20% of opinion columns published by the Palestinian Authority’s official newspaper are antisemitic, new study shows, denying the existence of the Jewish people and pushing traditional anti-Jewish canards of world domination.
By World Israel News Staff
The Palestinian Authority is directly involved in spreading antisemitic canards, according to a new study, which examined opinion pieces published by an official PA newspaper.
On Tuesday, the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) published the results from a new study which examined content in the official newspaper of the Palestinian Authority, Al-Hayat al-Jadida (The New Life), between January 2022 and August 2025.
The researchers, Yaakov Katz, Shlomi Breznick, and Eli Kanai, utilized advanced AI-driven tools to assess over 2,300 opinion columns published in Al-Hayat al-Jadida, monitoring the articles both for antisemitic content and for criticism or support for Hamas, a long-time rival of the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah party.
The research used artificial intelligence tools to gauge sentiment, linguistic patterns, and to identify formulations with antisemitic characteristics or that delegitimize Israel. For the purposes of this study, “antisemitism” follows the IHRA definition, which is the definition accepted by the Government of Israel and by a large number of Jewish organizations worldwide.
Roughly 20% of the articles mentioning Jews or Judaism contained clear antisemitic content, including denial of the very existence of a “Jewish people,” claims of Jewish control over the global economy and American elites, and comparisons between Israel and Nazism, the Crusaders, or various colonial entities.
Even in articles that do not mention Jews, Zionism is almost always portrayed as a settler-colonial movement and as the source of Palestinian suffering.
Notably, no significant change was found in the level of antisemitism before and after October 7th, 2023.
While the paper’s opinion pieces generally portrayed Hamas in a negative light, there was a temporary moderation in tone immediately after October 7th, 2023.
In the period prior to October 7th, 62% of the articles on Hamas were classified as “very negative,” 21% as negative, and another 5% as “somewhat negative.” About 10% of the articles were classified as “neutral.” In 82% of the articles, Hamas was described as “illegitimate.”
However, during the first weeks after October 7th, 2023, no articles were classified as “very negative,” and only 22% were classified as negative. Sixty-seven percent of the articles in this period were neutral toward Hamas and its legitimacy, and some 11% were classified as “somewhat positive.”
Positive articles on Hamas are rare, and in most cases are couched as calls for national unity under the PLO rather than as direct expressions of support for the organization.
After the first ceasefire in November 2023, the columns returned to sharp criticism and condemnation of Hamas: 47.5% of the articles were classified as “very negative,” 19.5% as negative, and another 12% as “somewhat negative.” Nineteen percent of the articles were classified as neutral. In 76% of the articles, Hamas is portrayed as illegitimate.
The paper’s opinion pieces were generally critical of the October 7th invasion, but primarily because the authors feared they would give Israel a “pretext” for a major regional escalation, rather than due to a moral rejection of Hamas’ actions.
Two-thirds of articles touching on October 7th presented the invasion in a negative light, with 25% taking a neutral stance and 7% presenting the attacks positively.
Al-Hayat al-Jadida‘s opinion section also took a broadly negative stance on the idea of reaching a peace deal with Israel, with 62% of articles on the subject portraying peace with Israel negatively, while 30% expressed support for such a deal.
The authors of the study warned that the paper, which effectively serves as a spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority, has maintained a consistently hostile line toward Israel and Zionism, and is tainted by “blatant antisemitism.”
The harsh criticism of Hamas “stems from a rejection of political Islam as part of the power struggle over control of the Palestinian people,” not a moral objection to terrorism, the authors added.
“The findings reveal that the PA’s official newspaper maintains an antisemitic narrative that rejects Zionism; at the same time, it repudiates Hamas and depicts it as an extreme and illegitimate actor,” said JPPI President Prof. Yedidia Stern.
“This discourse reflects a profound lack of trust both toward Israel and toward Hamas, which the PA views as a political rival and a threat to its status.”
“Antisemitism, blaming Israel, and discourse delegitimizing Zionism are not incidental – they are part of a fixed normative framing in the PA’s official press. This is a clear reflection of internal discourse that shows how far Palestinian public opinion is from being prepared for reconciliation.”
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