Suicide bombing called "heroic" on PA town square memorial
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
On June 11, 2002, a Palestinian suicide terrorist walked into a restaurant in the Tel Aviv suburb of Herzliya, and detonated a bomb that killed 15-year-old Hadar Hershkovitz and injured 16 others.
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| Picture of suicide terrorist and Arafat on monument in town square in West Bank town Madama. [PA TV, August 15, 2010] |
The town square in the West Bank town of Madama where the terrorist lived features a monument honoring "the heroic Martyrdom-Seeker" and his "heroic Herzliya operation." The monument has pictures of the suicide terrorist and of Yasser Arafat.
The text above the terrorist's picture is a verse from the Quran, urging Muslims to fight the non-believers and promising that Allah will "lay them low":
"Fight them, and Allah will punish them by your hands,
lay them low and give you victory over them,
and heal the hearts of a believing people." [Quran, 9,14]
Below his picture are the words:
the heroic Herzliya operation
on June 11, 2002"
In December 2009 and again in March 2010, PMW reported on the naming of another square after the terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, who killed 37 in a bus hijacking in 1978. World condemnation was unequivocal:
US State Department Spokesperson Phillip Crowley:
"We also strongly condemn the glorification of terrorists. Honoring terrorists who have murdered innocent civilians, either by official statements or by the dedication of public places, hurts peace efforts and must end. We will continue to hold Palestinian leaders accountable for incitement." [April 8, 2010]
US Ambassador Alejandro D. Wolff, U.S. Deputy Representative to the UN, in the Security Council:
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, commented on the naming of the square after Mughrabi: