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The Palestinian Authority Still Considers Massacre of Jews a Historic Act
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visiting the West Bank city of Jenin. Photo: Reuters/Mohamad Torokman
The Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah still rejoice over the murder of 37 Israelis in 1978.
Long before Hamas’ massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, the attack known as the Coastal Road Massacre was the most lethal in Israel’s history — and has remained the source of immense pride for Fatah, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ political party.
On the anniversary of the attack, Abbas’ Fatah glorified female terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi who led the massacre.
As Palestinian Media Watch has documented, Mughrabi has been turned by the PA into a hero and role model for Palestinian society.
Her “heroic” act was leading a squad of Fatah terrorists in the hijacking of a bus on Israel’s Coastal Highway, which led to the murder of 37 civilians — of which 12 were children — and the wounding of over 70.
The PA and Fatah refer to the hours during which the terrorists took control of the Israeli bus and held its passengers captive as “the establishment of the Palestinian republic.”
The Fatah post calls murderer Mughrabi “the first president of the republic”:
Text on image: “Dalal Mughrabi and her comrades established the Palestinian republic”
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, March 11, 2025]
The image shows the ruins of the Israeli bus that was hijacked and detonated by Mughrabi and her terror squad.
Text on image: “The Martyr Kamal Adwan operation [name given to the Coastal Road Massacre]
March 11, 1978
The day that Fatah established the Republic of Palestine … It never mattered how long this Palestinian republic lasted, rather that it was established altogether. The first president of the republic was Dalal Mughrabi, and the Palestinian flag flew in the depth of the occupied land on a road 95 km long on the main road in Palestine [i.e., Israel]
Self-sacrificing fighter Dalal Mughrabi died as a Martyr along with the squad members. Two of them, prisoners Khaled Abu Asba and Hassan Fayyad, were captured and [later] released in an exchange deal in 1983″ [emphasis added]
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, March 11, 2025]
Text on image: “‘Know all of you [Israelis] that the land of Palestine is Arab and will remain so no matter how much your voices and your buildings rise on its soil’ — the last words of self-sacrificing fighter Dalal Mughrabi before her Martyrdom.”
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, March 11, 2025]
The Palestinian Authority also marked the anniversary of the Coastal Road Massacre, describing in detail how Dalal Mughrabi joined Fatah and yearned to participate in a terror attack against Israel:
Yesterday was the 47th anniversary of the Martyrdom of Palestinian fighter Dalal Mughrabi … She decided to join the ranks of the Palestinian revolution and to act in the ranks of the self-sacrificing fighters [i.e., terrorists] in the Fatah Movement while still a student.
She took many military courses and received lessons in guerilla warfare, during which she trained with different weapons … She became known for her daring, her courage, her well-developed national sentiment, and for her devotion to Palestine and Fatah…
The [operation] plan was formulated by Martyr commander Khalil Al-Wazir ‘Abu Jihad’ [i.e., terrorist, responsible for the murder of 125 Israelis]… The self-sacrificing fighters competed among themselves to participate, foremost among them Dalal Mughrabi, who was 20. She was selected to lead the squad that would carry out the operation, which was made up of 10 self-sacrificing fighters.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 12, 2025]
Fatah’s Shabiba Student Movement and Student Union Council at Palestine Technical University praised murderer Mughrabi as the one who traced “Palestine’s” borders “with her blood”:
Text on image and in post: “The 47th anniversary of the Martyrdom-death of fighter Dalal Mughrabi, who outlined the borders of the homeland with her blood and wrote the praise of the self-sacrificing fighter with letters of light.”
[The Fatah Shabiba Student Movement and Student Union Council at Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie, Facebook page, March 12, 2025]
The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.
The post The Palestinian Authority Still Considers Massacre of Jews a Historic Act first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday
US President Donald Trump attends the Saudi-US Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
US President Donald Trump’s order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States goes into effect at 12:01 am ET (0401 GMT) on Monday, a move the president promulgated to protect the country from “foreign terrorists.”
The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The entry of people from seven other countries – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela – will be partially restricted.
Trump, a Republican, said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security, have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, as well as inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.
He cited last Sunday’s incident in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new curbs are needed. But Egypt is not part of the travel ban.
The travel ban forms part of Trump’s policy to restrict immigration into the United States and is reminiscent of a similar move in his first term when he barred travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Officials and residents in countries whose citizens will soon be banned expressed dismay and disbelief.
Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to US citizens in response to Trump’s action.
“Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and its pride,” he said in a Facebook post, referring to countries such as Qatar, which gifted the U.S. a luxury airplane for Trump’s use and promised to invest billions of dollars in the U.S.
Afghans who worked for the US or US-funded projects and were hoping to resettle in the US expressed fear that the travel ban would force them to return to their country, where they could face reprisal from the Taliban.
Democratic US lawmakers also voiced concern about the policies.
“Trump’s travel ban on citizens from over 12 countries is draconian and unconstitutional,” said US Representative Ro Khanna on social media late on Thursday. “People have a right to seek asylum.”
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Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a member of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in southern Syria’s Mazraat Beit Jin, days after Israel carried out its first airstrikes in the country in nearly a month.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the strike.
Israel said on Tuesday it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles towards Israel for the first time under the country’s new leadership. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz held Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa accountable.
Damascus in response said reports of the shelling were unverified, reiterating that Syria does not pose a threat to any regional party.
A little known group named “Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades,” an apparent reference to Hamas’ military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024, reportedly claimed responsibility for the shelling. Reuters, however, could not independently verify the claim.
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Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg
FILE PHOTO: Activist Greta Thunberg sits aboard the aid ship Madleen, which left the Italian port of Catania on June 1 to travel to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, in this picture released on June 2, 2025 on social media. Photo: Freedom Flotilla Coalition/via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told the military on Sunday to stop a charity boat carrying activists including Sweden’s Greta Thunberg who are planning to defy an Israeli blockade and reach Gaza.
Operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the British-flagged Madleen yacht set sail from Sicily on June 6 and is currently off the Egyptian coast, heading slowly towards the Gaza Strip, which is besieged by Israel.
“I instructed the IDF to act so that the Madleen .. does not reach Gaza,” Katz said in a statement.
“To the antisemitic Greta and her Hamas-propaganda-spouting friends, I say clearly: You’d better turn back, because you will not reach Gaza.”
Climate activist Thunberg said she joined the Madleen crew to “challenge Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes” in Gaza and highlight the urgent need for humanitarian aid. She has rejected previous Israeli accusations of antisemitism.
Israel went to war with Hamas in October 2023 after the Islamist terrorists launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing more 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to the enclave.
Katz said the blockade was essential to Israel’s national security as it seeks to eliminate Hamas.
“The State of Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade on Gaza, whose primary purpose is to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas,” he said.
The Madleen is carrying a symbolic quantity of aid, including rice and baby formula, the FFC has said.
FFC press officer Hay Sha Wiya said on Sunday the boat was currently some 160 nautical miles (296 km) from Gaza. “We are preparing for the possibility of interception,” she said.
Besides Thunberg, there are 11 other crew members aboard, including Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.
Israeli media have reported that the military plans to intercept the yacht before it reaches Gaza and escort it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The crew would then be deported.
In 2010, Israeli commandos killed 10 people when they boarded a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, that was leading a small flotilla towards Gaza.
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