Read like a Murderer - PA honors murderer of 3 as role model to encourage reading
Read like a Murderer
PA uses murderer of 3
as role model to encourage reading
as role model to encourage reading
- PA Minister of Culture and father of murderer together at cultural eventj
- Minister: “Among those who initiated this [reading] chain [in 2014] were Martyrs and prisoners (i.e., murderer of 3). Therefore, and out of loyalty to their memory and the Palestinian national struggle, and out of our absolute belief that culture is resistance, we in the Ministry of Culture have decided... to declare March 16 each year National Reading Day in all the homeland’s districts”
- Murderer’s father: “If he [Baha] was here... he would say that Palestine is reading, and when Palestine reads, victory is certainly near. This is Baha’s message and the message of the Martyrs”
o - The PA has paid the family a monthly allowance amounting to 54,400 shekels ($15,688) since the murder
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
On Oct. 13, 2015, Palestinian terrorists Baha Alyan and Bilal Ghanem boarded a bus in Jerusalem and attacked passengers with a gun and a knife, murdering 3 people. Alyan was shot and killed by an Israeli security guard while Ghanem was wounded and later imprisoned.
Before deciding to become a terrorist and murder Israelis, Baha Alyan once organized a “human reading chain” in Jerusalem. Despite Alyan being a murderer - or perhaps precisely because Alyan became a murderer of Israelis - the PA is now using him as a role model to encourage reading.In the company of Mahmoud Alyan, the father of terrorist Baha Alyan, PA Minister of Culture Ehab Bessaiso launched the “National Reading Day events” earlier this year. Referring to terrorist Alyan’s reading chain in 2014, the PA minister said that because “Martyrs and prisoners” had been among the initiators of that chain, the PA Ministry of Culture has declared March 16 National Reading Day “out of loyalty to their memory and the Palestinian national struggle, and out of our absolute belief that culture is resistance”:
Minister Bessaiso: “They formed the longest human reading chain around the walls of Jerusalem. This happened on March 16, 2014. Among those who initiated this chain were Martyrs (Shahids) and prisoners. Therefore, and out of loyalty to their memory and the Palestinian national struggle, and out of our absolute belief that culture is resistance, we in the Ministry of Culture have decided... to declare March 16 each year National Reading Day in all the homeland’s districts. This is out of loyalty to the Martyrs and to everyone that believes that culture can remain one of the central pillars of the national resistance.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 17, 2018]
The PA Ministry of Culture had invited murderer Alyan’s father to speak at the event, and he also joined the minister for a group photo: 
Left: Mahmoud Alyan, the father of terrorist Baha Alyan, speaks at the event.
Right: Group phtoto in Ramallah. PA Minister of Culture Ehab Bessaiso is seen in the center with his hands resting on the shoulders of terrorist Baha Alyan’s father, www.sadaa.ps, March 16, 2018
l
l
In his speech, the murderer’s father said his son would have appreciated the events, and interpreted the fact that “Palestine reads” as “victory is near”:
“If he [Baha] was here for a moment, perhaps he would be happy and smile, but he would say that Palestine is reading, and when Palestine reads, victory is certainly near. This is Baha’s message and the message of the Martyrs.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 17, 2018]
In the Qalqilya and Tulkarem districts two “human reading chains” were established in “honor of” terrorist murderer Baha Alyan. The chains were called "Baha Is an Idea and the Idea Will Not Die." While the official purpose of the reading chains was to encourage Palestinians to read, the slogan, however, could easily be understood to refer to the “idea” of becoming a “Martyr” while murdering Israelis the way Alyan did: 
Official PA TV narrator: “In the Qalqilya and Tulkarem districts, the Directorate of Culture, together with the Tamer Institute for Community Education, organized two human chains titled "Baha Is an Idea and the Idea Will Not Die," in honor of Martyr Baha Alyan (i.e., terrorist, murdered 3).”
Director of the Directorate of Culture in the Qalqilya District Anwar Rayyan: “Our gathering today is about a human reading chain. Martyr Baha Alyan led this chain in 2015 (sic., 2014). Our clear, open, and simple message on this day and at all of our educational gatherings is that we are a people that reads, and if you want to be a people or to build a people you must read.”
