Female terrorist murderer joins teachers, journalists, and politicians as Palestinian role model on International Women’s Day
On International Women’s Day:
PA’s role models for women include terrorist murderer of 37 Dalal Mughrabi, MP Jarrar, a member of the PFLP terror organization who spent time in jail for inciting to terror, and District Governor Ghannam who as policy glorifies terrorists
PA TV News highlights 4 women as “role models of honorable and fighting women”: A poet and a photographer together with terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi and terrorist Fatima Barnawi who placed a bomb in a movie theater
Women’s rights activists criticize the PA, pointing out that “only on International Women’s Day” do organizations and institutions talk about women’s affairs, but they take no real action
Palestinian Feminist leader Nadia Abu Nahleh: “Women’s affairs are still at the bottom of the political administration’s list of priorities”
PA Minister of Women’s Affairs: 24% of Palestinian women receive less than minimum wage from Palestinian employers
International Women’s Day worldwide is both an opportunity to focus on equal rights for women and an opportunity to highlight talented and successful women. So too in the PA. Only in the PA the opportunity to parade female role models is exploited to parade female terrorists.
In one of its news broadcast on the occasion of International Women’s Day, official PA TV chose to single out 4 women as “role models of honorable and fighting women”: A poet, a photographer, terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi, and Fatima Barnawi who placed a bomb in a movie theater:
Official PA TV newsreader: “For [International Women’s Day] March 8, the Palestinians are remembering role models of honorable and fighting women, including Martyr Dalal Mughrabi (i.e., terrorist who led murder of 37, 12 of them children), poet Fadwa Touqan, fighter Fatima Barnawi (i.e., terrorist, placed a bomb in a movie theater), and the first female Palestinian photographer Karima Aboud.”
[Official PA TV News, March 9, 2021]
Having introduced the four, PA TV explained the “achievements” of each one. Murderer Mughrabi was referred to as “the Bride of Jaffa.” Her achievement was to lead a group of male terrorists and to “establish the Palestinian republic in the heart of the occupied territories.” Mughrabi with others hijacked a bus and took the Israeli civilian passengers hostage - all of whom were either murdered or injured. The bus is said to be the “Palestinian republic,” established “in the heart of the occupied territories,” – that is north of Tel Aviv. Terrorist Barnawi was named “one of the most veteran female Palestinian prisoners” and whereas the bomb she placed in a movie theater failed to explode, PA TV chose to illustrate her story with an image from a car bombing in 1948 in which 58 were murdered and 140 wounded, possibly to make her even more “heroic”:
Official PA TV reporter: “The Bride of Jaffa, the Martyr who established the Palestinian republic in the heart of the occupied territories, Dalal Mughrabi. She was known in her childhood for her revolutionary enthusiasm, joined the Fatah Movement after leaving the womb of the revolution, did a military course and trained with various types of weapons, and volunteered as a nurse in the Red Crescent. Fatah chose her to lead the Deir Yassin group composed of 12 self-sacrificing fighters to carry out the Kamal Adwan operation (i.e., terror attack) in 1978, and hijack a bus and bring it to the Israeli Parliament building with the hostages in the bus to force the occupation to release the Palestinian prisoners. Before it reached the Israeli Parliament (sic.), the occupation government appointed [then Israeli military commander] Ehud Barak to kill everyone on the bus (sic., to rescue the hostages) with tanks and planes. Dalal and her comrades died as Martyrs and the occupation killed the hostages themselves (sic.)…
Maj. Gen. Fatima Barnawi… one of the most veteran female Palestinian prisoners… Fatima Barnawi carried out an operation to blow up a movie theater in Jerusalem.”
A special filler broadcast by official PA TV on International Women’s Day, also featured mass-murderer Dalal Mughrabi. Here she appeared alongside female Palestinian journalists, politicians, and teachers. The PA TV narrator stresses the “equality” of Palestinian women, and even specifically points out their participation in violence and terror, referred to as “the crucial self-sacrificing operations in the history of the Palestinian revolution.” This sentence is illustrated by two images of burnt out Israeli busses, leaving no doubt as to what “operations” the PA is glorifying. These facts about Palestinian women’s achievements are mentioned first. Then the video turns to the “female prisoners” – i.e., more terrorists – and then to ”the wives of the Martyrs, prisoners, leaders, and fighters.” Only after listing all of these - who are all connected in some way to terror against Israel - does PA TV turn to other female role models such as “best teacher,” politicians, and journalists.
