An aerial view shows the bodies of victims of an attack following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip lying on the ground in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, in southern Israel, Oct. 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg

On Saturday, when Hamas launched its evil massacre on Israeli citizens — murdering, raping, and kidnapping civilians as well as mutilating their dead bodies — official Palestinian Authority (PA) TV broadcast the PA’s support for and celebration of the attack via its Gaza Strip reporter.

The PA is considered the “moderate” and “reasonable” Palestinian leadership by much of the West.

In a live broadcast, the PA TV reporter gleefully explained to viewers what a “blow” Hamas had delivered Israel, a blow Israel “will yet remember.”

Calling the massacre — which has claimed 1,300 murdered and 2,900 wounded, the PA TV reporter specifically mentioned that Hamas had “killed people” and taken “dozens of captives.”

He took pride in the fact that Hamas succeeded in capturing “both dead bodies, soldiers, and settlers” – i.e., Israeli civilians living in sovereign Israel:

Official PA TV reporter in the Gaza Strip: “Today Gaza landed a blow that this occupation will yet remember … Today the Palestinian people had its say, and the Resistance … Today Palestine stands united against the barbaric aggression that the Israeli occupation is committing… This operation disrupted the Israeli calculations and history will mark it.

This occupation will know well that the Palestinian people is in its land and needs to take its right to self-determination by force … Today the world states are taking action to save this occupation from this military operation in which [Israel suffered] killed people and captives. We are talking about dozens of detainees and captives, both dead bodies and captive soldiers and settlers … Today they are imprisoned in the Gaza Strip.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, Oct. 7, 2023]

This report is just one among many confirmations that the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah Movement, both headed by Mahmoud Abbas, have — once again — chosen to side with evil. These statements continued well after Saturday’s attack.

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has exposed that Fatah has called for more terror and urged Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and inside Israel to join the war against “the enemy,” “strike the sons of apes and pigs [i.e., Jews],” and “slaughter everyone Israeli” – in what Abbas calls “self-defense” against “Israeli aggression.”

The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.