Firefighters work to put out a fire in an open field, following a mass-infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, near a hospital in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen

There are terrorists and there are terror multipliers. Hamas committed the atrocities of torturing, murdering, decapitating, raping, and kidnapping Israelis. But it is the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah who, by joining with full-fledged support, have galvanized the Palestinian population behind the ISIS-like atrocities.

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA and Fatah are actively celebrating the atrocities, urging Palestinians in the West Bank and inside Israel to join the terror, and to “strike the sons of apes and pigs” and “slaughter everyone Israeli.”

Fatah and the PA are now calling for the end of Israel, urging Palestinians to “land more blows” on Israel — “the main enemy.”

Hamas’ massacre of civilians has prompted them to present Israel as weak “as a cobweb.” These were the words of a Fatah official at a rally in support of the Hamas terror war against Israel near Nablus:

Fatah Tubas Branch Secretary Mahmoud Sawafta: “We support all those who have taught the occupation [i.e., Israel] one lesson after another, and it is clear that this occupation did not understand this [Palestinian] people well.

In these moments we say to it that 27 occupations have come to this area and all the occupations were defeated. We are certain that this occupation — as you saw last night and everyday — this occupation is weaker than cobwebs and in the end it will be defeated. Therefore, crowd the ranks more, unite more, and land more blows on this occupation, because this occupation is the main enemy.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, Oct. 8, 2023]

The PA term “the occupation,” refers to all of Israel and not merely the West Bank. This statement echoes a Fatah member who also mocked Israel, gloating that its “undefeatable army is weaker than cobwebs.”

In a speech in 2019, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah bragged that he was “confident of victory” against Israel and that “Israel is weaker than a spider web.” Possibly, these comparisons of Israel to a cobweb are inspired by a verse from the Koran that compares “those who take allies other than Allah,” to a spider whose home is “the weakest of homes.” [Koran 29:41, Sahih International translation]

The PA has stressed its support for the massacre of hundreds of Israeli civilians by Hamas from day one. Right after Hamas’ attack, Al Jazeera reported that “the [mosque] minarets in the West Bank began making calls of ‘Allahu Akbar’ in an expression of support,” and that “processions of support” took place in several PA cities.

Below is a celebration in Ramallah:

The author is the Founder and Executive Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.