PA School Built with Belgian Taxpayer Money Renamed After Mass Murdering Terrorist

JERUSALEM – A Palestinian school built with Belgian funding has come under fire for recently being renamed after the terrorist behind the most lethal attack in Israel’s history. 

Formerly known as the Beit Awwa Basic Girls School, it has now been renamed by the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Education as the Dalal Mughrabi Elementary Mixed School, in honor of the terrorist behind the 1978 Coastal Road massacre in which a bus was hijacked and 38 people, including 13 children, were murdered.

According to a plaque, the school was established “through a fund from the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium and through the Belgian Development Agency BTC,” Palestinian Media Watch first reported.

In keeping with the PA’s educational methods, the school’s logo features a map of sovereign Israel as the state of “Palestine.” Its Facebook page contains images of Palestinian terrorist “martyrs,” including those killed while carrying out attacks during the most recent wave of violence.

Daniel Schwammenthal, director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute, called on the Belgian government to “investigate this issue and insist that the PA rename the school immediately.”

Schwammenthal told the Algemeiner that “the Palestinian Authority under President [Mahmoud] Abbas has established a culture of incitement that fuels terror and hatred, making it impossible to see how he can ever lead any serious peace negotiations.”

“By naming schools after terrorists, the PA is indoctrinating even little children, apparently determined to ensure this conflict will last well into the next generation,” he said.

“It is the [Belgian] government’s responsibility to ensure that its foreign aid is not perverted in such a way to promote hatred rather than be used for its intended goal of furthering education,” he added.

The Algemeiner also interviewed Olga Deutsch, head of the Europe Desk at NGO Monitor, who noted research by her organization showing that “the Belgian government provides millions of euros to highly politicized non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that promote anti-Israel narratives, lawfare and [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] campaigns,” including some affiliated with terror groups.

“This case of Belgian funding directly supporting the glorification of terror is abhorrent,” Deutsch told the Algemeiner.

“NGO Monitor calls on Belgium to follow the lead of countries like Norway, who have demanded the return of monies from such anti-peace initiatives,” she added.

“We further call on European donors to take to heart the need to exercise better accountability for where their funding goes,” Deutsch said.

The Belgian Development Agency’s website declares that it will fund the construction of an additional 10 Palestinian schools by 2020, making a total of 33 schools paid for by Belgian taxpayers.

Earlier this week, Breitbart Jerusalem reported that at least two Fatah-run summer camps had also been named after the terrorist Mughrabi.

Altogether, more than 28 Palestinian schools have been named after terrorists and three after Nazi collaborators, PMW reported. In May, Breitbart Jerusalem reported that Norwegian donations were being used to fund a Palestinian women’s center that was also named after Mughrabi. The center bore the logos of UN Women and the Norwegian Representative Office to the PA, both of which demanded the removal of the logos.