[Official PA TV, News, March 18, 2018]
The Directorate of Culture is a branch of the PA Ministry of Culture.Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Palestinian universities have honored murderer Alyan with human reading chains as has Nazareth, and the Palestinian Scout Association.
The Palestinian Authority pays families of so-called Martyrs lifetime monthly grants. The base grant is 1400 shekels per month with an additional 300 for Jerusalem residents. The family of terrorist Alyan have received 1700 shekel per month since their son carried out the murder on a Jerusalem bus in October 2015, which amounts to 54,400 shekels ($15,688).
His accomplice, terrorist Ghanem, is serving 3 life sentences. By PA law, Ghanem is receiving a salary while in prison, starting at 1,700 shekels/month (1,400 in base salary, 300 supplement for Jerusalem citizens) that will reach as high as 12,300 shekels/month. Since his arrest and through May 2018, the PA has already paid him 54,400 shekels ($15,688).
Click to see PMW’s extensive research and reporting on the PA's policy of rewarding terrorists with generous salaries.
The following is a longer excerpt of the article describing the event honoring murderer Alyan arranged by the PA Ministry of Culture:
Headline: “The [PA] Ministry of Culture launches the National Reading Day events”
“On behalf of the [PA] Ministry of Culture, [PA] Minister [of Culture] Ehab Bessaiso yesterday [March 16, 2018] launched the National Reading Day events at Nelson Mandela Square in Ramallah...
In his speech, Bessaiso spoke about the story of National Reading Day and it being established on March 16 each year, and said: ‘Four years ago in the capital, Jerusalem, an initiative of young people began - the longest human reading chain around the walls of Jerusalem. It had many meanings and was meant to emphasize the significance of culture on the one hand, and the Arab identity of the capital in the face of the occupation’s policy on the other hand. Despite all of the limitations that the occupation attempted to impose in order to prevent arriving at the walls of Jerusalem, the human chain succeeded.’
He added: ‘There were children, young men, young women, men, and elderly who succeeded in arriving, and they formed the longest human reading chain around the walls of Jerusalem. This happened on March 16, 2014. Among those who initiated this chain were Martyrs (Shahids) and prisoners. Therefore, and out of loyalty to their memory and the Palestinian national struggle, and out of our absolute belief that culture is resistance, we in the Ministry of Culture have decided... to declare March 16 each year National Reading Day in all the homeland’s districts. This is out of loyalty to the Martyrs and to everyone that believes that culture can remain one of the central pillars of the national resistance.’ ...
Muhammad Alyan, the father of Martyr Baha Alyan (i.e., terrorist, murdered 3 together with an accomplice) - one of the most prominent of the initiators of the longest human reading chain around the walls of Jerusalem - said: ‘Martyr Baha came to me. If he was here for a moment, perhaps he would be happy and smile, but he would say that Palestine is reading, and when Palestine reads, victory is certainly near. This is Baha’s message and the message of the Martyrs.’ He thanked the Ministry [of Culture], the [Ramallah] Municipality, and everyone that contributed to the establishment and perpetuation of the initiative, which his son the Martyr and his comrade Martyrs and prisoners launched.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 17, 2018]
Baha Alyan and Bilal Ghanem - 22 and 23-year-old Palestinian terrorists who on Oct. 13, 2015, boarded a bus in Jerusalem's Armon Hanatziv neighborhood with a gun and a knife and attacked passengers, murdering Israelis Chaim Haviv (78) and Alon Govberg (51), and Richard Lakin (76), and wounding 3 Israelis. Alyan was shot and killed by an Israeli security guard at the scene and Ghanem, a Hamas terrorist who served time in Israeli prison in 2013-2014, was wounded. Ghanem is serving 3 life sentences and an additional 60 years for these murders.The Tamer Institute for Community Education is listed among the “networks” under the Swedish Anna Lindh Foundation, and is a member of the Palestinian Non-Government Organizations Network (PNGO), which receives funding by Norway and the EU.