Text on logo in English and Arabic: “March 8
International Women’s Day”Official PA TV narrator: “Palestinian women in the State of Palestine constitute 49% of the population, in other words half of the society in the full sense of the words resolve, partnership, and equality… They are the ones defending the dream and the spark of the revolution and struggle. [Visual: images of different women, including terrorist Mughrabi]They have also been participating in the crucial self-sacrificing operations in the history of the Palestinian revolution, and likewise more than 15,000 female Palestinian prisoners have entered the occupation’s prisons, alongside the male fighters and self-sacrificing fighters. The Palestinian women are continuing their path, as they are the wives of the Martyrs, prisoners, leaders, and fighters... They are bursting forth nobly from the leading positions, and thus defying the difficulties, overcoming the obstacles, and recording achievements. They are fighting for the sake of humanity… They have even won a $1 million prize as the best teacher and educator in the world. They have drawn the world’s attention as an awe-inspiring human model and a tremendous vision of providing services... These are the Palestinian women, defeating the occupation… The Palestinian women are courageously and nobly standing on the stage of [human] rights and defending the rights.”
[Official PA TV, March 8, 2021]
In addition to murderer Mughrabi, PA TV showcased Chairwoman of the PLO Families of the Martyrs and Wounded Institution Intisar Al-Wazir – obviously a woman who made it to the top of an organization. But to make sure viewers understand her real “qualities,” PA TV added a photo of her late husband: arch-terrorist Abu Jihad who orchestrated terror attacks in which at least 125 Israelis were murdered. This was further stressed by the narration “they are the wives of the Martyrs, prisoners, leaders, and fighters“:
PA TV also included Member of the Palestinian Parliament Khalida Jarrar who has been arrested multiple times for terror incitement and membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization. PA Ramallah and El-Bireh District Governor Laila Ghannam also features in the video, evidently due to having climbed the ladder and achieved the post as district governor, but Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Ghannam as policy supports and promotes terrorists.
Official PA TV further highlighted the “equality” enjoyed by Palestinian women as exemplified by them having “achieved their place… [as] comrades in the struggle”:
Official PA TV host:“March, the month of heroism and loyalty: [International] Women’s Day – the female Martyrs, prisoners, and wounded; the mothers of the Martyrs, prisoners, and wounded; the comrades in our long struggle. With their patience… they have dealt with things and reached the front lines, and they have achieved their place… [as] comrades in the struggle and in building and realizing the dream… Happy holiday to the women of Palestine and the women of the world!”
[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, March 8, 2021]
PA Chairman Abbas singled this achievement out too:
“[PA] President Mahmoud Abbas blessed the Palestinian women yesterday, Monday, for March 8 [2021,] International Women’s Day.
The president praised the central role of the Palestinian women in building the family and society and in [society’s] advancement, and their stand alongside the men in the battle of liberation and building… The president blessed the souls of the female Martyrs and expressed his appreciation for the resolve of the fighting female prisoners in the Israeli occupation’s prison…”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 9, 2021]
Also in the Gaza Strip, murderer Dalal Mughrabi was highlighted as a role model on this year’s Women’s Day, as was PFLP member and MP Khalida Jarrar. Posters of both were part of a weekly demonstration held in front of the Red Cross offices in Gaza City:
[Official PA TV News, March 8, 2021]
The showing of female terrorists and terror supporters as role models and women who have achieved “equality,” is not a new idea in the PA. A leadership that still promotes “armed struggle” will naturally make role models out of terrorists, “Martyrs” and terror promoters. Palestinian Media Watch has exposed similar campaigns in the past. For example on International Women’s Day last year, the PA made a video collage of female role models that included a murderer, a bomb maker, and a hijacker:
Equality?
