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

In a horrific example of Palestinian Authority (PA) hate speech, Mahmoud Al-Habbash — senior advisor to PA leader Mahmoud Abbas — has announced that Israel itself was behind the Oct. 7 atrocities committed by Hamas.

According to Abbas’ advisor, Israel “perhaps … prepared the conditions and led Hamas” to massacre, rape, burn alive, and kidnap Israelis, to use Hamas’ terror as a pretext to eliminate the Palestinian cause.

Al-Habbash openly suggested that the Israeli government wanted Oct. 7 to happen and may have even collaborated with Hamas to make it possible. He claimed that Israel’s supposed indifference to its hostages in Gaza proves this theory, alleging that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s real goal was to use the massacre as an excuse to carry out a “pre-planned” operation to destroy Palestinian national aspirations.

This is just the latest example of the PA attempting to shift blame from the murderers and rapists to the victims. But accusing Israel of planning its own worst massacre since the Holocaust is a grotesque low:

Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “This [Israeli] government was not really interested in the [Israeli] hostages from the beginning. Perhaps the coming days will reveal this issue, which is now being talked about in Israel by the media outlets and Israeli commentators regarding the role of [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu’s government in the events of Oct. 7, [2023].

Perhaps it prepared the conditions and led Hamas to this issue, because it had a plan that it wanted to carry out in the Gaza Strip using what happened on Oct. 7 as an excuse.

It is now carrying out this plan, which is based on eliminating the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian existence, and perhaps it used Hamas on this issue. Hamas may have even assisted, in one way or another, this Israeli objective.” [emphasis added]

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, April 21, 2025]

Palestinian Media Watch has exposed other PA officials making similar libelous statements, claiming Israel itself carried out the Oct. 7 massacre:

• PA Oct. 7 massacre denial: Israelis “killed their civilians, committed all these crimes, and burned the bodies”

• Palestinian Authority Oct. 7 libels: The PA/Fatah denied Hamas’ massacre, alleged Israel committed the atrocities and wanted the attack
• October 7 denial: Palestinian Authority lies led to worldwide phenomenon

Mahmoud Al-Habbash also serves as Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari’ah Justice. In August 2019, Abbas dismissed all his advisors by Presidential decree. It is unclear what their status is today.

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