Terrorists who planned Olympics Massacre of 11 Israeli athletes glorified on multiple Facebook pages by PA and Fatah

Tragically, the Corona crisis has not stopped the Palestinian Authority and Fatah from presenting terrorists as heroes and role models. This month, both of Abbas’ institutions have made sure to mark the anniversary of the “deaths as Martyrs” of three terrorists from Fatah's Black September terror organization who were involved in planning the kidnapping and subsequent murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Mahmoud Yusuf Al-Najjar, Kamal Nasser, and Kamal Adwan were all senior members of the PLO and Black September in the 1970s and were all killed by Israeli forces in April 1973. 

These terrorist leaders were honored by Abbas’ PA Presidential Guard: 

From left to right: Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar, Kamal Adwan, and Kamal Nasser.

Text on image: “The 47th anniversary of the deaths as Martyrs of the two Kamals and Al-Najjar
The 47th anniversary of the deaths as Martyrs of the three leaders:
Martyr Muhammad Al-Najjar
Martyr Kamal Nasser
Martyr Kamal Adwan”

Posted text: "47 years after the deaths as Martyrs of the leaders – the two Kamals and Al-Najjar
Tomorrow, Friday, April 10, 2020, will be the 47th anniversary of the assassination of leaders Mahmoud Yusuf Al-Najjar 'Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar,' Kamal Nasser, and Kamal Adwan.
On April 10, 1973, the Israeli Mossad (Secret Intelligence Service) assassinated the three leaders in Beirut because of their prominent activity in the Fatah Movement and the Palestinian resistance, claiming they participated in planning the Munich operation in September 1972."

 [Official Facebook page of the PA Presidential Guard, April 10, 2020,
the posted text was also printed in the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 10, 2020]

The Fatah Movement and Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi similarly honored them as “leaders” who understood “the value of self-sacrificing activity” and “redeemed Palestine with their souls”:

Posted text: "On the anniversary… time brings back the memory of leader Martyrs Kamal Adwan, Kamal Nasser, and Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar who early on noticed the value of the [Palestinian] revolution and self-sacrificing activity and redeemed Palestine with their souls on this day."

[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, April 10, 2020]

Fatah posted the same image twice with different text:

Posted text: "The Verdun Martyrs"

[Official Fatah Facebook page, April 10, 2020]

Verdun is the Arabic name for the Israeli operation in Beirut during which the three were killed. 

From left to right Kamal Nasser, Kamal Adwan, and Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar.

Text on picture: "The Martyrs 
Muhammad Al-Najjar, Kamal Adwan, and Kamal Nasser 
Who the Israeli Mossad assassinated in Beirut on April 10, 1973"

[Official Fatah Facebook page, April 10, 2020]

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the Coronavirus crisis is not stopping the PA and Fatah from disseminating hate, glorifying terrorists, encouraging violence, and spreading libels about Israel, claiming for example that Israel deliberately spreads the virus among Palestinians. 

In February, Fatah saluted the Munich terrorist murderers in a video that included the infamous photo of one of them standing masked on the balcony of the building in which they held the Israeli athletes hostage in the Olympic Village in Munich. Fatah’s video also included photos of arch-terrorist Abu Jihad and Black September terrorist Salah Khalaf “Abu Iyad”: 

Lyrics: “Who are you, who are you?
Who are you, who are you? A Palestinian...
So beware of my bomb, of my belts...
As I am the sparks and I am the destiny...
Wait, wait!”

[Official Fatah Facebook page, Feb. 10, 2020]

Another terrorist involved in the murder of the Israeli athletes in 1972 was Hassan Ali Salameh, who was Black September’s commander of operations in Europe in the 1970s. Palestinians refer to him as “the Red Prince.” In January, both the PA and Fatah marked the 41st anniversary of his death. The official PA daily stressed that terror attacks he was involved in were “quality operations,” and specifically emphasized the kidnapping and murder of the Israeli athletes in the Munich massacre:

“His [Salameh’s] name is connected to many quality operations, such as sending explosive packages from Amsterdam to many Mossad agents in Europe… and also the Munich operation that was carried out by the Black September organization, which kidnapped a number of Israeli athletes and killed some of them.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 23, 2020]

Fatah likewise glorified terrorist Salameh:

 Posted text: “Today is the 41st anniversary of the death of the Red Prince as a Martyr”

[Official Fatah Facebook page, Jan. 21, 2020]

On the left is a picture of terrorist Ali Hassan Salameh. On the right are pictures of Salameh with his children, Salameh with former PLO and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, and Salameh with his wife.

