Palestinian leader lied to Trump about opposing terrorism

By Jamie Roman —

While he was reassuring President Trump that the Palestinian Authority opposes terrorism, PA President Mahmoud Abbas last month was in fact fostering anti-Israel attacks, according to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), an Israeli research group.

The Palestinian Authority publicly honored 44 terrorists involved in the killing of 440 people in the month surrounding Abbas’ May 23 meeting with Trump in Bethlehem, according to the research group.

In assurances to Trump, Abbas condemned the Manchester City attack and added: “We would like to reassert our willingness to continue to work with you as partners in fighting terrorism in our region and in the world,” according to a White House report.

For his part, Trump said he was “gratified” by Abbas’ commitment “to taking firm but necessary steps to fight terrorism and confront its hateful ideology.”

But at the same time, Abbas honored 14 suicide bombers and other murderers, 16 bomb builders and terror planners and 14 terrorists involved in terror attacks, according to the report compiled by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik.

“Some of the worst terrorists were honored multiple times,” the report says. “Abu Jihad, responsible for the murder of 125, was honored at least 10 separate times. Dalal Mughrabi, who led the bus hijacking and murder of 37 was honored at least six separate times. Not only does Abbas not fight terrorism and its ideology, as he deceitfully told Trump, he and the institutions he heads actively embrace Palestinian terrorism, promote its ideology, and glorify and reward the terrorists themselves.”

The appalling double-speak is the daily reality of the Middle East. Secular media accounts amplify Israeli abuses and overlook Palestinian aggression in the battle for the small piece of land conquered by Islam but belonging to Israel from the time of Joshua.

Trump said, “Our society can have no tolerance for this continuation of bloodshed, we cannot stand a moment longer for the slaughter of innocent citizens. The terrorists and extremists, and those who give them aid and comfort, must be driven out from our society forever. This wicked ideology must be obliterated.”

Palestinian Media Watch has documented children on Palestinian Authority TV promoting hatred and violence.

The children were recorded saying, “My rock, my rock has turned into an AK-47 (rifle).” They also say, “We, Fatah, are a storm, and our blood is food for the revolution.” “Fight the Jews, kill them and defeat them…Pick up your rifle, resist and terrify [them] destroy, shock, burn and set fire…Our enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail.”

Abbas and the Palestinian Authority honor terrorists by naming streets after them. In Abbas’ name, the Palestinian Authority has also honored five terrorists responsible for the murder of 38 people.

Moreover, they glorified the mothers of the four terrorists serving life sentences.  “The mother is treated like royalty, they are invited into Abbas office, Prime Minister Hamdallah joins her at an event, and the Governor of Ramallah and a Fatah leadership delegation visits her at home,” the Palestian Media Watch report noted.

On Palestinian TV, in newspaper articles and on Facebook posts, the Palestinian Authority from April 15 to May 15 honored the following terrorists, according to the report:

14 Suicide bombers and other murderers

• Raed Misk- Hamas suicide bomber, murdered 23 including children and babies on bus no. 2 in Jerusalem on Aug. 19, 2003.
• Andalib Takatka – Female Fatah suicide bomber, murdered 6 and wounded more than 80 on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem on April 12, 2002.

• Muhammad Musleh – serving 9 life sentences for involvement in the murder of 8 and injuring of over 50 in shooting attacks. He also took part in the Ramallah lynching on Oct. 12, 2000, in which a Palestinian mob brutally murdered and mutilated the bodies of two Israeli reserve soldiers, Vadim Nurzhitz and Yossi Avrahami, who accidentally entered Ramallah. He was a member of Tanzim, Fatah’s terror faction.
• Dalal Mughrabi – led the murder of 37, 12 of them children, in the most lethal attack in Israel’s history when she and other Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus, in 1978.
• Muhammad Naifeh ‘Abu Rabia’ – serving 13 life sentences for involvement in the murder of five Israelis at Kibbutz Metzer on Nov. 11, 2002, the murder of three Israelis in Hermesh on Oct. 29, 2002, and the murder of five others in shooting attacks in 2001, some of which he carried out himself. He was a member of Tanzim, Fatah’s terror faction.
• Nasser Abu Hmeid – serving 7 life sentences for murdering 7 Israelis, and for 12 attempted murders. He was a commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, Fatah’s military wing.
• Samir Kuntar – Lebanese terrorist who murdered 4 Israelis in Nahariya in 1979: 3 members of the Haran family – 4-year-old Einat Haran, who Kuntar murdered by smashing her head with his rifle butt, 2-year-old Yael, who was accidentally suffocated as her mother tried to keep her silent while they hid from the terrorists, and their father, Danny Haran – and Eliyahu Shahar, the first policeman to respond. Kuntar was sentenced to 4 life sentences. He was released in a deal between Israel and Hezbollah in July 2008, exchanged for the bodies of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, Israeli soldiers kidnapped and murdered by Hezbollah in 2006. On Dec. 19, 2015, he was killed in an explosion in Syria. An Israeli airstrike is suspected by some, though the Free Syrian Army took credit.

