Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, delivers a speech remotely at the UN General Assembly 76th session General Debate in UN General Assembly Hall at the United Nations Headquarters on Friday, September 24, 2021 in New York City. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI Pool via REUTERS

The Palestinian Authority (PA)’s religious antisemitism has reached new heights.

In Islam, it is Satan who disseminates evil and falsehoods in the world, and one of Islam’s goals throughout history is to defeat Satan. Now, the most important PA religious figure, Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor on Islam, has explained that Satan has taken the form of humans, specifically “People of the Book” — i.e., Jews, who are supposedly dedicated to the evil of turning Muslims into apostates:

A group from among the People of the Book (i.e., Jews) wants to deceive you … and turn you back from your religion … Satan does not have to be in the form of a demon, hidden, he can also be in your form, but he is Satan. And they [i.e., Satan-Jews] are still fighting us until they turn us back from our religion.

Apostasy is one of the worst crimes in Islam and can carry the death penalty.

According to Al-Habbash, Islam’s conflict with Jews goes back to early history when the Jews chose to follow evil and Satan and left humanity:

This goes back to the initial point of the conflict, the conflict between good and evil … They [Jews] have left the path of humanity and followed Satanity. Satanity is an exit from humanity.

Previously, as reported by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), Al-Habbash taught that the Jews are allied with Satan and are doing Satan’s work on earth by disseminating evil and falsehood:

The conflict here in Palestine … [is] a further manifestation of the historic conflict between truth and falsehood, between good and evil. … The evil is represented by the devils and their supporters, by the Satans and their supporters. We are not inventing anything new here [i.e., Palestinian-Israeli]. This is a conflict between two entities, good and evil, between two projects: Allah’s project vs. Satan’s project.”

[Official PA TV, Oct. 23, 2015]

Al-Habbash also said that Israel/Jews represent the culture of Satan:

The conflict between us and the colonialist project [Israel]… between the Islamic culture in all its splendor and human glory and the culture of Satan (i.e., Israel/Jewish culture).’

[Official PA TV, Quranic Horizons, June 30, 2018]

Whereas, previously, Abbas’ advisor taught that the Jews are allied with Satan and are doing Satan’s work, saying Jews are Satan himself brings PA antisemitism to a wjhole new level.

In another lesson, Al-Habbash taught that although Jews are in the form of humans they are not really humans. Jews are “humanoids … creatures that Allah created in the form of humans … Allah cursed them … and made of them apes and pigs.” [Official PA TV, Sept. 30, 2022]

Itamar Marcus is the Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.