Partygoers at the Supernova Psy-Trance Festival who filmed the events that unfolded on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: Yes Studios

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, raping, burning families alive, and murdering nearly 1,200 people. Hamas initiated a war that would last more than two and a half years, and with the Hamas terrorists using civilians as human shields, it brought destruction to the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has gone to great lengths to distort these facts.

Right from the beginning, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) exposed that PA officials claimed that Israel knew about Oct. 7 in advance and wanted it to happen or had even planned it itself. The PA and Fatah continue to repeat these lies, each time with a different focus. The latest libel is that even Prime Minister Netanyahu knew about “the most special and secretive October 7”:

Fatah Revolutionary Council member and regular columnist for the official PA daily Muwaffaq Matar: “The army of the Government of Israel has been committing a crime of destruction for two years and seven months. The excuse for this is the most special and secretive October 7, 2023 [attack], known only to Netanyahu and a handful of senior commanders who can be counted on one hand in what is called the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate ‘Aman.'” [emphasis added]

[Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 11, 2026]

In an editorial in its official daily, on May 3, 2026, the PA has stated that Hamas’ attack — “the Al-Aqsa Flood” — constituted an opportunity for Netanyahu: “It would give Netanyahu the greatest excuse to establish a new Middle East under Israeli hegemony.”

PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, said that Netanyahu is the one who benefited from the horrors of Oct. 7 therefore he must be the one behind it:

Al-Habbash: “When we want to know who is behind something, we need to see who benefited from it. Who benefited here? Before Oct. 7, [Israeli PM] Netanyahu was taking his last breaths … and Israel was boiling inside like a cauldron. Then Oct. 7 came to give Netanyahu breathing space and to reunite the Israeli arena against the entire Palestinian people.” [emphasis added]

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, Oct. 7, 2025]

Another PA official said Israel was planning this for a long time:

Head of the international relations and communications unit of the PA-controlled Committee to Resist Settlements and the Wall Younes Arar: “They have unleashed the reins for the colonialist terrorist [settler] gangs to act as they wish under the full protection of the occupation (i.e., Israeli] army, legal and political protection, funding, and they use the excuse… which is Oct. 7. [They use] the excuse of preventing another Oct. 7 from happening in the West Bank… The Oct. 7 that they used to destroy the Gaza Strip — and completely destroy the Gaza Strip — is a plan that existed in the occupation state, and they talked about it for a long time.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, Panorama, Dec. 9, 2025]

Abbas’ advisor also described the Oct. 7 atrocities and war as “an opportunity” for Israel:

Host: “Do you think that what happened on Oct. 7  was an opportunity for a comprehensive Palestinian confrontation, but this opportunity was missed?”

Al-Habbash: “We do not judge or analyze what happened on Oct. 7 from the perspective of whether it is a Palestinian right or not. It is the Palestinian’s right to resist (i.e., commit terror] and the Palestinian’s right to defend himself. This is legitimate, no one disputes this point … An event or action is not analyzed by itself, from the perspective of whether it is legitimate or not. It must also be analyzed according to its results. As for the results of what happened on Oct. 7… The consequences and results are catastrophic. This was an opportunity for Israel, firstly to get rid of the internal tensions it had between the government and the opposition. It united the Israeli position.” [emphasis added]

[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, June 10, 2026]

PMW has shown consistently that the PA uses lies and libels as policy to whitewash all Palestinian terror, atrocities, and even political failures. And this PA Oct. 7 libel is one more example.

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