UN pulls support from center glorifying Palestinian terror

Following Norway, the UN has pulled its support from a Palestinian women’s center that was named after a notorious terrorist.

The United Nations (UN) has pulled its support from a women’s center in the Palestinian village of Burqa that was named after female terrorist Dalal Mughrabi.

The center was funded in part by the UN Women via the Palestinian Election Commission, supposedly to promote the participation of women in elections.

Mughrabi led a terrorist attack in Israel in 1978 that claimed 37 civilian lives, including many children. It was the most lethal attack in Israel’s history.

Responding to questions on the naming of a community center after a murderous terrorist, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, stated on Sunday that the UN disassociated itself from the center once it had learned the “offensive” name chosen for it, and “will take measures to ensure that such incidents do not take place in the future.”

“The glorification of terrorism, or the perpetrators of heinous terrorist acts, is unacceptable under any circumstances,” Dujarric stated.

“The UN has repeatedly called for an end to incitement to violence and hatred as they present one of the obstacles to peace,” he said.

Dujarric clarified that UN support for the project ended last year and that the world body has asked for the logo of UN Women to be removed from the building immediately.

The UN statement comes after Norway, another financier of the project, slammed the Palestinian Authority (PA) for using Norwegian funds to glorify the notorious terrorist and demanded that the money they gave be returned.

“The glorification of terrorist attacks is completely unacceptable, and I deplore this decision in the strongest possible terms,” Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende stated Friday.

“Norway will not allow itself to be associated with institutions that take the names of terrorists in this way. We will not accept the use of Norwegian aid funding for such purposes,” he added.

Neither Norway nor the UN were consulted in advance regarding the naming of the center, nor were they invited to the opening ceremony.

This incident was the latest show of Palestinian incitement to terror in accordance with the Palestinian Authority’s policy of presenting them as role models for Palestinian youth.

It is not only the naming of the center that glorifies the murderer; the purpose of the center itself is to educate youth about Mughrabi’s terror attack as an inspiration..

At the center’s inauguration, Reem Hajje, a member of the village council, discussed the center’s activities, noting it will focus on the history of the “struggle” of “Martyr” Mughrabi in presentations to youth groups. According to Hajje, this marks the “beginning of the launch of enrichment activities regarding the history of the Palestinian struggle,” the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

Dalal MughrabiIncitementPalestinian AuthorityPalestinian terrorUnited Nations