The Palestinian Authority has had a special and warm relationship with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, and before him with Hugo Chavez, as one of soulmates.
The PA has actively and openly placed itself firmly in the camp of the notorious human rights-abusing Venezuelan dictators. Following the US raid and arrest of President Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on charges including narco-terrorism and drug trafficking – with an audacious military operation in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas – the PA has remained silent for now, fearing a US reaction to its support for Maduro.
However, the PA camaraderie with Maduro has been fundamental to PA policy.
Evidence
• A few months ago, when US President Donald Trump started to threaten Venezuela, the PA held an anti-American demonstration at the Venezuelan embassy in Ramallah in support of Maduro. Ramallah Governor Laila Ghannam participated and posted her anti-American messages and pictures on her Facebook page:
“As a sign of rejecting the American threats against friendly Venezuela, I participated in the solidarity vigil that was organized by the national forces in front of the Venezuelan Embassy building of Caracas in the State of Palestine in order to affirm our people’s support for the people and government of Venezuela.”
[Ramallah and Al-Bireh District Governor Laila Ghannam, Facebook page, Sept. 18, 2025]
• Mahmoud Abbas’s appointee Ahmad Assaf, who is the director of official PA TV, has a small statue of the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez prominently displayed in his office to show all visitors where the PA’s ideology and values stand.
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 10, 2025]
• The PA has prominently supported the Latin American dictators for years. In 2024, Venezuela held an election, and according to opposition sources, 70% voted against Maduro. Many Western democracies declined to recognize Maduro’s election. The PA, however, welcomed Maduro’s rule, and Abbas sent his special envoy to the inauguration.
“President Abbas’ Advisor on International Affairs and Special Envoy Minister Riyad al-Maliki participated in the inauguration ceremony of President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro as the representative of President Mahmoud Abbas…
“Al-Maliki conveyed President Mahmoud Abbas’ congratulations to President-elect Maduro and wishes for success in serving his country and his people… He also emphasized that the State of Palestine is showing interest in strengthening the relations with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in all areas of common interest.”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 12, 2025]
• In 2024, the PA sent Fatah leader Abbas Zaki to an event in Venezuela under the auspices of President Maduro. The PA leader praised the communist dictators of Latin America and compared Maduro to Fidel Castro and Che Guevara:
“Thank Allah who created in Latin America – which is geographically far but closest to the Palestinians’ hearts – great leaders who are restoring the memory of [former Cuban President] Fidel Castro and [former Communist leader Che] Guevara, like President Maduro.”
Maduro, in turn, expressed the dictator’s support for the PA. “Maduro described what is happening in Palestine as the Israeli occupation committing a genocide against the Palestinian people for 75 years,” i.e., since Israel’s creation.
[Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, Facebook page, June 18, 2024]
Ramallah-Caracas: Warm ties that stretch back
In 2023, Mahmoud Abbas sent the Chairman of the Palestinian National Council, Rawhi Fattouh, to Venezuela to deliver a personal message from Abbas to Maduro:
“Fattouh also laid a wreath of flowers on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas on the monument of historic leader Hugo Chavez.”
[WAFA, official PA news agency, July 27, 2023]
The picture shows Fattouh and the wreath with the words “President of the State of Palestine Mr. Mahmoud Abbas” written in Spanish.
[Palestinian National Council Chairman Rawhi Fattouh, Facebook page, July 28, 2023]
In 2018, Western democracies also rejected Maduro’s election victory and announced that they would recognize opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the legitimate leader. Russia, China, Mexico, Syria, Iran, and Turkey supported Maduro, while the US, EU, Canada, Israel, and some countries in Latin America backed Guaidó. Aligning with the anti-democratic regimes, the PA rallied behind Maduro.
PA Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Maliki participated in Maduro’s inauguration ceremony and brought Maduro personal congratulations from Mahmoud Abbas:
“Al-Maliki congratulated President Maduro on receiving the presidency, wished him success in his service of the Venezuelan people, and conveyed to him the congratulations and wishes of [PA President] Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership that always stands by Venezuela and its people, as Palestine does not forget its friends.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 12, 2019]
The PA Foreign Ministry “condemned several states” for their “interference” against him:
“The PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its concern given the events taking place in Venezuela and condemned several states’ interference in the state’s internal affairs and direct [interference] through support for the coup attempt against legally elected President Maduro.”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 25, 2019]
PLO EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE member Ahmed Majdalani, meanwhile, attacked the US and also accused it of “interference” in Venezuela’s affairs while condemning the “coup attempt” against Maduro:
“The blatant American interference in states’ affairs, as is happening in Venezuela, is a direct continuation of the policy of [US President Donald] Trump’s administration, whose goal is to usurp the will of the peoples... and [condemned] the coup attempt against the legitimacy of elected President Maduro.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 25, 2018]
The PA official daily reported on demonstrations supporting Maduro:
“The Palestinian and Venezuelan peoples face the same enemy - which is the US.”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 25, 2019]
An op-ed in the official PA daily ripped into US President Trump’s speech at the UN about Venezuela:
“The new cowboy (i.e., US President Donald Trump) blatantly threatened a sovereign state – Venezuela – and its president. He announced that his administration would attack [Venezuelan] President Nicolás Maduro and unequivocally incited the army to carry out a coup against a president who was legally elected. He also attacked socialism as if his capitalist system is in better shape...”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 27, 2018]
Subsequently, protesters held posters with Venezuelan and Palestinian flags at a solidarity rally in Ramallah, where PA leaders also participated. One poster showed pictures of Donald Trump with an “X” across his face and the words
“American Imperialism, Enemy of the Nations.”
The rally participants chanted: “America is the head of the snake, blessings from Ramallah to proud Caracas.”
[Official Fatah Facebook page, May 21, 2019]
As a sign of this friendship, the Palestinian Embassy in Venezuela erected a statue of “President Martyr Yasser Arafat in Liberator Simon Bolivar Monument Square.” PA Ambassador Linda Sobeh “again emphasized Palestine’s support for Venezuela in light of the situation that it is going through (i.e., violent clashes between the regime and opposition forces following Maduro’s fraudulent election).”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 17, 2019]
As a further sign of camaraderie, the PA named a hospital after the dictator, which was called “the Palestinian-Venezuelan Hugo Chavez Eye Disease Hospital… according to the instructions of [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, and constitutes a source of Palestinian national pride.”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 1, 2018]
The PA’s next move
With the Palestinian Authority desperate for US aid and support as it seeks a position of power in some future Gaza entity, Mahmoud Abbas is attempting to conceal his longstanding embrace of Venezuela’s anti-American regime. Abbas seems petrified that President Trump might realize the PA’s place squarely within the anti-American ideological axis.
Abbas has thus ensured that the PA’s official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, remained silent on the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, even as the story featured prominently in other Palestinian newspapers. The fear was so acute that Abbas’s paper did not publish a single news item about Venezuela on Jan. 5, let alone an opinion piece.
By contrast, independent Palestinian newspapers filled their pages with coverage of events in Venezuela, including columns sharply attacking the US. Al-Quds, the largest Palestinian daily, published 15 articles on the issue, seven of them openly critical of the US, and devoted an entire page to short commentary responses – all critical.
Al-Ayyam, the second-largest daily, ran 18 articles on Venezuela, at least two of them critical, and dedicated a full page to photographs highlighting pro-Maduro protests around the world.
The blackout in Al-Hayat is revealing precisely because it is unnatural. The paper’s refusal to criticize the US over Venezuela exposes how tightly the PA’s official media is controlled. The PA keenly fears the consequences of letting Washington know where it stands in the conflict between the US and the anti-American axis.
This sudden discipline does not signal an ideological change. The PA remains aligned with anti-American regimes and worldviews. The difference is tactical: What has changed is only the PA’s need to hide its essential ideologies from Donald Trump.
The writer is the director of Palestinian Media Watch, which presents its studies on Palestinian ideology and policy to legislators and governments worldwide. He was appointed by the Israeli government to represent Israel in negotiations on incitement with the PA in 1999. The author of the acclaimed book Deception, he is the recipient of awards from ZOA, Israel Media Watch, and EMET.