Video: Top advisor to Abu Mazen praises terrorist who murdered 37 civilians
We've seen thisbefore, haven'twe? Once again, the 'Palestinians' mark the death of terrorist Dalal al-Mughrabi - after she murdered 36 Israeli civilians and one American civilian on a passenger bus - by praising her as a hero.
At an event, Fatah's spokesman Ahmad Assaf praised terrorist Dalal Mughrabi as "an extraordinary example of struggle, whose headline is bravery, heroism, sacrifice and courage" and who "inspired her generation and the next generations." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 12, 2014]
The official Palestinian Authority daily reported from the event that "Fatah promised to the masses of our heroic people that it would remain loyal to the promise of the Martyr Dalal and her companions, and to all the Martyrs, until freedom, independence and return." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 17, 2014]
Mahmoud Abbas' advisor on NGOs Sultan Abu Al-Einein said at another event:
"I am greatly honored to be standing [here] today, so days that are important to us all will never be erased from our memory. In March, [we mark] Palestinian Women’s Day, in March, Palestinian Mother’s Day also occurs, in March [we remember] that dark-skinned young woman from the Shatila [refugee] camp [Dalal Mughrabi], who would not agree to anything other than to establish her state between Jaffa and Lebanon in her special way; that young woman who fought along with her comrades until her ammunition ran out. Yes, March is honored by this Palestinian blood... They [Israelis] are deluding themselves if they think the negotiations are our only choice. Let the young people hear me: Allah, honor us with Martyrdom (Shahada). Allah, give us the honor of being part of the procession of Martyrs." [Official PA TV Live, March 17, 2014]
The truth is that the 'Palestinians' honoring Mughrabi is not surprising. The largest terror attack in Israel's history (in terms of number of deaths) is largely forgotten. About seven months ago, my car broke down, and I ended up parked in front of the memorial for the victims of what's known here as the coastal road massacre. (For you Israelis, it's on the southbound Tel Aviv - Haifa highway, between Herzliya and the entrance to Route 5 and the Ayalon). NOT ONE tow truck company representative or driver had a clue what I meant when I said I was parked next to the memorial. How sad!
'Palestinians': Honor the 'martyrs' and forget the donors
Sabri Saidam, an adviser to 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen, has defended the 'Palestinian' practice of honoring terrorists by naming events and places after them and turning them into role models.
Abbas' advisor said Palestinians should continue this practice and not be concerned about the condemnation from foreign countries or the possibility that countries who support the PA financially will cut funding:
"Blessings to the souls of our Shahids (Martyrs), whom we will not forget - not for the sake of a grant, not for the sake of a deal..."
Earlier this year, Saidam expressed strong support for naming a square after the terrorist Dalal Mughrabi whose bus hijacking killed 37 Israeli civilians in 1978. The official PA daily reported that he "emphasized that the anniversary of Dalal's Martyrdom-seeking (i.e., her terror attack) should be made greater by inaugurating a [city] square in her name." Following a popular inauguration of the "Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Square," Saidam told Agence France-Presse:
"Every one of us has tried in his own way to express his pride in this Shahida [Martyr Dalal Mughrabi]."
In the recent article he wrote in the official PA daily, he also expressed sorrow over the fact that some Palestinians view the Martyrs "as a burden" and do not wish to commemorate them out of fear of evoking international condemnation:
"How it pains me to see people who view our Shahids (Martyrs) as a burden because the donors will be angry and some countries will complain, or because economic and everyday interests will be harmed... Blessings to the souls of our Shahids, whom we will not forget - not for the sake of a grant, not for the sake of a deal, and not for the sake of a position."
Saidam lamented that Palestinian youth don't know the names of past leaders, and mentioned three Fatah leaders from the 1960s: Abu Ali Iyad, Abd Al-Fatah Hamoud, Ahmad Al-Shuqeiri. Abu Ali Iyad was appointed head of Fatah military operations in 1966, and was responsible for several terror attacks. Abd Al-Fatah Hamoud was one of the founding members of Fatah and Ahmad Al-Shuqeiri was the first chairman of the PLO.
