JERUSALEM (JTA) — A United Nations-sponsored soccer tournament in Ramallah was named in honor of a Palestinian terrorist.
The Shahid (Martyr) Abu Jihad Tournament at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency Women’s Training Center and Faculty of Educational Sciences recognizes a principal founder of Fatah known as Abu Jihad, who planned terror attacks in the 1960s through the 1980s that killed scores of Israeli civilians.
Dedicating sports tournaments and summer camps for Palestinian youth to terrorists who have killed Israelis is Palestinian Authority policy, according to Palestinian Media Watch. In the past, the United Nations has supported summer camps named for terrorists.
In a letter to the UNRWA Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi, B’nai B’rith International protested the tournament’s name and urged the organization to teach tolerance in UNRWA classrooms.
"As a human rights and humanitarian organization that has maintained a uniquely active, accredited presence at multiple United Nations institutions for over 60 years, we request that you ensure that UNRWA, its staff, institutions and programs will in no way condone, let alone glorify, violent extremism and its perpetrators," B’nai B’rith President Dennis Glick and Executive Vice President Daniel Mariaschin wrote. "We hope, as you begin your tenure at UNRWA, that you will guide the agency in a direction that will truly serve its Palestinian clients and their Israeli neighbors, as well as the credibility and standing of the United Nations itself as a constructive contributor to peace and reconciliation."
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