PA TV glorifies killers of Fogel family

Official Palestinian Authority TV broadcasts greetings to Fogel murderers; killer Hakim Awad’s mother calls him ‘a hero.’

Twice last week, official Palestinian Authority TV broadcast greetings to the murderers of the Fogel family from the relatives of the killers and from the PA TV host, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), an NGO tracking Palestinian media outlets said in a statement Sunday.

On March 11, 2011, five members of the Fogel family were killed in their home in the West Bank settlement of Itamar by Palestinian terrorists from the Awad family. Hakim Awad led the attack, killing parents Ehud and Ruth and three of their children, aged 11, four, and two months.
On the weekly TV program For You, dedicated to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, Awad’s mother praised the terrorists as “heroes.”

After explaining how she was prevented from visiting her son for security reasons, the PA TV host said: “Go ahead, sister, we can convey your voice.”

Awad’s mother blessed her “dear son,” and despite the fact that participants in this TV program normally do not mention the terror attacks for which their relatives are serving time, the mother mentioned that her son is the one who “carried out the operation in Itamar and sentenced to 5 life sentences,” referring to her son’s brutal killings in the settlement.

Awad’s aunt also participated in the program and referred to the terrorists involved in the killings as “heroes,” calling Awad “the hero, the legend.” This prompted the PA TV host to add: “We, for our part, also convey our greetings to them.”

According to PMW, the editors of the program and its host knew in advance that the callers were relatives of the Fogel murderers.

The host introduced the callers before the conversation took place and a text with the names of the callers appeared at the bottom of the screen: “Prisoner Hakim Awad’s family / Awarta – Nablus.”

The program was broadcast on official PA TV on January 19 and 21.