After falsely accusing IDF of killing Israeli civilians, PA says ‘priority now is not to engage in spats’

The Palestinian Authority responds to a speech by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night, in which he slammed the PA for falsely accusing Israel of carrying out the October 7 massacre at an outdoor rave party in southern Israel.

In a declaration by PA presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Ramallah says that “the priority now […] is not to engage in spats and trivial issues that do not deserve a response,” adding that “Netanyahu’s statements since the beginning of the aggression prove that this government seeks to perpetuate its occupation of all the Palestinian territories.”

“President Abbas’s efforts are currently focused on stopping the barbaric Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and their holy places in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem,” Abu Rudeineh adds.

The PA’s Foreign Ministry additionally accuses Israel of fabricating media material to justify its offensive against the Gaza Strip.

Yesterday, the PA Foreign Ministry falsely claimed in a statement that the Israel Defense Forces was responsible for the death of all the partygoers near Kibbutz Re’im during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught. The claim originated in a detail from a Haaretz story published on Saturday that was widely picked up in the Arab press and shared on social media, distorted and taken out of context.

In a video released on Sunday in Hebrew and English, Netanyahu responded harshly to the accusation, calling the statement “utterly preposterous” and a “complete reversal of truth.”

Netanyahu also said that PA President Mahmoud Abbas, “who in the past has denied the existence of the Holocaust, today is denying the existence of the Hamas massacre and that’s unacceptable.”

Following the Israeli backlash, the PA Foreign Ministry deleted its statement from its social media accounts on Sunday night, but Hebrew media said it was sent as a document to diplomats and to the United Nations.

The PA foreign minister did not respond to a request for comment.