Palestinian football teams named after terrorists
Palestinian football teams named after terrorists
Dalal Mughrabi, "the Engineer" Yahya Ayyash,
Ghassan Kanafani, and Ziyad Da'as
are role models
Ghassan Kanafani, and Ziyad Da'as
are role models
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Two different Palestinian football tournaments recently included teams named after terrorists. Four teams were named after terrorists who were behind some of the most lethal attacks murdering Israeli civilians.
Although these were not official Palestinian Authority tournaments, the fact that the Palestinian organizers chose to name teams after these terrorists testifies to the success of the PA policy to present terrorist killers as role models for Palestinians.
In a tournament held at Al-Quds University, teams were named after terrorists Yahya Ayyash, Dalal Mughrabi, and Ghassan Kanafani.
Yahya Ayyash was the first Hamas suicide bomb builder and planner, known as "the Engineer." He is considered the founder of Palestinian suicide terror, and was behind attacks killing dozens of Israelis and injuring hundreds.
Dalal Mughrabi led the most lethal terror attack in Israel's history in 1978, when she and other terrorists hijacked a bus and killed 37 civilians, 12 of them children.
Ghassan Kanafani was a writer and a leader of the terror organization the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP has planned and carried out numerous terror attacks against Israeli civilians since its founding in 1967.
In another tournament, a team was named after terrorist Ziyad Da'as:
Ziyad Da'as was a commander of Tanzim, a Fatah terror faction, and planned a terror attack at a Bat-Mitzvah celebration in Hadera on Jan. 17, 2002, in which a terrorist gunman killed six and wounded dozens. Da'as also participated in the kidnapping and murder of Etgar Zeituni and Motti Dayan in Tulkarem in January 2001. Da'as was killed during a fire exchange with Israeli military police in August 2002.
Reporting from the tournament that included a team named after Da'as, the official PA daily wrote:
"At the end of the special tournament, the heroic Martyrs who fulfilled their duty to the homeland were honored... Muhammad Tamouni, the Martyr's brother, dedicated the big win and the tournament's success to the souls of his brother and all of Palestine's Martyrs, who are more honorable than all of us. Tamouni said that this tournament will continue to take place annually in order to remember the heroes whom we will never forget."
The rest of the teams in the two tournaments were named after Palestinians who were killed in clashes with Israel. (See all descriptions below)Palestinian Media Watch has reported on PA tournaments named after terrorists. Click to view more examples of the PA and Fatah policy of glorifying terrorists.
The following are the reports on the tournaments in the official PA daily:
"The Media Department at the Al-Quds University in Abu Dis... conducted the draw for the Martyr (Shahid) Jahjouh Football Tournament... which will begin on Thursday at the new El-Bireh [sports] field. Eight teams from the university will participate. [The teams] were named after Martyrs and divided into two groups. The first group included [teams named after] Mu'tasim Adwan, Amer Nassar, Ghassan Kanafani, and Dalal Mughrabi. The second group included [teams named after] Younes Jahjouh, Amer Nawfal, Khaldoun Shouman and Yahya Ayyash."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 23, 2013]
See descriptions for Yahya Ayyash, Dalal Mughrabi and Ghassan Kanafani above.
Mu'tasim Adwan was killed in 2011 in clashes between Palestinian residents and an Israeli army force that had come to arrest suspects in the Qalandyia refugee camp.
Amer Nassar was killed in 2013 by the Israeli army after throwing a Molotov cocktail at a military post.
Younes Jahjouh was killed in 2013 in clashes between Palestinian residents and an Israeli military police force that had come to arrest suspects in the Qalandyia refugee camp.
Amer Nawfal - senior DFLP official who died in Syria in 2007. The DFLP carried out many deadly terror attacks, including the taking of schoolchildren as hostages leading to the killing of 22 children and 4 adults in Ma'alot (May 15, 1974), an attack on a school bus killing 9 children and 3 adults (May 22, 1970), a bombing in Jerusalem killing 7 (Nov. 13, 1975), the killing of 4 hostages in an apartment building in Beit Shean (Nov. 19, 1974) and a suicide bombing near Tel Aviv killing 4 (Dec. 25, 2003). The DFLP has participated in and claimed responsibility for dozens of other terror attacks.
Khaldoun Shouman - member of the Palestinian Security Forces who was killed in 2007 during an exchange of fire with the Israeli army. He had opened fire on the Israeli soldiers after he mistakenly thought they were Hamas operatives.
"The Martyr (Shahid) Mahmoud Tamouni [football] team was crowned as champion of the [football] tournament named after him..."
The following are the results of the matches:
The Martyr Ziyad Da'as team defeated the Martyr Fidaa Al-Tirawi team 1-2.
The Martyr Mahmoud Tamouni team defeated the Martyr Suleiman Al-Jayyusi team 1-3... [Games and scores are listed.] At the end of the special tournament, the heroic Martyrs who fulfilled their duty to the homeland were honored. Muhammad Tamouni, brother of Martyr Mahmoud Tamouni, handed out the tournament prizes... Muhammad Tamouni, the Martyr's brother, dedicated the big win and the tournament's success to the souls of his brother and all of Palestine's Martyrs, who are more honorable than all of us. Tamouni said that this tournament will continue to take place annually in order to remember the heroes whom we will never forget."
The following are the results of the matches:
The Martyr Ziyad Da'as team defeated the Martyr Fidaa Al-Tirawi team 1-2.
The Martyr Mahmoud Tamouni team defeated the Martyr Suleiman Al-Jayyusi team 1-3... [Games and scores are listed.] At the end of the special tournament, the heroic Martyrs who fulfilled their duty to the homeland were honored. Muhammad Tamouni, brother of Martyr Mahmoud Tamouni, handed out the tournament prizes... Muhammad Tamouni, the Martyr's brother, dedicated the big win and the tournament's success to the souls of his brother and all of Palestine's Martyrs, who are more honorable than all of us. Tamouni said that this tournament will continue to take place annually in order to remember the heroes whom we will never forget."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 27, 2013]
See description for Ziyad Da'as above.
Mahmoud Tamouni - Sources indicate that he was shot by the Israeli army for curfew violation in Tulkarem in 2002. However, PMW has not been able to obtain precise information about the specific circumstances surrounding his death to confirm this.
Fidaa Al-Tirawi - was a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. He was killed in 2003 by members of a different Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades cell.
Suleiman Al-Jayyusi -Sources indicate that he was killed by Palestinians. However, PMW has not been able to obtain precise information about the specific circumstances surrounding his death to confirm this.