But whereas the PA was stressing the alleged “equality” of Palestinian women in society, women’s rights activists pointed out that “women’s rights are still on the waiting list.” Director of the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC) feminist leader Nadia Abu Nahleh stated that women’s affairs are not being prioritized:
“Women’s affairs are still at the bottom of the political administration’s list of priorities, despite the strengthening of the campaigns demanding to improve things for women, and especially on everything connected to approving the law to defend women from violence, but there is no response…”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 7, 2021]
She criticized the PA and Palestinian organizations for only talking about women’s rights once a year - on March 8 – without ever following up with real activity and measures:
“From monitoring it becomes clear that many streams, organizations, and authorized sources speak about women’s affairs only on International Women’s Day, when there is an increase in operations distributing flowers and in the publication of statistics and recommendations, without these recommendations and suggestions becoming practical resolutions and measures supporting women’s rights. Therefore, the women’s hope is the elections and increasing the representation of women in the centers of decision making.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 7, 2021]
One area where women’s rights are being overlooked is for example in the job market. PA Minister of Women’s Affairs Amal Hamad explained that 24% of Palestinian working women “receive less than minimum wage” from Palestinian employers. [Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, March 8, 2021]
The demonstrators at the Gaza demonstration on International Women’s Day also held posters of male terrorist prisoners as the one below, featuring from left to right: Fuad Al-Shubaki, a senior PA official and weapons smuggler; PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas; terrorist murderer Karim Younes, who killed 1 together with an accomplice; former PLO and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat; terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who orchestrated three attacks in which 5 were murdered. Text below terrorists Al-Shubaki, Younes, and Barghouti glorifies each as “the heroic prisoner”:
The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above:
Images identified in the PA TV video celebrating International Women’s Day:
Amal Hamad, Minister of Women's Affairs
Ahed Tamimi, activist
Dalal Mughrabi, terrorist, led murder of 37
Israeli bus destroyed in terror attack
Khalida Jarrar, PA Parliament Member
Intisar Al-Wazir, widow of arch-terrorist Abu Jihad, Chairwoman of PLO institution
Abu Jihad, arch-terrorist who planned murder of 125
Laila Ghannam, PA District Governor
Mai Al-Kaila, PA Minister of Health
Hanan Al-Hroub, teacher
Christine Rinawi, PA TV reporter
Rashida Tlaib, US Representative.
Ahed Tamimi – Female Palestinian teenager who assaulted Israeli soldiers on Dec. 15, 2017, and promoted suicide bombings in a filmed message immediately afterwards. After serving 8 months in prison, she met with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on July 29, 2018, who called her "a role model for the Palestinian struggle." Tamimi was arrested again on Nov. 6, 2023, after writing the following incitement on her Instagram Story on Oct. 29, 2023, during Hamas' terror war on Israel: "Our message to the settler herds... We will slaughter you and you will say that what Hitler did to you was a picnic. We will drink your blood and eat your skulls. Go on, we’re waiting for you."
Dalal Mughrabi – female Palestinian terrorist who led the most lethal terror attack in Israel’s history, known as the Coastal Road massacre, in 1978, when she and other Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus on Israel's Coastal Highway, murdering 37 civilians, 12 of them children, and wounding over 70.
Khalida Jarrar – Palestinian Authority MP arrested by Israeli authorities on April 12, 2015, for being a member of the terror organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), for inciting to kidnap Israeli soldiers and inciting to terror. On Dec. 6, 2015 she was sentenced to 15 months in prison, fined 10,000 shekels, and given an additional suspended sentence of 10 months for incitement to violence and belonging to the PFLP terror organization. Jarrar was released in June 2016 following an international campaign on her behalf. She was arrested again in July 2017 and is being held in administrative detention that was extended in December 2017, and again in June 2018. The reasons for her administrative detention have not been released. Jarrar was released from detention on Feb. 28, 2019.
Abu Jihad (Khalil Al-Wazir) - was a founder of Fatah and deputy to Yasser Arafat. He headed the PLO terror organization's military wing and also planned many deadly Fatah terror attacks in the 1960’s - 1980’s. These attacks, in which a total of 125 Israelis were murdered, included the most lethal in Israeli history - the hijacking of a bus and murder of 37 civilians, 12 of them children.
Hanan and Omar Al-Hroub – Palestinian teacher Hanan Al-Hroub won the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize for her school curriculum called No to Violence in March 2016. (The Varkey Foundation is an NGO whose stated goal is to improve education for underprivileged children throughout the world.) Her husband, Palestinian terrorist Omar Al-Hroub served 10 years in an Israeli prison, after being convicted as an accomplice to a bombing attack in Hebron in which 6 Israelis were murdered in 1980 - he provided the chemicals for the bombs. Although she is purportedly against violence, Hanan has praised her terrorist husband as “a fighter and leader.”
Official PA TV host:“March, the month of heroism and loyalty: [International] Women’s Day – the female Martyrs, prisoners, and wounded; the mothers of the Martyrs, prisoners, and wounded; the comrades in our long struggle. With their patience… they have dealt with things and reached the front lines, and they have achieved their place… [as] comrades in the struggle and in building and realizing the dream… Happy holiday to the women of Palestine and the women of the world!”
…
Member of Fatah’s Information Office in Beirut Nadira Sarhan: “Regarding… the importance that the Fatah Movement attributes to women, as we know [for] Fatah, from the day of its Intilaqa (i.e., the anniversary of “the Launch” of Fatah, counted from its first terror attack against Israel) in 1965, women have been marching shoulder to shoulder alongside the men, and Fatah has given them a large space to express their capabilities and energies, because Fatah believes that the Palestinian women are capable of giving and capable of creating. We will also remind that we are approaching the anniversary of the death as a Martyr of sister Dalal Mughrabi (i.e., terrorist who led murder of 37, 12 of them children), who shocked Israel to its foundations.”
