NYT turns to PMW for response after a Palestinian teacher whose husband murdered 6 Israelis in 1980 was awarded $1 million education prize
NYT quotes PMW director's concern
that PA education may wrongfully receive
stamp of approval
after Palestinian teacher wins global prizej
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By Diaa Hadid, April 1, 2016
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that PA education may wrongfully receive
stamp of approval
after Palestinian teacher wins global prizej
b
By Diaa Hadid, April 1, 2016
f
Headline: A Palestinian Teacher’s Methods Earn the Attention of More Than Her Class
The noise signaled that Hanan Hroub’s second-grade students were not focusing on their assigned task of scrawling math problems on balloons. Instead, they were staring at the latest interloper, a tall German journalist, treading through their classroom to meet their “Miss,” as Palestinians call teachers, who recently won a $1 million global education prize… Since the prize was announced March 13, Palestinian officials have honored Ms. Hroub with festivals and honorary degrees. International reporters have raced to her house and classroom. Some Israelis have denounced her as part of a Palestinian education system they see as inciting violence, and noted with dismay that her husband assisted in the killing of six Jewish settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron in 1980… [Omar Hroub was imprisoned for 10 years by Israel for the murder of 6 Israelis, including several American citizens. He married Mrs. Hroub after being released from prison, Ed.]
Since the prize was announced, some pro-Israel groups have criticized the foundation online because Ms. Hroub’s husband — now a legal adviser to the Palestinian Authority — was involved in the 1980 ambush of a group of Israelis trying to revive a Jewish settlement in Hebron. (Some Palestinian news sites have praised him as the “mastermind” of the attack, though a New York Times article at the time described him as having assisted.)
Others complained that any Palestinian teacher was honored. Itamar Marcus, whose Palestinian Media Watch chronicles anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements in the Arab news media and who has long complained that Palestinian schools educate students to hate, said that even if Ms. Hroub was an excellent teacher, the award would be seen by the Palestinian Education Ministry “as a confirmation that what they are doing is O.K.”
Mr. Marcus complained that 25 Palestinian schools were named after militants who had killed Israelis or Jews, and that youth sporting tournaments similarly honored so-called martyrs. He said that videos broadcast on Palestinian television showing schoolchildren praising such attacks suggested what they were being taught to do so.
The noise signaled that Hanan Hroub’s second-grade students were not focusing on their assigned task of scrawling math problems on balloons. Instead, they were staring at the latest interloper, a tall German journalist, treading through their classroom to meet their “Miss,” as Palestinians call teachers, who recently won a $1 million global education prize… Since the prize was announced March 13, Palestinian officials have honored Ms. Hroub with festivals and honorary degrees. International reporters have raced to her house and classroom. Some Israelis have denounced her as part of a Palestinian education system they see as inciting violence, and noted with dismay that her husband assisted in the killing of six Jewish settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron in 1980… [Omar Hroub was imprisoned for 10 years by Israel for the murder of 6 Israelis, including several American citizens. He married Mrs. Hroub after being released from prison, Ed.]
Since the prize was announced, some pro-Israel groups have criticized the foundation online because Ms. Hroub’s husband — now a legal adviser to the Palestinian Authority — was involved in the 1980 ambush of a group of Israelis trying to revive a Jewish settlement in Hebron. (Some Palestinian news sites have praised him as the “mastermind” of the attack, though a New York Times article at the time described him as having assisted.)
Others complained that any Palestinian teacher was honored. Itamar Marcus, whose Palestinian Media Watch chronicles anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements in the Arab news media and who has long complained that Palestinian schools educate students to hate, said that even if Ms. Hroub was an excellent teacher, the award would be seen by the Palestinian Education Ministry “as a confirmation that what they are doing is O.K.”
Mr. Marcus complained that 25 Palestinian schools were named after militants who had killed Israelis or Jews, and that youth sporting tournaments similarly honored so-called martyrs. He said that videos broadcast on Palestinian television showing schoolchildren praising such attacks suggested what they were being taught to do so.
[http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/world/middleeast/a-palestinian-teachers-methods-earn-the-attention-of-more-than-her-class.html?ref=world, April 1, 2016]