Read the whole thing. Peace will never happen so long as the 'Palestinians' insist on lionizing terrorists.
Fayyad's summer camp divisions named after terrorists
When I went to summer camp, the lower divisions were named after animals (we were called Gurim, Kfirim and Arayot, which were three stages in the life of lions) and then the higher divisions had names that indicated their loftier status (they were called Maalot, which means merits, and Kerem, the CIT unit from which future counselors would be chosen).
'Palestinian' summer camp is a little... different. Even when it's run by the 'moderates' from Fatah.
A Palestinian Authority summer camp for children divided its campers into three groups named after the terrorists Dalal Mughrabi, Salah Khalaf and Abu Ali Mustafa.
Dalal Mughrabi in 1978 led the most lethal terror attack in Israel's history, in which 37 civilians were killed, 12 of them children. Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad) was the head of the Black September terror group. He planned many terror attacks including the murder of two American diplomats, as well as the murder of 11 Israeli athletes in the Munich Olympics in 1972. Abu Ali Mustafa, General Secretary of the terror organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He planned numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians during the Palestinian terror campaign ("the Intifada").
A fourth group was named after Yasser Arafat.
The summer camp was held under the auspices of PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who visited the camp to participate in the closing ceremonies, which he also sponsored.
And you think that if they become a state they won't attack us?
And again: Official 'Palestinian Authority' television glorifies mass murderer
In February, I reported on a 'Palestinian' television campaign that glorified Dalal al-Mughrabi, the woman who led the 1978 coastal road massacre in which 37 Israeli civilians were murdered. At the time, one of the key parts of the story was the involvement of an agency of the Untied Nations in sponsoring the campaign. That agency's logo is no longer associated with the campaign.
But the campaign has taken on a life of its own, and on Thursday May 5, it was once again shown on 'Palestinian Authority' television.
One of the women promoted in the clip as role models for Arab women today is Dalal Mughrabi, famous for her terrorist attack that killed dozens of Israelis, and another, Al Khansa, who is famous for celebrating the Martyrdom deaths of her children.
The clip is part of the "White Hands Campaign - The largest media campaign to support women's issues," which is organized by "the Arab Producers Union for TV (APUTV)," according to the campaign's English website. [accessed May 9, 2011, http://www.whitehandsc.com/en/component/content/72.html?task=view]
When PMW first reported on this campaign, the website listed the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) as part of the campaign's organizers and carried the organization's logo. Following PMW's exposure of the UN's stated involvement in the campaign, UNFPA issued a press release "disavowing" its involvement in the campaign. The campaign has since then removed the UNFPA logo from its website.
Entitled The Model Woman, the clip honors different Arab women of the past, assigning to them various virtues and accomplishments. Dalal Mughrabi, who in 1978 led the most lethal terror attack against Israel, in which 37 civilians were killed, is venerated in the clip as a role model for "Martyrdom" and "victory over enmity". Al Khansa, a 7th century Arab poet, who celebrated her four sons' Martyrdom deaths in battle is praised as an example of "resolve" and "Martyrdom and giving".
The website explains that "women are essential partners and important actors for the development of society," and mentions that one of the campaign's objectives is "to bring about distinguished women samples that have offered great services to society."
It further states that "societies signal distinguished samples of personalities with pride, and reflect the spot lights on them in order for them [Arab women] to take an inspirational course for generations to come. Arabic societies like other societies, highly appreciate figures where great virtues of giving transcend in different fields, and there is nothing greater than distinguished women in our societies, as they are great models to be followed by the old or the young, these women can be the working farmers, the teachers, the doctors, the engineers, the scientists, the lawyers, the activists in all fields whether social or political, they are the ones to sacrifice, and in all of their cases, they are the mothers!" [http://www.whitehandsc.com/en/component/content/51.html?task=view]
The campaign's English website also states that "APUTV works under the umbrella of the Arab League, and through the Arab Ministers Information Council." And that "APUTV's official headquarters are in Cairo- Egypt."