…
PA Ministry of Women’s Affairs Director of Contact with Arab States and International Contact Khuloud Nasser: “Regarding the challenges, the greatest challenge facing the Palestinian women and Palestinian society in general is the occupation’s policy of discrimination and arbitrary acts… The occupation is the greatest challenge… that we are all dealing with.”[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, March 8, 2021]
Intilaqa - "the Launch" refers to the beginning of Fatah on Jan. 1, 1965, when it carried out its first terror attack against Israel, attempting to blow up Israel's National Water Carrier.
Headline: “The [PA] president blesses the souls of the female Martyrs and expresses his appreciation for the resolve of the fighting female prisoners in the occupation’s prison”
“[PA] President Mahmoud Abbas blessed the Palestinian women yesterday, Monday, for March 8 [2021,] International Women’s Day.
The president praised the central role of the Palestinian women in building the family and society and in [society’s] advancement, and their stand alongside the men in the battle of liberation and building.
The president emphasized that our Palestinian people – women and men alike – will continue to advance towards achieving its goals and building its independent state, whose capital is East Jerusalem.
The president blessed the souls of the female Martyrs and expressed his appreciation for the resolve of the fighting female prisoners in the Israeli occupation’s prison. He expressed pride in the great achievements that the Palestinian women have recorded in the various fields.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 9, 2021]
Headline: “For March 8: Women’s rights are still on the waiting list”
“Sara, a woman in her thirties and a mother of three children, was surprised when her husband married without her knowing, after he succeeded in getting his hands on her gold jewelry. Huda is still seeking appropriate and effective ways that will allow her to see her children and hug them, following her arbitrary divorce. Fathiya has been knocking on every door for years in order to receive her inheritance after her parents died and her brothers denied her her legal right. Fatima was forced to take tranquilizers to deal with the psychological effects from domestic violence. Sana’a, a university graduate, dreams of finding work, establishing a small business, and receiving the required funding. And Abir is waiting for an opportunity to build her home, which was destroyed by the occupation. These examples and more are still forcing themselves on women…Director of the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC) feminist leader Nadia Abu Nahleh began her statements to [the official PA daily] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida by sending greetings to all the women of the world and the women of Palestine in particular, especially for March 8 [International Women’s Day]…
She added: ‘Very unfortunately, many issues concerning women are still pending, especially in light of the ongoing occupation that is eliminating the idea of a life of freedom and peace and is continuing to destroy homes and conduct arrests. In addition, women’s affairs are still at the bottom of the political administration’s list of priorities, despite the strengthening of the campaigns demanding to improve things for women, and especially on everything connected to approving the law to defend women from violence, but there is no response…
In recent days, the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip decided to ban women from travelling without accompaniment, even though the world has released itself from this behavior, as freedom of movement is a right ensured for all people of the world, even in the poor states.’
She said: ‘It is strange that they are condemning the occupation’s oppressive measures against freedom of movement, the imposition of the blockade, and the like, at a time when freedom of movement is being limited according to Palestinian orders.’ …
From monitoring it becomes clear that many streams, organizations, and authorized sources speak about women’s affairs only on International Women’s Day, when there is an increase in operations distributing flowers and in the publication of statistics and recommendations, without these recommendations and suggestions becoming practical resolutions and measures supporting women’s rights. Therefore, the women’s hope is the elections and increasing the representation of women in the centers of decision making.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 7, 2021]
Women's Affairs Technical Committee (WATC) - Palestinian NGO committed to advocate Palestinian women's rights. WATC states on its website that many of its members are also members of the PLO but the WATC itself is not a member of the PLO.
PA Minister of Women’s Affairs Amal Hamad: “We are currently working to raise [the minimum wage] to 1,880 [Israeli] shekels (approximately $550 -Ed.). That is the goal and that is the right for the women, because there is an increase in the cost of living and 1,880 shekels is a small amount compared to the needs of living, but unfortunately the previous (i.e., current) minimum wage is 1,450 shekels (less than $450 -Ed.). Twenty-four percent of women receive less than minimum wage. In other words, before we speak about 1,880 [shekels], we are speaking about what is being implemented, which is supposed to be 1,450 [shekels]. Twenty-four percent of women receive less than 1,450 [shekels], which is minimum wage. They are working in clothing, nursery schools, and kindergartens.”
[Official PA TV on International Women’s Day, Palestine This Morning, March 8, 2021]