Amad Media published a statement attributed to the Secretary of the Fatah Movement in Nablus, Mohammad Hamdan, claiming that during his interview with the Washington Post, he said: “That he expects Trump’s return to the White House to lead to the defeat of the ‘jihadists’, and indicated that Fatah, the United States and Israel have a common goal in fighting Hamas, which rejects international legitimacy and UN resolutions. ‘The world cannot accept a situation in which one party does not accept international resolutions.’”
Kashif verified the claim and found it to be misleading. The New York Post interview with Fatah Secretary-General in Nablus, Mohammad Hamdan, was included in an article published on 30/12/2024 by the newspaper. By going through the Washington Post website, Kashif’s team did not find any recent interview with Hamdan.
Kashif’s team entered the article into “Google Translate” and found that it translated the first paragraph, which is literally in English as follows: “NABLUS, West Bank — A top Palestinian leader told The Post he expects that President-elect Donald Trump will “destroy Iran,” which will cause remaining Hamas influence to crumble” to the following text: “NABLUS, West Bank — A prominent Palestinian leader told The Washington Post that he expects President-elect Donald Trump to “destroy Iran,” which will cause remaining Hamas influence to crumble.”
“Google Translate” translated “The Post” as “The Washington Post” even though it refers to “The New York Post.”
Kashif also contacted the New York Post, which confirmed that the statement attributed to Hamdan, “Fatah, the United States, and Israel have a common goal in fighting Hamas,” was not quoted by Hamdan, but rather is an analysis by journalist Caitlin Doornbos, who wrote the article.
Upon examining the New York Post article, Kashif found that the journalist had mentioned, before her analysis, which was attributed to Hamdan as a statement, a set of information that was also not mentioned by Hamdan, namely:
The Palestinian Authority said it had killed at least three extremist militants in Jenin since the December 6 incident, and vowed to either arrest or eliminate all those involved.
The Post interviewed Hamdan and several senior Palestinian Authority leaders in Nablus, an hour south of Jenin, on December 19.
“Hamas took over the Gaza Strip after winning elections in 2006, imposing a harsh rule that included Islamist repression in the Palestinian territories and repeated attacks on Israel, culminating in the 7/10/2023, attack on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people and captured more than 250.”
The newspaper reported that Mohammad Hamdan indicated that Trump’s return to the White House could lead to the defeat of jihadist groups. Hamdan said, “We see that Trump and the ruling government in Israel are planning to destroy Iran, and therefore Hamas followers will have no choice but to become Palestinians.”
“Hamas rejects international legitimacy, including UN resolutions. The world cannot accept a situation in which a party is not committed to international resolutions,” he added.
| Sources of Claim | Sources of Verification |
| Amad Media Website Amad Media | The New York Times The Washington Post |