It is that recognition, says Itamar Marcus of Israel Media Watch, that created an atmosphere in which terrorist murders could slaughter a three month old infant in cold blood, and expect to be applauded on the “Palestinian street” for such a barbaric attack. “It's not just an issue of incitement, but the creation of a whole society that presents murderers of Israelis as heroes worthy of emulation,” Marcus toldArutz 7. “It's not just the media, that is just one aspect of the problem,” he said. “It's the naming of squares, streets, sport tournaments, summer camps, and so much more after terrorists. It's the continuing visits by the PA Minister in charge of terrorists in Israeli jails to the mourning tents of Arabs killed after they carried out a successful terror attack. And it's the continued presentation of Israel as the enemy in PA textbooks and classroom materials.”
As evidence for his claims, Marcus presents a long list of awards, rewards, and honors presented by the PA in honor of terrorists who carried out murderous attacks on Israelis. For example, on March 9 – just two days before the massacre in Itamar – PA chief Mahmoud Abbas' advisor Sabri Saidam delivered a speech in which he emphasized that the PA's weapons must be turned against Israel, and suggested naming a square in the town of El-Birteh after Dalal Mughrabi, one of the perpetrators of 1978 coastal highway massacre. Two days earlier, the PA's Al Hayat Al-Jadida, published an item to the effect that the management of a youth club in Ramallah planned to hold a soccer tournament in memory of Wafa Idris, a suicide bomber. And in January, the Governor of Jenin issued a grant worth $2,000 to the family of Khaldoun Samoudi, a terrorist who was killed while trying to detonate two bombs against IDF soldiers at the Beka'ot Crossing.
Speaking at a government meeting this week on PA incitement, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanuyahu said that “regrettably, we see the PA awarding scholarships to the families of murderers. We see that they name squares after terrorists who murdered dozens of Israelis. These do not jibe with education for peace.”
Marcus advised Israelis not to take the PA's condemnation of the latest terror attack too seriously. “They felt that this time they had to pay lip service to condemn the attack because of its particular barbarity,” he said. “What's important to remember is that soon, a public square or summer camp will be named for these terrorists.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One day after an Israeli family of five was brutally murdered in their home, the Palestinian Authority--the supposed peace partner of the Israeli government--stood by while a square was named for a terrorist who killed 37 Israelis in 1978.
Dalal Mughrabi square was named Sunday in the presence of Fatah party members. Members of Fatah's armed wing carried out the attack against the Fogel family of Itamar in which three children and their parents were stabbed to death Saturday morning.
The Jewish Chronicle further reports that a Fatah youth center was named this weekend in honor of the first female Palestinian suicide killer, Wafa Idris. Her attack in 1981 left one dead and 150 injured.
Not to be outflanked, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued an apology for the Fogel attack Monday on Israeli radio, calling it "immoral." But just last summer, Abbas eulogized the planner of the Munich Olympics massacre.
While Palestinian leaders tell Western media that they condemn Saturday morning's killings in Itamar, with foreign minister Riyad al-Malki going so far as to make the fantastical claim that Palestinians havenever murdered children, Palestinian TV is sending a totally different message.
Three weeks ago, a PA video tribute to "martyrs" celebrated multiple Palestinian killers of children,notes Palestinian Media Watch. The video praises the act of Habash Hanani, who in May 2002 entered Itamar and murdered three students in the local high school. Itamar is the location of Saturday's murder of Ruth and Udi Fogel and their three children.