Someone must have told the US State Department that Monday was Purim in Jerusalem, because the State Department came up with a statement that is a real flying pigs moment (Hat Tip: CAMERA). The US State Department explicitly condemned the naming of a town square in El Bira after Coastal Road Massacre leader Dalal al-Mughrabi. This is from the first link:
"We condemn this commemoration of terrorism and have conveyed our deep concern about this incident to senior officials in the Palestinian Authority and have urged them to address it," Mark Toner, the State Department's spokesman, said March 17. "We underscore that all parties have an obligation to end any form of incitement."
The statement was more definitive than one issued earlier in the week by a State Department official who said the Obama administration was seeking clarification on the matter.
Jewish groups, including the foreign policy umbrella body of the Jewish community, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, had complained that the earlier statement did not go far enough.
Toner's statement appeared to be a response to those complaints: Toner is the most senior spokesman at the State Department, and he led his briefing with the statement instead of reserving it as a response to a reporter's question -- a signal that the State Department uses to convey priority.
While the Jews buried their dead on Sunday, the 'Palestinians' dedicated a square in the town of El Bireh - next to Ramallah - to the memory of Dalal al-Mughrabi, the terrorist who led the squad that perpetrated the Coastal Road Massacre on March 11, 1978.
Palestinians from President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction named a town square on Sunday after the leader of a 1978 bus hijacking in which 35 Israelis were killed.
The ceremony, in Al-Bireh, a town near the Palestinian city of Ramallah, was held while Israelis mourned five members of a Jewish settler family knifed to death on Saturday in a West Bank settlement in an attack Israel blamed on Palestinians.
Many Palestinians see Dalal al-Mughrabi, a member of the then-underground Fatah movement, as a heroine for her role in hijacking the bus on Israel's Haifa-Tel Aviv highway.
Israelis consider Mughrabi, who was killed in the incident, a terrorist.
"We stand here in praise of our martyrs and in loyalty to all of the martyrs of the national movement," Fatah member Sabri Seidam said at the unveiling of a plaque showing Mughrabi cradling a rifle against a backdrop map of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The square was festooned with Palestinian flags.
The dedication was originally scheduled to take place a year ago, but was postponed because Vice President Joe Biden was in town. Somehow, Sunday seems an even less appropriate day (not that there ever is an appropriate day to dedicate a memorial to a terrorist).
UN partners in campaign to present female terrorist to Arab world as role model
I could have headlined this one as "your tax dollars at work," but I just did that in the last post.
The UN is participating in a campaign to present 'women's issues' to the Arab world. As part of that campaign, a clip was broadcast on more than 50 television stations in Arab countries presenting "model women." One of the women presented - as a model of 'martyrdom' and 'victory over enmity' - was Dalal al-Mughrabi, who led the terror attack that killed the largest number of Israelis ever killed in one attack (37). It's known as the 'Coastal Road attack' and occurred in 1978. Al-Mughrabi was also killed in the attack and is frequently presented as a 'martyr' by the 'Palestinian Authority.'
Let's go to the videotape.
The website explains that "women are essential partners and important actors for the development of society," and mentions that one of the campaign's objectives is "to bring about distinguished women samples that have offered great services to society."
It further states that "societies signal distinguished samples of personalities with pride, and reflect the spot lights on them in order for them [Arab women] to take an inspirational course for generations to come. Arabic societies like other societies, highly appreciate figures where great virtues of giving transcend in different fields, and there is nothing greater than distinguished women in our societies, as they are great models to be followed by the old or the young, these women can be the working farmers, the teachers, the doctors, the engineers, the scientists, the lawyers, the activists in all fields whether social or political, they are the ones to sacrifice, and in all of their cases, they are the mothers!" [http://www.whitehandsc.com/en/component/content/51.html?task=view ]
If you go to the campaign's home page, click on "People behind the campaign" and scroll down, you will find the UN agency - with a summary of its work - listed at the bottom. This is the page.
The 'Palestinian Authority' regards Dalal al-Mughrabi as a national heroine. More on instances of the 'Palestinian Authority' honoring her here, here, here and here. She was also honored by al-Jazeera here and here.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
