A still from an antisemitic video broadcast by Al Jazeera’s online platform. Photo: Palestinian Media Watch.

The Fatah party, which rules the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, has denounced Al Jazeera for taking down an antisemitic video that sparked an international outcry.

“Al-Jazeera TV did a favor to the occupation (i.e., Israel) and erased the video. Let’s publish it again,” read a Fatah Facebook post, as translated by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), that included the video.

Narrated by Al Jazeera producer Muna Hawwa, the video was titled, “The Gas Chambers Killed Millions of Jews — That’s How the Story Goes. What Is the Truth behind the Holocaust and How Did the Zionist Movement Benefit from It?” It was uploaded to the network’s online platform AJ+.

According to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), in the video Hawwa called the Holocaust a “narrative” that was “adopted by the Zionist movement” and was “being reiterated every year on the so-called ‘Holocaust Memorial Day.’”

She also stated, “The number of victims of the Holocaust remains one of the most prominent historical debates to this day.”

She then charged, “Israel is the biggest winner from the Holocaust, and it uses the same Nazi justifications as a launching pad for the racial cleansing and annihilation of the Palestinians.”

“The main ideology behind the ‘State of Israel’ is based on religious, national, and geographic concepts that suckled from the Nazi spirit and its main notions. So how can a Palestinian denounce a crime that has become the flip side of his own tragedy?” she asked.

After an outcry over the video, Al Jazeera took it down, saying it “violated the editorial standards of the network.”

“Al Jazeera stated today, that it has taken disciplinary action and suspended two of its journalists over video content produced on the Holocaust,” it said.

It added that the network “recognizes the diversity in societies with all races, cultures, beliefs, and their values and intrinsic individualities.”

An Al Jazeera managing director said that the video lacked “due oversight.”