PA celebrates antisemitic campus hate fests
- Official Fatah spokesperson: Campus “protest movement came as a result of an effort that the Palestinian communities there have made for many years…”
- Prominent Palestinian activist in America on PA TV: “This is what makes us happy in the American arena and this is part of the fruits of the ongoing labor that has been conducted by the Arab, Palestinian, and Islamic communities”
- Fatah Shabiba Youth Movement: “Appreciation for student protest movement at the American universities” supporting the war against “the occupation, which has been continuing for more than 75 years (i.e. since the establishment of modern Israel)”
Anti-Israel illegal encampments, initiated on campuses across the United States, have now been spreading all around the world. In many cases, they have featured intimidation and attacks that have placed Jews and supporters of Israel in physical danger, with some even hospitalized. The situation has deteriorated so much to the point that Columbia University and the University of Southern California have canceled graduation ceremonies. Overall, many Jewish students have reported feeling extremely unsafe.
It comes as no surprise that the PA gives these hate fests its overwhelming support as it is the source of the talking points for the anti-Israel movement.
A recurring libel serving to delegitimize Israel at these demonstrations has been the fundamental message of PA ideology, which is that the State of Israel is a colonialist implant and therefore has no right to exist.
Fatah’s youth movement, Shabiba, in its statement of thanks to students in the United States and at Columbia University in particular, called the conflict with Israel a “war of occupation” that “has been continuing for more than 75 years,” meaning since the establishment of the modern State of Israel.
“The Fatah Shabiba [Youth] Movement expressed its appreciation for the student protest movement at the American universities supporting the Palestinian cause… [At] a time when our Palestinian people is dealing wherever it is with a policy of discrimination and apartheid and with the war of occupation, which has been continuing for more than 75 years (i.e., since the establishment of modern Israel), this important, historic, and unprecedented student protest movement comes to support the Palestinian cause…”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, April 27, 2024]
The statement of thanks, which was published by the PA’s official news agency, has a picture of a protestor at Columbia University waving a Palestinian flag covered by the Fatah Shabiba Youth Movement logo.
Besides thanking the students, Shabiba also leveled fierce criticism at any attempt by the authorities to finally restore a semblance of order to campus. It totally disregarded the antisemitism so prevalent at these protests by passing them off as “false accusations...on the pretext of antisemitism…in a manner that contradicts democratic principles and values:”
“The Fatah Shabiba Movement condemned the attacks against the protesting students and the lecturers at the American universities, the blow to their right to express an opinion and to assembly, the hurling of false accusations against them on the pretext of ‘Antisemitism,’ the arrest of a number of the students, and the exaggeratedly violent treatment of them by the police officers and those opposing this historic protest movement. It expressed its opposition to all the punitive measures and suspension decisions taken against a number of the male students, female students, and lecturers, in a manner that contradicts the democratic principles and values that the US has waved around as a slogan since its establishment.”
On official PA TV, a prominent journalist also hurled criticism at the attempts to restore order, saying that they were a defense of evil:
Egyptian state-owned paper Al Gomhuria Deputy Editor-in-Chief Ihab Nafea: “The stubborn behavior in managing the crisis by Columbia University President [Minouche Shafik] - she is attempting to gain favor with the American administration and is presenting herself as being against what is happening, but I think she will pay a heavy price for this because in the end, she is defending evil and the students are defending justice.”
[Official PA TV, Capital of Capitals, May 6, 2024]
The PLO indicated through an official Fatah spokesperson on official PA news that the protests were the culmination of a longstanding coordinated effort by Palestinian communities in the US:
“PLO Executive Committee member Osama Al-Qawasmi expressed his appreciation for the student protest movement that supports the Palestinian cause at the universities of the US and some other states. In a statement to [the official PA] radio [station] The Voice of Palestine, he explained that this protest movement came as a result of an effort that the Palestinian communities there have made for many years…
[WAFA, official PA news agency, May 1, 2024]
The notion that these protests are part of a greater coordinated effort was also asserted on official PA TV by a prominent Palestinian activist in the US:
“This is what makes us happy in the American arena and this is part of the fruits of the ongoing labor that has been conducted by the Arab, Palestinian, and Islamic communities and the supporters in the American arena… What is currently happening in the American arena is a shout to humanity, a shout against oppression, a shout to support the Palestinians, and a shout to this [American] administration that has not relinquished its Zionism and its positions, which joined itself to the occupation state (i.e., Israel) in its war of annihilation against our people in the Gaza Strip in particular and in the West Bank and Palestine in general.”
[Palestinian activist in the US Hayel Mansour,Official PA TV, April 26, 2024]
Finally, the PA’s goal of delegitimizing Israel to the point that it would lead to the state’s destruction was reiterated in a recent PA TV broadcast:
Arab American paper Al-Hawadeth Editor-in-Chief Adnan Khalil: “The occupation state (i.e., Israel) can’t live without the world and without the wealthy capitalist states. It was planted by Western colonialism. It was supported and is still supported [by it]… Now, as the [American] masses have turned against these regimes, this is a very big thing, very big and very influential. We’ll see the liberation of Palestine in our lifetime without a doubt.”
[Official PA TV, April 30, 2024]
Through its hate speech, the PA leadership has manipulated university students around the world into thinking that by fighting Jews and Israel, they are fighting colonialism and imperialism. And as events worldwide have demonstrated, the PA hate propaganda has been very effective.
