Columnist in official PA daily:

US and Israel direct Islamic State terror

in Europe



"Netanyahu has his own Al-Qaeda and Islamic State...

We believe there is a conspiracy at work,

for the US and Israeli intelligence [services]

are the greatest experts at exploiting the organizations

that emerge in areas of conflict"

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 27, 2015]



Cartoon on official Fatah website:

[Website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission, Jan. 29, 2015]

Fatah:

Israel is "no less abominable than the terrorism of the Islamic State,

and in fact - more abominable" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 17, 2015]



Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

The Palestinian Authority and Fatah continuously repeat the libel that Israel and the US are collaborating with the terror organization Islamic State. The cartoon above shows a Jewish man with a black flag similar to that of Islamic State, holding an automatic weapon and a blood-dripping knife. The flag displays a white Star of David and the inscription: "Jewish State in Israel and the Levant," meant to mimic the terror organization's name "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant." The cartoon was posted on the website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission. [Jan. 29, 2015]



In early January, Fatah Central Committee and PLO Executive Committee member Saeb Erekat also made remarks comparing Israel and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to Islamic State. According to official PA TV, Erekat said that "there was no difference between the terrorism practiced by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi's gang [Islamic State] and Israeli terrorism." [Official PA TV, Jan. 6, 2015] Erekat later explained his statements as referring to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu only. [Official PA TV, Jan. 5, 2015]



Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf reiterated the claim that Israel is worse than the Islamic State, when responding to then Canadian foreign minister John Baird's request that Erekat apologize to Netanyahu:

"The occupation is the worst form of terrorism, no less abominable than the terrorism of the Islamic State, and in fact [even] more abominable."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 17, 2015]



Fatah Revolutionary Council member Bakr Abu Bakr made similar hate speech in an op-ed in the official PA daily, asserting that:

"Islamic State and its ilk are not the only prominent examples of the promotion of hatred, terror and loathing linked to religion and nationalism... The Zionist terrorism in Palestine is the most abominable example in the world, far outdoing all the others."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 14, 2015]



Following the terror attacks in Paris, the official PA daily published a cartoon showing Israeli PM Netanyahu at the anti-terror march in Paris, with blood dripping from his mouth and hand, while holding a sign saying "No to terror" in Arabic, English and French. [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 14, 2015]



Palestinian Media Watch has already documented the PA and Fatah libel that Israel was behind the murderous attacks in Paris in January 2015 because Israel "was the only one to benefit from them."



Another columnist writing for the official PA daily suggested that Israeli PM Netanyahu is actually behind some of the recent horrific terror attacks and crimes, and that Israel and the US are partners in a conspiracy, making use of terror organizations to commit crimes. The columnist deduced this because two Japanese citizens were kidnapped by Islamic State right after Japanese PM Shinzo Abe met with PA Chairman Abbas, and because the attacks in France against the paper Charlie Hebdo and the Jewish supermarket happened shortly after Israel criticized France for voting in favor of the suggestion at the UN Security Council to "end the occupation." These crimes were not "coincidences," he said, "we believe there is a conspiracy at work, for the US and Israeli intelligence [services] are the greatest experts at exploiting the organizations that emerge in areas of conflict":

"The double rhetorical question here is: Did [the plan] to strike Japan occur to Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda and [Abu Bakr] Al-Baghdadi's Islamic State only after this visit [by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe], or is it that Netanyahu has his own Al-Qaeda and Islamic State, which he operates in order to kill the citizens of every influential country in the region that opposes the policy of the occupation and settlement state?

The kidnapping of the two Japanese citizens and the crime committed against Charlie Hebdo and the Jewish store in Paris were not coincidences... We believe there is a conspiracy at work, for the US and Israeli intelligence [services] are the greatest experts at exploiting the organizations that emerge in areas of conflict."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 27, 2015]



The following are longer excerpts of the reports and statements comparing Israel to the Islamic State:



"Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf expressed his surprise and condemnation of Canadian foreign minister John Baird's request that the members of the PLO Executive Committee and the head of the Department for Negotiation Affairs apologize to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for having compared his crimes to those of the Islamic State terror organization. In a statement to the press yesterday, Friday [Jan. 16, 2015], Assaf emphasized that the occupation is the worst form of terrorism, no less abominable than the terrorism of the Islamic State, and in fact [even] more abominable... He added: '[Canadian Prime Minister Steven] Harper and Baird are the ones who should apologize to the Canadian people for the damage their policy, which is biased towards the occupation, has done to Canada and its people, and to the Palestinian people, which is suffering a historic injustice.'"

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 17, 2015]



Op-ed by Fatah Revolutionary Council member Bakr Abu Bakr, regular columnist for the official PA daily:

"IS and its ilk are not the only prominent examples of the promotion of hatred, terror and loathing linked to religion and nationalism - as if extremism were a product of Islam, as some seek to present it, even though it is not so. Extremism is inherent in the human soul... and the Zionist terrorism in Palestine is the most abominable example in the world, far outdoing all the others - for this terrorism links together occupation, settlement, expulsion, killing and the absolute negation of the other."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 14, 2015]



Official PA TV News report on a ceremony marking the birthday of the Prophet [Muhammad] in Jericho, which was attended by Fatah Central Committee member Saeb Erekat

Official PA TV reporter: "[Fatah Central Committee and] PLO Executive Committee member Saeb Erekat said there was no difference between the terrorism practiced by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi's gang [ISIS] and Israeli terrorism, and that the elimination of terrorism required the drying out of the settlements. At a ceremony in the Jericho district marking the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, [Erekat] added that the piracy of the occupation, the withholding of tax money and the numerous threats will not prevent our leadership and people from continuing to stand firm, adhering to our national rights and establishing an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital."

[Official PA TV, Jan. 6, 2015]



Op-ed by Muwaffaq Matar, regular columnist for the official PA daily:

Headline: "When Netanyahu plays behind the White House's back"

"A few hours after [Israeli PM Netanyahu's] government summoned the French ambassador in Tel Aviv to protest France's vote in favor of the proposed Palestinian decision in the [UN] Security Council to end the occupation, the reports of the criminal attack on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and the Jewish store in Paris arrived, along with the news of the victims' deaths.

In addition, a few hours after [Japanese] Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's first visit to Palestine and his meeting with the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, whom [Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor] Liberman, one of the pillars of the government, considers 'the Palestinian who poses the greatest threat to the existence of Israel,' Al-Qaeda kidnapped two Japanese citizens. The double rhetorical question here is: Did [the plan] to strike Japan occur to Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda and [Abu Bakr] Al-Baghdadi's IS only after this visit, or is it that Netanyahu has his own Al-Qaeda and IS, which he operates in order to kill the citizens of every influential country in the region that opposes the policy of the occupation and settlement state?

The kidnapping of the two Japanese citizens and the crime committed against Charlie Hebdo and the Jewish store in Paris were not coincidences... We believe there is a conspiracy at work, for the US and Israeli intelligence [services] are the greatest experts at exploiting the organizations that emerge in areas of conflict."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 27, 2015]



Official PA TV program The State of Politics hosted Fatah Central Committee member Saeb Erekat:

Fatah Central Committee member Saeb Erekat: "Regarding [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, when he attacked me personally, it was him I compared [to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi], not Israel. I said that Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi claims to lead the organization called the 'Islamic State,' while Benjamin Netanyahu claims to lead the Jewish State organization. This war is not a religious war, but a political war."