Report: Mahmoud Abbas’s Faction Claims to Have Participated in October 7

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the military wing of the “moderate” Fatah party to which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas belongs, claimed Tuesday that it was involved in the October 7 terror attack on Israel.

Israel’s Channel 7 reported (translated from Hebrew):

Abu Muhammad, the official spokesman for the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades (Al-Amoudi Brigade), the military arm of the Fatah movement led by [Palestinian Authority President] Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), confirms in an official statement that the organization’s operatives participated in the October 7 attack and attacked IDF positions and Israeli towns.

“On the seventh of October our heroes in the brave unit participated in the invasion of the colonies (settlements) in the Gaza Envelope and the (military) positions known as the Gaza Division, and together with our brothers in the Palestinian struggle organizations we captured many scores [of hostages], some of them were transferred and some are still in our hands,” said Abu Muhammad in a video message published last week.

It is not clear why Fatah’s armed wing would seek to claim credit now, given the potential repercussions for Abbas among his western backers. There is evidence that Palestinians continue to support the October 7 attacks, and the Fatah party may want to share in the credit. Alternatively, Fatah may hope to share credit with Hamas in order to thwart western attempts to exclude terrorists or terror-supporting movements from future governments in Gaza.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.