What To Do When Your Lake Is Named After An Antisemite

The street on which the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters are located, in Ramallah, is named after Hamas bomb-maker Yihyeh Ayyash, who orchestrated attacks that killed at least 90 Israelis. Across the street is a square named “Heroic Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Square,” honoring the leader of Fatah’s Coastal Road massacre of 37 Israelis. 

There are also schools named after Mughrabi in at least six Palestinian Authority towns, and lessons idolizing her are part of the curricula throughout the PA’s school system. Nasser Al-Rajabi, an elementary school teacher in Hebron, has posted a YouTube video of himself reading a section about Mughrabi from the PA’s 5th Grade Arabic Language school book.

The text describes Mughrabi as “leading her group of self-sacrificing fighters” to carry out the 1978 attack, during which she “watered the soil of Palestine with her pure blood.” It asks students to answer questions about the massacre, such as “How old was Dalal Mughrabi when she died as a Martyr?” and “[Name] the number of heroes in the group of self-sacrificing fighters.” (Translation provided by Palestinian Media Watch)

Imagine our horror if, in between swimming and kayaking, visitors to San Francisco’s Stow Lake were taught that Stow’s “Jew tax” proposal was a visionary idea that should be implemented. That, essentially, is what Palestinian Arab school children are taught about Mughrabi. 

It’s a scary thought, because while there is little danger of children visiting Stow Lake and then becoming pint-sized advocates of a “Jew tax,” there is ample evidence that Palestinian Arab youngsters are being groomed to follow in Dalal Mughrabi’s murderous footsteps.