Palestinian terrorist Dalal Mughrabi is widely regarded as a hero in the West Bank. Photo: PMW

While the free world watched in horror at this week’s attempted plane hijacking and attempted murder of 170 people, it should be remembered that it was Palestinian terrorists who normalized plane hijackings, and the hijackers remain heroes of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

When other world leaders refer to the “founding fathers” of their country, the term invokes positive images of people with values who tried to benefit their people.

However, when Mahmoud Abbas recently chose to honor Palestinian “founding brothers,” all those “brothers” he praised with “glory and eternity” were terrorist mass murderers of civilians.

Significantly, before Abbas glorified the terrorists from the past, he chose to praise terrorist murderers from the present — “our pure Martyrs … our brave prisoners.”

Whether terrorists from 50 years ago or terrorists from last month, Mahmoud Abbas has never stopped praising, honoring, and rewarding terrorists.

The terrorist “founding brothers” Abbas chose to honor were:

Yasser Arafat — PA and PLO Chairman; responsible for the deaths of thousands, including more than 1,100 in the PA’s 5-year terror-intifada, shortly after he deceptively pledged to end terror in the Oslo Accords.

Khalil Al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) — Fatah terror leader; the PA has bragged repeatedly that he planned the murders of at least 125 — almost all civilians, including dozens of children

Salah Khalaf — Black September terror leader; he planned 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), among many others

Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar — commander of operations of the Black September terror organization; also involved in planning the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics and many other attacks on civilians

Abu Ali Iyad — head of Fatah military operations; responsible for many attacks on civilian targets

Abu Sabri — deputy commander of operations of Fatah’s Al-Asifa terror unit; involved in planning many terror attacks

These were his words glorifying terrorists, current and past, at the first session of Fatah’s recent Revolutionary Council meeting:

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “Long live the Fatah Movement! Glory and eternity to our pure Martyrs (i.e., terrorists), freedom to our brave prisoners [i.e., terrorists], and a speedy recovery to our wounded (i.e., terrorists). May Allah have mercy on our Martyrs and the founding brothers, foremost among them the leader and symbol, the Martyr [former PLO Chairman] Yasser Arafat, and the leaders: Khalil Al-Wazir (i.e., Abu Jihad, orchestrated murders of at least 125), Salah Khalaf (i.e., head of Black September), Farouq Al-Qadummi, (i.e., one of the founders and leaders of Fatah terror organization) Khaled Al-Hassan, Abu Yusuf Al-Najjar (i.e., Black September commander of operations), Abu Ali Iyad (i.e., terrorist, head of Fatah military operations), Abu Sabri (i.e., Deputy Commander of Operations for Fatah’s Al-Asifa military unit), and the other brothers and leaders who led the path of the revolution from the very first moment of the launch of the movement.”

[Official PA TV, Sept. 11, 2026]

Abbas’ speech is part of the PA’s never-ending pattern of praising terrorists as role models, as documented by Palestinian Media Watch.

Another example is a new PA TV history program whose weekly opening sequence features several prominent terrorists and murderers, including Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist Laila Khaled, who participated in two plane hijackings: TWA Flight 840 from Rome to Athens on Aug. 29, 1969, and the attempted hijacking of El Al Flight 219 from Amsterdam to New York on Sept. 6, 1970. The second hijacking was averted by the pilot and security personnel on board. They shot Khaled’s accomplice, Patrick Argüello, who had murdered one of the flight attendants.

Khaled was overpowered and the plane landed in London, where Khaled was handed over and held by British police until she was exchanged on Oct. 1, 1970 for hostages held by the PFLP.

For the PA, the only history worth presenting is one documented through — and devoted to glorifying — terrorists, including plane hijackers. The following images introduce the PA TV history program:

Former PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and head of the Black September terror organization Salah Khalaf – Abu Iyad [Official PA TV, The Road to the Homeland, Sept. 6, 2026]

Terrorist and plane hijacker Laila Khaled

Terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi who led the Coastal Road massacre in 1978 when a group of Fatah terrorists murdered 37 Israelis, including 12 children

Founder of the terror organization PFLP George Habash, Yasser Arafat, and Secretary-General of the terror organization DFLP Nayef Hawatmeh

A photo of PA leaders on the lawn of the White House is shown at the end of the program’s opening for a fraction of a second, while the photos of the terrorists were shown at the beginning for several seconds each. Plane hijacker Laila Khaled’s photo was shown for 3 seconds, as was the photo of murderer Dalal Mughrabi and the joint photos of Yasser Arafat and PFLP founder George Habash as well as Arafat and Black September leader Abu Iyad.

The PA’s role-modeling remains, as always, in spite of its promise to “reform:” Terrorists are role models and “founding brothers” to be emulated.

And its final message with the flash of the White House picture could not be clearer: In the current world, Palestinians can murder hundreds and even thousands of Israeli civilians, and if you play your victim and deception cards properly, it will not prevent you from being accepted by world leaders as a “peace partner.”

The author is the Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.