Sports is considered a place where politics and conflict are put aside, but not in the Palestinian Authority.
A football (soccer) tournament for high school boys in Hebron, arranged by the local Fatah branch, named all 11 teams after terrorists, including terror leaders responsible for most of the deaths from terror Israel has suffered since its founding.
Six were top Palestinian terror leaders and founders of terror organizations, while the other five were terrorists or members of terror organizations. The P.A. Ministry of Education endorsed the event’s role modeling of terrorists with a representative who “honored the winning players and teams.”
Here is the list of the teams in the President Martyr Yasser Arafat Football Championship:
The Martyr Yasser Arafat team (founder of the PLO and Fatah terror organizations in the 1960s, and former chairman of the P.A.)
The Martyr Ahmed Yassin team (founder of the Hamas terror organization)
The Martyr Fathi Shaqaqi team (founder of the Islamic Jihad terror organization)
The Martyr Salah Khalaf team (head of the Black September terror organization)
The Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa team (head of the PFLP terror organization)
The Martyr Khalil Al-Wazir ‘Abu Jihad’ team (terror leader responsible for murder of 125 Israelis)
The Martyr Marwan Zalum team (terrorist responsible for several murders)
The Martyr Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar team (commander of operations for Black September)
The Martyr Kamal Adwan team (senior member of Black September)
The Martyr Saad Sayel team (leader in Fatah terror organization)
The Martyr Majed Abu Sharar team (senior member of Fatah terror organization)
[Official P.A. daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 19, 2018].
During the P.A.’s terror campaign known as the Second Intifada (2000-05), the P.A. started naming sporting events after terrorists. For example, the Ministry of Education sponsored the Martyr Abd Al-Basset Odeh Championship, named after the suicide bomber who carried out the Passover seder suicide bombing in Netanya on March 27, 2002, in which 30 Israelis were murdered and 140 injured.
Read the full report at PMW.
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