The following are longer excerpts of statements cited above:
Headline: “The Fatah Shabiba [Youth Movement] expresses its appreciation for the student protest movement at the American universities, and calls to take the most extensive action at the homeland’s universities”
“The Fatah Shabiba [Youth] Movement expressed its appreciation for the student protest movement at the American universities supporting the Palestinian cause. It praised the American academics who stood alongside the values of freedom, justice, and equality against injustice, racism, and occupation…
In a statement, Shabiba said that at a time when our Palestinian people is dealing wherever it is with a policy of discrimination and apartheid and with the war of occupation, which has been continuing for more than 75 years (i.e., since the establishment of modern Israel), this important, historic, and unprecedented student protest movement comes to support the Palestinian cause…
The Fatah Shabiba Movement condemned the attacks against the protesting students and the lecturers at the American universities, the blow to their right to express an opinion and to assembly, the hurling of false accusations against them on the pretext of ‘Antisemitism,’ the arrest of a number of the students, and the exaggeratedly violent treatment of them by the police officers and those opposing this historic protest movement. It expressed its opposition to all the punitive measures and suspension decisions taken against a number of the male students, female students, and lecturers, in a manner that contradicts the democratic principles and values that the US has waved around as a slogan since its establishment.
Shabiba emphasized its opposition to the American policy, which is based on full partnership with the aggression against our people by supplying an airlift of ammunition and weapons with which the massacres are being committed against defenseless children and women, and by providing financial aid… in addition to the diplomatic backing that the American administration is providing to continue the war of annihilation, and the use of the veto against all our people’s attempts to extricate its right through the international system…
In light of the human torch that was lit in the heart of the US, which… delineates the face of the future and corrects the historical mistakes committed by the American administrations throughout history, the Fatah Shabiba Movement calls on its activists in the homeland and abroad, the student cells, and the student councils in the Palestinian universities, the youth organizations, the professional associations, and all our people… to continue escalating the activity and the struggle of the Palestinian students and young people at all the universities and educational institutions, and in all the local and international arenas. It also calls on the protest movements and the student and youth organizations worldwide to follow the path of the American students and lecturers… through sit-in strikes, marches supporting the Palestinian right, and exerting pressure on the governments and the various educational institutions’ administrations to stop all kinds of aid to the Israeli occupation in the genocide war against the Palestinian people. It expresses its appreciation for the expansion of the protest movements in Australia, Canada, the European states, and the Arab and Islamic world, until our people will achieve its rights to freedom and independence, and until stopping the genocide against our Palestinian people.”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, April 27, 2024]
The article includes a picture of an anti-Israeli student protest at Columbia University, in which a protestor is waving a Palestinian flag. On top of the picture is the Fatah Shabiba Youth Movement logo, featuring the PA map of “Palestine” that presents all of Israel together with the PA areas as “Palestine” in the colors of the Palestinian flag.
Text on picture: “The Fatah Shabiba [Movement] expresses its appreciation for the student protest movement at the American universities and its support for it, and calls for the most extensive student activity at the Palestinian universities”
Headline: “Al-Qawasmi expresses his appreciation for the student protest movement at the universities of the US and Europe, which supports the Palestinian cause”
“PLO Executive Committee member Osama Al-Qawasmi expressed his appreciation for the student protest movement that supports the Palestinian cause at the universities of the US and some other states…
In a statement to [the official PA] radio [station] The Voice of Palestine, he explained that this protest movement came as a result of an effort that the Palestinian communities there have made for many years…
He noted that Washington’s endless support for Israel, its use of the veto at the [UN] Security Council, and the continuation of the genocide war against our people had a great effect on the American street.
Al-Qawasmi noted that the suppression of the demonstrations of solidarity with the Palestinian cause at the universities achieved opposite results: It caused an expansion of the solidarity and its spread to additional universities.”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, May 1, 2024]
Osama Al-Qawasmi also serves as Fatah Movement Revolutionary Council member and official Fatah Spokesperson.
Hamas war on Israel October 2023 - At least 1,200 Israelis, including over 1,000 civilians, were murdered and over 4,800 wounded, in addition to approximately 244 who were abducted into the Gaza Strip (including 110 later released or liberated and at least 26 later killed), in a Hamas terror war that began when approximately 3,000 Hamas terrorists broke through Israel's security fence at the Gaza Strip border and launched a surprise attack, taking control of several Israeli towns and attacking a music festival on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, which fell on the Sabbath, Oct. 7, 2023. During the massacre, the terrorists tortured, raped, shot, beheaded, and burned their victims alive, murdering entire families and leaving at least 21 children without parents. Hamas terrorists also fired at least 5,000 rockets at Israeli population centers. In response, Israel launched the Swords of Iron War to counter the Hamas terror threat. Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon joined Hamas' terror war starting from the following day, attacking Israel from the north. Occasional rocket launches and shootings continued from Lebanon throughout the war. A ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal began on Nov. 24, 2023, in which Israel agreed to release 150 terrorist prisoners, pause drone surveillance in the Gaza Strip, and allow movement between the northern and southern Gaza Strip, in return for 50 Israeli female and child hostages held by Hamas. The deal was subsequently extended with additional releases, until Hamas violated the agreement and resumed attacking on Dec. 1, 2023.