Congressional Gold Medal

Despite being held up by the international community as a potential "peace partner" for Israel, Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah faction head Mahmoud Abbas went on a spree of glorifying terrorists ahead of Israeli Memorial Day, which begins Tuesday night and commemorates terror victims. Abbas personally honored four Palestinian Arab terrorists over the course of the last month, praising "the first martyr," "the first (male) prisoner" and "the first female fighter prisoner" just last Friday, as revealed by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Abbas awarded the three terrorists who he described as pioneering different "firsts" in terrorism with "decorations of military honor, in admiration of their militant pioneering role," according to Palestinian Arab media. The "first martyr," Ahmed Musa Salameh, took part in the first Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terror attack against Israel in 1965. The "first female prisoner" Fatima Barnawi planted a bomb in a Jerusalem movie theater in 1967, and the "first prisoner" Mahmoud Bakr Hijazi took part in an attempted bombing attack in 1965, reports PMW. Incidentally none of the three terrorists succeeded in murdering any Israelis. Abbas also showered praise on arch-terrorist Abu Jihad, head of the PLO terror organization's "military wing," who is responsible for murdering 125 Israelis. He planned numerous lethal attacks, including the infamous Coastal Road massacre of 1978, in which Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus and murdered 37 civilians, 12 of them children, and wounded over 70. At a rally held in honor of Abu Jihad, who is also known as Khalil Al-Wazir, none other than Abbas took central stage and "expressed his pride" in Abu Jihad "for his significant national role." Abbas also telephoned Intisar Al-Wazir, Abu Jihad's widow, "in appreciation of his revolutionary role in the history of our modern revolution." Fatah's favorites The outspoken praise of terrorist murderers by Abbas was reflected by the heaping accolades handed out by the PA and Fatah organizations under his control, which over the past month lauded 14 terrorists who murdered a total of at least 160 Israelis, including Abbas's four. So which terrorist murderers were honored by Fatah and PA? Get ready for a long and bloody list. Dalal Mughrabi, the female terrorist who led the Coastal Road massacre, was presented as a role model for university students on Fatah's official Facebook page according to PMW. Fatah called "to renew the promise and the oath to the martyr leaders." Aside from Abbas's praise, Abu Jihad was also honored in two documentaries broadcast on PA TV, and likewise Fatah's Jerusalem branch held a ping pong tournament in his name. Fatah also included him as one of its role models for university students on Facebook. Salah Khalaf, also known as Abu Iyad, was another terrorist pressed as a role model by Fatah. He was a founder of Fatah and head of the Black September terror organization, he took part in planning the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, as well the murder of two US diplomats in Sudan in 1973. Andalib Takatka, a Fatah suicide bomber who murdered six and wounded over 80 when she detonated on Jerusalem's central Yafo Road in 2002, was also among Fatah's role models. The list also included Wafa Idris, the first Palestinian Arab female suicide bomber. In 2002 as a Red Crescent volunteer she got around security and entered Jerusalem in an ambulance, where she blew herself up, murdering an Israeli. Fatah likewise praised Raed Al-Karmi, a senior operative in the Fatah terror faction Tanzim who murdered nine Israelis in several attacks. The commander of the Hevron branch of the Tanzim, Marwan Zalum, also came in for Fatah glory over his part in several attacks that left a total of nine murdered. Those attacks included his sending the terrorist who shot to death the infant Shalhevet Pass in her stroller in 2001, and supplying the bomb in a 2002 suicide attack. The commander of Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades "military wing" in Judea and Samaria, Hussein Abayat, also received accolades for the shooting attacks he took part in. He was responsible for personally murdering one Israeli. Special honors - PA official visits For some terrorists, the PA evidently didn't feel that lionizing them as role models to inspire the next generation of murderers was enough. In those cases, PA officials actually went to honor the families that produced the terrorists. One such terrorist was Ramzi Khamis Barrash, who shot and murdered an Israeli. Laila Ghannam , the PA governor of Ramallah in Samaria, went out of her way to visit his family and express her appreciation of the vile murder he committed. Ghannam also visited the family of Mohammed Khamis Barrash, who murdered three Israelis in shooting attacks the he conducted. Diya Zakariya Shaker Al-Agha, also known as "Al-Faluji," was given special honor. The terrorist beat an Israeli to death with a shovel back in 1992, and is currently serving a life sentence for his attack. Not only did PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs director Issa Karake personally visit Al-Agha's home to honor his attack, but his mother also appeared on PA TV where the host called Al-Agha "a fighter," referring to attack as "the heroic operation."