The Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the West Bank and presents itself internationally as a moderate partner for peace, continues to broadcast explicit calls for the extermination of Jews through its official television channels. These sermons, delivered by PA-appointed religious figures, invoke religious language to demand the complete destruction of Jews, contradicting the PA’s diplomatic image and Oslo-era commitments.
Recurring Eliminationist Rhetoric
On May 22, 2026, PA Shari’ah Judge Abdallah Harb appeared on official PA TV and stated: “O Allah… strike Your enemies and the enemies of Your religion… O Allah, count them, and kill them one by one, and do not leave even one.” This is not an isolated incident. Similar messages have aired repeatedly, including on January 10, 2025, January 24, 2025, July 5, 2024, and numerous earlier occasions. Palestinian Media Watch has identified this phrasing as a recurring “mantra” on PA platforms.
These broadcasts originate from state-controlled media under the leadership of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. They feature appointed judges, imams, and preachers who use official airtime to promote the idea that Jews as a people must be eliminated entirely — not merely criticized as a political entity or military force.
Broader Pattern in PA Institutions
This rhetoric fits a larger pattern within PA and Fatah institutions:
- Pay-for-Slay Policy: The PA provides monthly stipends to terrorists and their families for attacks against Israelis and Jews.
- Education System: Textbooks and school materials frequently demonize Jews and glorify violence.
- Religious Incitement: Sermons often reference the Hadith about the end times in which rocks and trees call out to Muslims to kill hidden Jews.
While the PA distinguishes itself from Hamas for Western audiences, both entities share core elements of rejectionist ideology. Hamas’s original 1988 Charter was openly genocidal. Its 2017 revision was largely cosmetic for public relations purposes. The PA, meanwhile, has never fully amended its foundational documents that reject Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.
Context and Implications
Critics sometimes defend such statements as “prayers,” “out of context,” or reactions to “occupation.” However, repeated public calls on state television to “kill them one by one and leave not even one” meet standard definitions of incitement to genocide under international law. These messages target Jews specifically, not solely Israeli policies or military personnel.
Polls from organizations like the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research consistently show significant Palestinian support for armed struggle and rejection of permanent peace with Israel as a Jewish state. This environment helps explain the repeated failure of peace negotiations: one party’s official institutions and media systematically reject the legitimacy of the other side’s existence.
Normalization and a genuine two-state outcome would require the PA to end this state-sponsored incitement, reform its education system, and stop rewarding terrorism. Until then, such rhetoric reveals a deep ideological barrier to coexistence. The documentation comes primarily from Arabic-language primary sources translated and archived by monitoring groups such as Palestinian Media Watch and MEMRI.
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