Fatah’s Arafat and Hamas’ Yassin united in goal to destroy Israel
The first video shows archive footage of an event in which then PLO and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat and Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin are sitting next to each other in the front row making statements to the press
PLO and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat: “Allah willing, we will pray together at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the first direction of [Muslim] prayer, and the third [holiest] mosque after the two holy mosques, at the site of Prophet Muhammad’s [Night] Journey, and the cradle of [Jesus] the messiah.”
Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin: “Allah willing, Allah willing.”
Posted text: “It is rare that a man such as yourself is summoned, time is thrifty with people like you”
[Fatah Movement – Bethlehem Branch, Telegram channel, Nov. 10, 2023]
Arafat preached unity among terror organizations
The second video, posted on Nov. 11, 2023, for the 19th anniversary of former PLO and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat’s death, shows archive footage of a speech by Arafat
Text on screen: “When you speak about Yasser Arafat – know that you are speaking about the history of an entire nation. Know that you are speaking about a revolutionary.”
When the audience was singing different party songs, Arafat asked them to stop because all Palestinians “are together”:
PLO and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat: “Brothers… we don’t want political party songs. I tell you on behalf of Fatah, and on behalf of Palestine… For me the Popular [Front for the Liberation of] Palestine is like the Democratic [Front for the Liberation of Palestine], and Hamas is like Fatah. [Islamic] Jihad is like the Arab [Liberation Front]. The [Palestinian Popular] Struggle [Front] is like the Arab [Liberation Front]. We are all together, in one trench until Jerusalem, Allah willing.”
[Fatah Movement – Bethlehem Branch, Telegram channel, Nov. 11, 2023]
PMW was unable to date the original recording of Arafat’s speech.
Yasser Arafat – Founder of Fatah and former chairman of the PLO and PA. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s Arafat was behind numerous terror attacks against Israelis. Although he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 together with then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and then Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East" after signing the Oslo Accords peace agreement, Arafat launched a 5-year terror campaign - the second Intifada (2000-2005) – in which more than 1,000 Israelis were murdered. Arafat died of an illness in 2004.
Ahmed Yassin - Founder and former head of the terror organization Hamas. The Hamas movement is responsible for numerous terror attacks and the murder of hundreds of Israeli civilians. Yassin was killed by Israel in 2004.
Fatah posted these old videos about unity between Fatah and Hamas 5 weeks into Hamas’ terror war on Israel to show Fatah’s support for Hamas:
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 Operation Iron Swords 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.