A program on official Palestinian Authority television glorified as an “act of heroism” the slaughter of 22 children and four adults in Ma’alot, Israel in 1974.
Palestinian Media Watch spotlighted the July 1 episode of the show “Buy Time Jerusalem.”
The Palestinian narrator states, according to a translation by PMW:
“Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) Central Committee member Omar Mahmoud Al-Qassem – one of the symbols of the national prisoners’ movement, and one of its central founders. During his life, he was an outstanding leader, a ferocious fighter, and a proud prisoner, and in his death he is an eternal Martyr … One of his acts of heroism [was] when an armed DFLP squad carried out the Ma’alot operation in the Galilee (i.e., terror attack, 26 murdered) and took [an Israeli] building and hostages. The [Israeli] prison management summoned Omar Al-Qassem … and asked him to talk with the self-sacrificing fighters so they would turn themselves in and release the hostages … When he turned to his comrades, he said: ‘O comrades, I am Omar Al-Qassem. Carry out what you came for. Your enemy is treacherous.’ Immediately after his few words, his comrades responded to the call and blew up the military academy (sic., Netiv Meir Elementary School) so that their souls would float as Martyrs above the skies of Palestine.”
The Ma’alot massacre was a terror attack by armed criminals belonging to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine on May 15, 1974. They took hostages at the Netiv Meir Elementary School in Ma’alot, and when Israeli forces tried to rescue the hostages, the terrorists attacked the hostages with guns and grenades, murdering 22 children and four adults.
See the video:
[jwplayer kjaGCDOo-pszPfxYQ]
Al-Qassem, PMW explained, led a squad that crossed the Jordan River into Israel in 1968 to carry out a terror attack. The terrorists were caught by Israeli soldiers, but in the confrontation they murdered two soldiers, and Al-Qassem was given two life sentences. He died in prison in 1989.
The report from PMW’s Nan Jacques Zilberdik pointed out the praise for Al-Qassem — that one can become a hero by murdering children – has become an integral theme under the Palestinian Authority.
PMW previously reported the naming of a town square in Jenin in honor of the criminal leader who masterminded the attack on the school
“This new square in Jenin is named after terrorist Khaled Nazzal, the secretary of the central committee of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and commander of its military branch,” the report said.
Officials removed the Jenin square marker, but Palestinians vowed to replace it.
PMW reported, “In addition to the Khaled Nazzal Square and the monument in Jenin, the Jenin district has now further named a street after terrorist Nazzal in the town of Burqin.”
