israel on October 7, compared Israel to the Nazis or made other disturbing statements, the JC can reveal.

The findings raise serious questions about the legitimacy of Palestinian Authority (PA) officials on the world stage. The PA is increasingly expected to participate in governing Gaza after the war and help build a two-state solution.

Can the PA seriously be considered for taking part in a future government of Gaza when it cannot condemn, but instead celebrates, the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7? Isn’t the goal, both of Israel and the United States, to ensure that Hamas no longer plays any significant role in the Gaza Strip? Could the PA be trusted to prevent Hamas from sharing in the governing of Gaza, given how PA diplomats support Hamas?

A dossier of evidence compiled by investigators from the GnasherJew group uncovered troubling details from the social media activity of ambassadors, other officials and even embassy accounts.

The analysis of hundreds of posts from more than 30 profiles found senior diplomats smearing Israeli troops as Nazis, supporting the actions of Hamas and advocating the erasure of Israel.

The most disturbing statements began on October 7 itself. Hassan Albalawi, the deputy head of the Palestine mission to the EU, reacted by celebrating Hamas as “heroic”, while Adel Atieh, the Palestinian ambassador to the EU, described the terrorists as “the people of the mighty”. Meanwhile, Khuloussi Bsaiso, a Palestinian diplomat at the UN, shared a map of the Middle East without Israel. “Palestine as it should be,” he commented.

When questioned by the JC, Bsaiso claimed that his social media posts were not shared in a professional capacity, adding: “For your information we the Palestinians are Jews, Christians and Muslims.”

No. “We Palestinians” try to murder Jews wherever we find them, and “we Palestinians” persecute Christians, which is why the Christian population in Gaza has sunk from 5,000 in 2005, when the Israelis pulled out, to fewer than 800 today, and in Bethlehem, the Christian population has dwindled from 86% of the population in 1950 to 8% today.

In Britain, meanwhile, Rana Abuayyash, consul at the Palestinian mission to London, shared a post on November 3 showing the Israeli flag morphing into Hitler and reposted a TikTok video of Netanyahu underneath the Nazi dictator. There are dozens of similar examples.

As the war in Gaza continues to rage, many of those named in the dossier are regarded as moral authorities in their host countries, invited to discuss the conflict on television and posting to thousands of followers on social media.

Palestinian “ambassadors” are frequently called upon by the media in the countries where they are stationed to present their country’s case, treated as if they are respectable interlocutors. But this latest report shows that there is nothing respectable about them; they endorse, they praise, the terrorists of Hamas, not in spite of, but because of, the atrocities they unleashed on October 7. The PA’s deputy head to the UN, Hasan Albawali, called Hamas “heroic,” while Adel Atieh, the PA’s head of mission to the UAE, called the rapists and killers “the people of the mighty.” Khuloussi Bsaiso, a member of the PA’s mission at the UN, posted on social media a map of the Middle East with Israel erased, and replaced by a state of Palestine “from the river to the sea.” He added the comment “Palestine as it should be.”

Palestinian diplomats have been free with their online comparison of Israelis — and especially Prime Minister Netanyahu — to the Nazis, a comparison that according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) meets the definition of “antisemitism.”

Take a look at these Palestinian diplomats’ posts on social media. They do not denounce Hamas, but rather turn out to be cheerleaders for the terror group at its very worst. Keep that in mind when you are next assured that the PA is “moderate” and can be trusted to take over Gaza, where “it will keep the peace with Israel.” No, it won’t.