 Posted text: “On this date in 1979 the occupation authorities assassinated Palestinian intelligence officer 
#Ali_Hassan_Salameh
#The_Red_Prince”

[Official Fatah Facebook page, Jan. 22, 2020] 

Then PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat (left) and Ali Hassan Salameh (right) with Salameh’s son in the middle.

Posted text: “On the 41st anniversary of the death of the Red Prince as a Martyr, the promise is the promise and the oath is the oath”

[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Jamal Muhaisen, Jan. 21, 2020]

PMW has documented that the PA and Fatah celebrate the anniversary of the murders every year in September and commemorate the days the terrorists involved in the Munich massacre died “as Martyrs.”

The following is additional information on the terrorists mentioned above and a longer excerpt of one of the statements cited: 

The Munich Olympics massacre - terrorist attack perpetrated by the Palestinian terror organization Black September, a secret branch of Fatah, during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, in which they murdered 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team.

The Verdun Operation is the Arabic name for an Israeli military operation against PLO targets in the Lebanese cities of Beirut and Sidon on April 10, 1973 (Operation Spring of Youth in Israel.) During the operation, Israeli army forces killed three senior PLO leaders, all of whom were also senior members of the Black September terror organization: Kamal Adwan, Kamal Nasser, and Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar.

Kamal Adwan and Kamal Nasser were both senior members of Black September, a secret branch of Fatah, who were killed by Israeli forces in April 1973. Kamal Nasser was also the spokesperson for the PLO and Fatah. Kamal Adwan was responsible for Fatah terrorist operations in Israel.

Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar - was Arafat's deputy and among the founders of Fatah. He was the Commander of Al-Asifa, Fatah's military unit, and member of Fatah's Central Committee and PLO's Executive Committee. He also was the Commander of Operations of the terror organization Black September, a secret branch of Fatah, and involved in the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics (Sept. 5, 1972). He was killed by Israel in 1973.

Headline: “41 years since the death as a Martyr of the Red Prince [Ali Hassan Salameh]”
“At 3:37 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 22, 1979, a powerful explosion rocked Beirut, and the target was Palestinian leader Martyr Ali Hassan Salameh ‘Abu Hassan’ (i.e., commander of operations of the Black September terror organization).
Salameh died as a Martyr together with four of those accompanying him after then [Israeli] occupation Prime Minister Golda Meir said: ‘Find this monster and kill him’ (sic., PMW could find no record of such a statement) …
His [Salameh’s] name is connected to many quality operations (i.e., terror attacks), such as sending explosive packages from Amsterdam to many Mossad agents (Israeli Secret Intelligence Service) in Europe… and also the Munich operation (i.e., the Munich Olympics massacre, 11 murdered; see note below) that was carried out by the Black September organization, which kidnapped a number of Israeli athletes and killed some of them.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 23, 2020]

Ali Hassan Salameh - Palestinian terrorist and commander of operations in Europe of the Black September terror organization - a secret branch of Fatah - in the 1970s. He planned many terror attacks, including the attack on the Israeli team at the Munich Olympics on Sept. 5, 1972, in which 11 Israeli athletes were murdered. Salameh was killed by a car bomb in Beirut on Jan. 22, 1979. Israel is thought to be responsible for his death, but has not officially taken responsibility for it.

Abu Jihad (Khalil Al-Wazir) - was a founder of Fatah and deputy to Yasser Arafat. He headed the PLO terror organization's military wing and also planned many deadly Fatah terror attacks in the 1960’s - 1980’s. These attacks, in which a total of 125 Israelis were murdered, included the most lethal in Israeli history - the hijacking of a bus and murder of 37 civilians, 12 of them children.

Abu Iyad (Salah Khalaf) - PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat’s deputy, one of the founders of Fatah, and head of the terror organization Black September, a secret branch of Fatah. Attacks he planned include the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics (Sept. 5, 1972) and the murder of two American diplomats in Sudan (March 1, 1973). It is commonly assumed that his assassin, a former Fatah bodyguard, was sent by the Abu Nidal Organization, a rival Palestinian faction.

Yasser Arafat – Founder of Fatah and former chairman of the PLO and PA. During the 1960s, 70s and 80s Arafat was behind numerous terror attacks against Israelis. Although he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 together with then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and then Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres “for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East" after signing the Oslo Accords peace agreement, Arafat launched a 5-year terror campaign - the second Intifada (2000-2005) – in which more than 1,000 Israelis were murdered. Arafat died of an illness in 2004.