Hamas terrorists in Gaza
Hamas terrorists in GazaAbed Rahim Khatib/Flash 90

Schools in the United States are often named for historical figures, with a large majority of them having the names of Presidents - Lincoln, Jefferson, Kennedy, Roosevelt – and other public and historical figures. The educational message transmitted is one of patriotism, continuity, and honor to those who so notably contributed to their country.

In the Palestinian Authority, however, the situation is somewhat different. There, dozens of schools are named for murderers. A list compiled by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) finds 31 schools named for terrorists and Nazi collaborators, thereby "presenting murderers who targeted civilians as role models for Palestinian ‎children."

Another 22 schools glorify Martyrdom in general, and one school is even named for a Hitler ‎associate and Nazi war criminal responsible for the deaths of thousands. Children in ‎such schools interviewed on PA TV have explained that studying there turned the terrorists into role models for them, who then want to “reach ‎the level” of the terrorist their school is named after. ‎[Official PA TV, March 27, 2014]‎

Among the highlights of the list:

Three schools – the Dalal Mughrabi High Schools in Gaza and Hevron and a kindergarten in Dura - are named after the female terrorist who led the most lethal terror ‎attack in Israel’s history. She and others hijacked a bus in 1978, and they murdered 37 civilians, including 12 children.

Three schools and a college are also named after Abu Jihad, planner of the above attack. ‎

Another three schools – in Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza - are named for Salah Khalaf, who planned the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics (Sept. 5, 1972), and the murder of two Americans in Sudan (March 1, 1973).

The Amin Al-Husseini Elementary School, in El-Bireh ‎just north of Jerusalem, is named for a notorious Nazi collaborator, the Grand ‎Mufti of Jerusalem during the ‎British Mandate. At one point during World War II, he was responsible for a Muslim SS ‎division that murdered thousands ‎of Serbs and Croats. When the ‎Nazis offered to free some Jewish ‎children, Al-Husseini fought against ‎their release, and 5,000 ‎were sent to the gas chambers.‎

The Martyr Ahmed Yassin School for Boys in Jenin is named after Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin, responsible for many terror attacks and the deaths of ‎hundreds of civilians in suicide bombings. ‎

A girls school in Tulkarem, near Kfar Saba, is named after Hamas bomb builder Nash’at Abu Jabara.

Two schools and a high school sports auditorium, all in Gaza, are named after the planner of the Munich Olympics massacre, Ali Hassan Salameh, in which 11 Israeli athletes were murdered.‎