I'm glad to see AP finally followed up with a proper story about the Palestinian Authority naming a public square in the town of Bireh after Dalal Mughrabi.
She was part of a group of terrorists who infiltrated Israel from Lebanon in 1978. They hijacked a bus, tossing grenades and firing on nearby cars. It was the deadliest terror attack in Israeli history: 38 civilians killed (including 13 children), 71 injured, and is known in Israel as the Coastal Road Massacre.
The NY Times and the Israeli media covered Bireh two weeks ago — a long time in blog years. But it's still significant that AP nevertheless picked up on this. Here are three reasons why I say better late than never.
- The PA's glorification of terrorists and incitement against Israel's very legitimacy is very under-reported in the mainstream media.
- Israeli attitudes towards peace talks cannot be understood without an awareness of the Palestinian atmosphere.
- Associated Press content is probably the most widely distributed in the world.
In that light, now let's see if the MSM picks up on this new development: Mahmoud Abbas promoted imprisoned terrorist Mahmoud Damra to the rank of Major-General. As former commander of Force-17, Yasser Arafat's personal bodyguards, Damra has quite a rap sheet.
Damra's connected to the murders of American citizens Benyamin and Talia Kahane, Esh Kadosh-Gilmore, plus a fatal shooting attack on Israeli soldiers near Neve Tzuf in 2000. Arafat reportedly appointed him to serve as Force-17's liason to Hezbollah and Iran; Damra was also one of the fugitives holed up with Arafat during the IDF's siege of the Muqata compound.
I'll check the wires in two weeks for more on Damra.