• Karim Younes – an Israeli Arab serving a 40-year sentence for kidnapping and murdering Israeli soldier Avraham Bromberg in 1980. Karim Younes was originally sentenced to life in prison, but Israeli President Shimon Peres reduced his sentence in 2012.
• Maher Younes – an Israeli Arab serving a 40-year sentence for kidnapping and murdering Israeli soldier Avraham Bromberg in 1980. Maher Younes was originally sentenced to life in prison, but Israeli President Shimon Peres reduced his sentence in 2012.
• Nael Barghouti – serving a life sentence for murdering one. Was released in the Shalit prisoner exchange deal but rearrested for violating the terms of his release and is now again serving a life sentence plus an additional 18 years.
• Diya Zakariya Shaker Al-Agha “Al-Faluji” – serving one life sentence for beating Israeli civilian Amatzia Ben Haim to death with a shovel in Ganei Tal in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 11, 1992.
• Mahmoud Abu Sorour – serving one life sentence for participating in the planning and carrying out the assassination of Israeli security agent Haim Nachmani on Jan. 3, 1993, in Jerusalem.

• Abd Al-Mun’im Muhammad Yusuf Naji Abu Hmeid – was a member of the military wing of Hamas, Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, and planned and carried out the ambush and murder of Israeli intelligence officer Noam Cohen on Feb. 13, 1994.
• Rizq Salah – Murdered Israeli soldier Guy Friedman and injured 2 others with a bomb in Bethlehem in 1990. He was arrested in 1993 and was sentenced to life in prison, but was released in October 2013 as one of 104 terrorists whom Israel agreed to release to fulfill the PA’s precondition for renewing negotiations.

16 Bomb builders and terror attack planners

• Abdallah Barghouti – Serving 67 life sentences for building bombs for terror attacks in which 67 people were murdered: Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, Aug. 9, 2001 – 15 murdered; triple attack at Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, Jerusalem, Dec. 1, 2001 – 11 murdered; Moment Café, Jerusalem, March 9, 2002 – 11 murdered; Sheffield Club, Rishon LeZion, May 7, 2002 – 15 murdered; Hebrew University, Jerusalem, July 31, 2002 – 9 murdered; Bus 4 in Tel Aviv, Sept. 19, 2002 – 6 murdered.
• Hassan Salameh – serving 46 life sentences for heading the terror infrastructure that carried out 3 suicide bombings on buses in Jerusalem on Feb. 25, 1996 and March 3, 1996, and at the Ashkelon Junction hitchhike point on Feb. 25, 1996. 46 people were murdered and around 100 were wounded. He was a member of Hamas.
• Abbas Al-Sayid – Serving 35 life sentences for planning suicide bombings that murdered 35, one at a Passover dinner at the Park Hotel in Netanya on March 27, 2002 – 30 murdered, and another outside a shopping Mall in Netanya on May 18, 2001 – 5 murdered.
• Anas Jaradat – Serving 35 life sentences for planning bombing attacks in which 31 people were murdered. Leader of the Islamic Jihad terror organization in Jenin, planned and organized 3 car bombings in Israel: bus from Tel Aviv to Tiberias on June 5, 2002 – 17 murdered. Karkour junction on Oct. 21, 2002 – 14 murdered. An attempted attack thwarted when a car loaded with hundreds of kilograms of explosives was seized near Haifa, Sept. 5, 2002.
• Abd Al-Halim Sakeb Omar Al-Balbisi – Serving 23 life sentences for planning the Bet Lid double suicide bombing on Jan. 22, 1995, in which 21 Israeli soldiers and 1 Israeli civilian were murdered.
• Marwan Zalum – involved in the murder of 9, including sending the terrorist who shot and murdered infant Shalhevet Pass on March 26, 2001. He also provided the explosive device for Andalib Takatka’s suicide attack in Jerusalem on April 12, 2002, in which 6 were murdered and 80 wounded. He organized other attacks in which at least 2 were murdered. Was commander of the Hebron branch of the Tanzim, Fatah’s terror faction.
• Hamza Omar Shamarkha – serving 6 life sentences and another 20 years for sending the suicide bomber Andalib Takatka to her suicide attack in which she murdered 6 and wounded more than 80 people, in Jerusalem on April 12, 2002.
• Marwan Barghouti – serving 5 life sentences for orchestrating three shooting attacks that murdered 5 people: one attack in Jerusalem (June 12, 2001) in which Greek monk Tsibouktsakis Germanus was murdered by terrorist Ismail Radaida and another unidentified terrorist, another attack at a gas station in Givat Zeev near Jerusalem (Jan. 15, 2002) in which Yoela Hen, 45, was murdered by terrorists led by Mohammed Matla, and one shooting and stabbing attack at the Sea Food Market restaurant in Tel Aviv (March 5, 2002) in which Eli Dahan, 53, Yosef Habi, 52, and Police Officer Sergeant-Major Salim Barakat, 33, were murdered by terrorist Ibrahim Hasouna. When arrested by Israel in 2002, Barghouti headed the Tanzim, Fatah’s terror faction. After he was convicted and imprisoned, he was re-elected member of the Palestinian Authority parliament. On Dec. 4, 2016, he was elected to Fatah’s Central Committee.
• Yasser Abu Bakr – serving 3 life sentences for being responsible for attack in Netanya on March 9, 2002 in which a nine-month-old baby, Avia Malka, and 1 adult, Israel Yihye, were murdered, and for the murder of Israeli border policeman Constantine Danilov, 23, who was shot while trying to stop two terrorists from infiltrating Israel on their way to committing a suicide bombing on March 30, 2002. Was member of Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, Fatah’s military wing.
• Ahmad Salim -serving 2 life sentences for involvement in the murder of Avi and Avital Wolanski and wounded their 3-year-old son in the town of Eli, North of Ramallah. Terrorists Bilal Abd Al-Fattah and Ahmad Hussein Madi shot and murdered the young couple on Aug. 5, 2002. He was a Fatah terrorist.
• Zaid Bassisi -serving 1 life sentence and an additional 55 years for planning a car bombing outside a school in Netanya on May 30, 2001, in which 8 people were wounded. He was an Islamic Jihad terrorist.
• Ahed Abu Gholmeh – serving 1 life sentence for planning the murder of Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Zeevi “Ghandi” in 2001.
• Raed Abu Zaher -serving 1 life sentence for planning a suicide bombing on Nevi’im St. in Jerusalem on Sept. 4, 2001, injuring 11, and a car bombing in the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood of Jerusalem on July 29, 2001, injuring 2. Was member of Hamas
• Abu Jihad (Khalil Al-Wazir) – responsible for the murder of 125 Israelis in the many deadly Fatah terror attacks he planned, including the most lethal in Israeli history, the hijacking of a bus and murdering of 37 civilians, 12 of them children, in his role as head of PLO terror organization’s military wing.
• Abu Iyad (Salah Khalaf) – planned the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics on Sept. 5, 1972, and the murder of two American diplomats in Sudan on March 1, 1973, in his role as head of the terror organization Black September.
• Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar – involved in planning the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics on Sept. 5, 1972, as commander of Al-Asifa, Fatah’s military unit and also the Commander of Operations of the terrorist organization Black September.

