Palestinian Ping Pong Tournament Used to Honor Terrorists

TEL AVIV – December saw the opening of a new PA and Fatah-sponsored sports competition named after a Palestinian terrorist who carried out stabbing attacks against Israelis.

14 teams participated in the “Martyr Muhammad Al-Halabi table tennis tournament” in honor of Muhammad Al-Halabi, the terrorist who kicked off the current wave of violence by stabbing two men and a child in Jerusalem on October 3.

In his speech at the tournament’s opening ceremony, Palestinian Table Tennis Association representative Radwan Al-Sharif said that Al-Halabi sacrificed his life and soul for the honor of the free women of the Al-Aqsa Mosque – a reference to the female members of the Islamist Al-Murabitoun movement who stage protests by the Temple Mount to prevent Jews from praying there.

Al-Halabi has also had a street named after him and an official monument erected in his hometown near Ramallah. The monument is in the shape of “Palestine,” which includes all of Israel and bears a picture of Al-Halabi. At a ceremony marking 40 days since Al-Halabi’s death at the hands of Israeli security forces, speakers praised the terrorist, saying that he had defended Jerusalem and “launched a new stage in the struggle to remove the occupation.”

The tennis tournament is the second sporting event named after Al-Halabi. In October, the Martyr Yasser Arafat Youth Center held the “Muhammad Al-Halabi football tournament” in Ramallah, which was covered by the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida.

In November, Breibart Jerusalem reported on the “Ahmad Manasrah Football Tournament,” named after ​a 13-year-old terrorist who stabbed and critically wounded two people in Jerusalem, including one his own age.

Mansara also had a solidarity rally held in his honor that was attended by PA Education Minister Sabri Saidam and a host of other officials. The rally’s slogan was “Arresting Children Kills Childhood. Give Them the Time to Study and Play.”

Education Minister Saidam addressed schoolchildren at the rally by extolling the importance of loyalty and devotion to the martyrs, before adding: “The object of [this] campaign is to direct world attention to the problems of the imprisoned children by encouraging students to send letters to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon headed ‘The Hero Ahmad Manasra.'”