Only two months after the International Olympic Committee finally commemorated the 1972 Munich Olympic tragedy with an official ceremony at the recent Rio Olympics, the Fatah Movement, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, called the massacre a "heroic operation" on its Facebook page.
On the anniversary of the killings, Fatah glorified the murderous terrorists on its Facebook page, publishing photos of the terrorists carrying out the attack, and of the leader of the attack, Black September figure Salah Khalaf.
Fatah stated that the attack showed "the courage and power of the Palestinian resistance fighter." The victims, however, were unarmed.
"Munich Operation, Sept. 5, 1972: Fatah was here. The Munich operation was an operation of taking Israeli hostages that occurred during the Summer Olympics that took place in Munich, Germany, between Sept. 5 and 6, 1972. The operation was carried out by the Fatah Movement's Black September organization, and its demand was to release 236 prisoners from the Israeli prisons, most of whom were Arab, in addition to Kozo Okamoto from the Japanese Red Army. The operation ended with the killing of 11 Israeli athletes, as well as five of the Palestinians who carried out the operation, a German policeman, and a German helicopter pilot," wrote Fatah.
To this day, Fatah continues to take pride in the Munich terror attack.
Recently, Fatah also glorified terrorist Thaer Abu Ghazaleh, a 19-year-old Israeli Arab who stabbed and wounded 5 Israeli civilians with a screwdriver in Tel Aviv on Oct. 8, 2015. Ghazaleh was shot and killed at the scene by an Israeli soldier.
On Twitter, Fatah congratulated the "Martyr" on "completing the mission" of "slaughtering your enemies":
"Martyr (shahid) Thaer Abu Ghazaleh, when Jerusalem called to you, you completed the mission and slaughtered your enemies." (Source: official Fatah Twitter account, Aug. 30, 2016)
Similarly, on Facebook, Fatah praised terrorist Abu Ghazaleh as one of the organization's "heroic Martyrs":
"The occupation gave the body of Martyr (Shahid) Thaer Abu Ghazaleh to members of his family to be buried in the Bab Al-Mujahideen cemetery on Saladin St. in Jerusalem. [Allah's] mercy on our heroic Martyrs." (Source: official Fatah Facebook page, Aug. 30, 2016)
Another Fatah Facebook post highlighted Fatah's role in the attack with the phrase, "Munich operation, Sept. 5, 1972 - Fatah was here."
Fatah and the Palestinian Authority have a policy of glorifying anyone who has killed or injured an Israeli, as Palestinian Media Watch has documented numerous times.
The following are longer excerpts of Fatah's Facebook posts glorifying the Munich massacre:
Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad) - Founder of Fatah and head of the terrorist organization Black September. Attacks he planned included 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).
Bombing of Israel's National Water Carrier - On Jan. 1, 1965, Palestinian terrorists attempted to bomb Israel's National Water Carrier. This was the first attack against Israel carried out by Fatah. Fatah refers to the attack as the "Intilaqa", meaning "the Launch" of Fatah.
Lod Airport attack - on May 30, 1972, Takeshi Okudaira, Yasuyuki Yasuda and Kozo Okamoto - members of the Japanese Red Army who had been recruited by the Palestinian terror organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) - carried out a terror attack at Israel's Lod (Tel Aviv) airport. Throwing hand grenades and shooting, the terrorists killed 24 (8 Israelis and 16 foreign tourists), and wounded over 70. Okudaira and Yasuda were killed during the attack, while Okamoto was arrested and sentenced to 3 life sentences, but was released in the Jibril Exchange in May 1985, after only 13 years of imprisonment, when Israel agreed to release 1,150 Palestinian prisoners, including terrorist murderers, in exchange for three Israeli soldiers who had been taken hostage by the terrorist organization the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP - GC).
"The 44th anniversary, Sept. 5-6, 1972, the anniversary of carrying out of the heroic Munich operation that was carried out by fighters of the PLO Black September organization. The Munich operation is still remembered and is recorded in history, and it demonstrates the meaning of the courage and power of the Palestinian resistance fighter and his self-sacrifice for the homeland and for the cause." (Source: official Fatah Facebook page, Sept. 5, 2016)
Text at top of picture: "Fatah Movement"
The text at bottom of picture is a quote of Salah Khalaf, head of the Black September terror organization:
"'Fatah members, the loyal people of Palestine, be completely certain that the Fatah Movement, which was loyal to the principles of this revolution, will continue to be loyal to these principles. The revolution on Jan. 1, 1965 (i.e., Fatah's first terror attack against Israel) comes to tell the entire world that this people has its own leadership and its own organization (i.e., the PLO), and that it insists on having self-determination.' - Martyr (shahid) Salah Khalaf [Abu Iyad]"
The text at bottom left corner of the picture says: "Fatah's Mobilization and Organization Commission"
Both posts have since been taken down by Fatah.