13 Terrorists involved in terror attacks

• Majdi Za’atri – serving 23 life sentences for driving suicide bomber Raed Misk to the bus stop for his suicide attack in which 23 were murdered, including children and babies. Was member of Hamas.
• Hatem Al-Jayousi – serving 6 life sentences for providing the car used in an attack in Hadera, in which a terrorist shot and murdered 6 Israelis and wounded dozens of others at a Bat Mitzvah celebration on Jan. 16, 2002.
• Nasr Abu Hmeid – serving 5 life sentences for involvement in two terror attacks and arms dealing. He was a member of Tanzim, Fatah’s terror faction.
• Sharif Abu Hmeid – serving 4 life sentences. Carried out terror attacks including accompanying a suicide bomber to his attack in March 2002.
• Bassem Al-Khandaqji – serving 3 life sentences for involvement in a suicide bombing at the Tel Aviv Carmel Market on Nov. 1, 2004 in which 3 were murdered. Member of the PFLP terror organization.
• Muhammad Abu Hmeid – serving 2 life sentences and 30 years for involvement in terror attacks.
• Khaled Khdeish – serving 2 life sentences for involvement in the murder of 2 Israeli soldiers and the wounding of 3 others.
• Zaid Younes – serving 1 life sentence, for driving suicide bomber Safwat Khalil to his attack in Tel Aviv on Jan. 25, 2002 in which 25 people were injured. Younes also aided the escape of a terrorist involved in the murder of Binyamin and Talia Kahane on Dec. 31, 2000 in a shooting attack in which 5 of their daughters were also wounded. Was member of Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, Fatah’s military wing.
• Wael Al-Jaghoub -serving 1 life sentence for establishing PFLP terror cells and carrying out terror attacks. Member of PFLP.
• Muhannad Jweihan – serving a 25 year sentence for being member of a group of terrorists that murdered 25-year-old law student Moran Amit in Jerusalem on Feb. 8, 2002.
• Wajdi Joudeh – DFLP terrorist serving a 25 year sentence for involvement in the Geha Junction suicide bombing on Dec. 26, 2003 in which 4 were murdered and 24 wounded.
  Lina Barghouti – Israeli Arab convicted of contact with Islamic Jihad members, aiding an enemy during war, and conspiring to commit terror attacks. She served a sentence of 15 years in prison and was released in April 2017.
• Ahmad Sa’adat – Serving a 30 year sentence for heading the PFLP terror organization. PA TV has broadcast PFLP videos in which they credit him for the murder of Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze’evi, by PFLP terrorists.
• Fuad Al-Shubaki – a senior PA official who is serving a 20-year prison term. He was behind the attempt to smuggle 50 tons of illegal weapons to the Palestinian Authority aboard the Karine A weapons’ ship in 2002.

Jamie Roman studies at the Lighthouse Christian Academy in Santa Monica.