The Palestinian government has repeatedly honored the abductors and murderers of three Israeli teens, while accusing Israel of “executing” the killers.
A three-month-long manhunt for Marwan Kawasme and Amar Abu Aysha, the Hamas abductors and murderers of three Israeli high-school boys – Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frankel, and Eyal Yifrach – came to an end last month when a special police unit identified the terror cell in Hebron and eventually killed them in a gun battle that ensued.
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reports that the official Palestinian Authority (PA) media has since chosen to honor the terrorists.
The PA official TV channel interviewed the mother of Kawasme, who sees his “martyrdom” as an honor and proof that Allah “loved him.”
“[My son] Marwan is an angel,” she told PA TV News at her son’s funeral. “He was loved all his life. Everyone loves him. He is noble, pure and modest – an angel; the hero among heroes and a leader. If Allah hadn’t loved him, he wouldn’t have honored him with martyrdom.”
The reporter, too, honored the murderers with the lofty title of Shahid, a term indicating they would be receiving sublime rewards from Allah.
Both terrorists were members of the Kawasme clan, a well-known Hamas family in the Hebron area that has been involved in terror attacks against Israelis for decades. Several other Kawasme family members had been arrested in connection with the murder of the teens or for other terror-related activities.
Pattern of Honoring Terrorists
This is not the first time that the PA has honored these terrorists. When reporting on their capture and murder, the official PA news agency WAFA stated: “Israeli occupation forces executed citizens Marwan al-Kawasme and Amer Abu Aysha today…. Security sources told WAFA that the occupation forces were still holding on to the bodies of the two Shahids.”
A cartoon published in response to the death of the murderers posted by the PA National Security Forces on their official Facebook page presents them, and all “martyrs” in general, as having achieved the supreme goal. Titled “The Tax of the Homeland,” the cartoon shows an Olympic-style winners’ podium depicting the Shahid as the ultimate winner in first place; a prisoner is honored with second place, and a wounded Palestinian wins third place.
For years the PA has presented “martyrs” as role models, and parents have expressed joy over their children’s “successes,” PMW reports.
Author: United with Israel Staff
(With files from PMW)
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