A senior official in Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement wondered in a recent television interview why the Islamic State (ISIS) is not attacking Israel.
The answer, according to Fatah Central Committee member Sultan Abu Al-Einein, is simple: the conduct of ISIS is "an extension of the Zionist enterprise".
Al-Einein’s comments were made in an interview which aired on February 5 on the Lebanese NBN TV channel. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) translated the interview.
“I consider [ISIS’s] conduct to be an extension of the Zionist enterprise. I really don’t get it. If these people claim that the Israelis are the enemies of Allah...in Quneitra, they are situated along a 12 km border with the occupied Golan, but they have not shot and killed a single Israeli. Not even once,” said Al-Einein.
“Their wounded receive treatment from the Israelis,” he continued. “Where did this love story come from? Does Israel support at least some of them? How? Why?”
It should be noted that the West often praises Fatah as a “moderate peace partner” of Israel, distinguishing it from Hamas, which is recognized as a terrorist group by some Western countries.
Nevertheless, Fatah continues to incite to terrorism against Israel, as well as advocate for its destruction.
In November, after several stabbings and "car rampages" murdering Israelis near the Jerusalem light rail, Fatah took to Facebook to publish a slew of cartoons, videos, and other media praising the attacks and calling for more terrorism against Israelis and Jews.
Days earlier, the ruling faction of the PA called for a "day of rage" against Israel on its page after Israeli security forces killed Mu'taz Ibrahim Khalil Hijazi, the terrorist behind the Yehuda Glick assassination attempt.
Senior Fatah member Jibril Rajoub has in the past said that Jews deserved the genocide inflicted on them by the Nazis. He previously declared that if the PA had a nuclear bomb, it would use it against Israel.
Al-Einein himself was documented on PA TV expressing his support for the terrorist murder of Israeli man Evyatar Borovsky.