Mahmoud Abbas praises a terrorist who targeted children at a circus

This week, female terrorist Zakiya Shammout died in Algeria after an illness.

She was involved in multiple terror attacks in the 1960s and early 1970s, before being arrested in 1971. As JTA wrote then:

Forty suspected terrorists, including the pregnant wife of the alleged ringleader, Mohammed Shamout, were arrested today. Detention warrants have been issued for 19 of them by a Nazareth magistrate. The gang is believed responsible for various acts of sabotage during the past two years, the most recent being an explosion that destroyed a bus in Haifa last week.

Mrs. Zakiya Shamout, 25, who is the mother of four children and is seven months pregnant with her fifth, is suspected of sabotage in the Afuleh market place in October, 1969 when an explosion killed one man and Injured 25 persons. She is also suspected of having planted explosives in watermelons at the Haifa circus in 1969. The explosives failed to go off. Other members of the Shamout family are among those arrested.

Here is the account of how Shamout intended to kill children at the circus in 1969:

A 14-year-old Israeli boy’s curiosity was credited by police today with frustrating saboteurs’ plans for a major blast in a circus here which was timed to maim and kill hundreds of the circus-goers.

Benjamin Peretz and a youthful friend had been looking at the Tokyo Fair from the street but apparently did not intend to watch the performance. They wandered over to one of the numerous watermelon stands looking for “spare” melons. Benjamin opened a melon and observed a pencil-like object embedded in the opening. He removed it and playfully threw it at his friend. It exploded, injuring the boy slightly.

Police were called to the melon stand and began a search. They found the suspected melon and inside of it a kilogram of explosives. A second melon was found with three times that much explosive. An old coat, to which no one had paid any attention, was found to have 20 sticks of gelignite sewn into its lining. The circus performance was halted immediately and the audience followed instructions to leave by the tent through its back entrance while the search for more explosives continued. No more were found.

The police said that the pencil-like object was a timing device which had been set to detonate the explosives as the circus audience was leaving the performance. They said a major catastrophe in damages, injuries and death could have occurred.

I don't know how many deaths she ended up being responsible for. Arabic sites are saying that she was sentenced to 12 99-year sentences but was released in 1985 in a prisoner swap. However, Israel would not allow her to stay in the country and the only Arab country that was willing to take her was Algeria.

Her terror career is being exaggerated in her obituaries, but her happiness at targeting Jewish civilians is clear. She claimed that the watermelon bomb at the circus exploded and killed many Israelis and described how happy she was, dancing around with her husband and chanting Allah Akbar.

Shammout also described how she chose to attack the market, waiting until there were no Arabs there and supposedly putting four bomb-laden baskets covered with fruit on different locations, while pretending to shop with her children.

The official PA news agency reports that Mahmoud Abbas sent condolences to her family, praising the terrorist who targeted Jewish children at a circus as a pioneer in the "struggle" who was "dedicated to the service of her country and committed to its objectives."\

Yes, its objectives of killing Jews.

As usual, none of the "human rights activists" who support the Palestinian Arab cause are the least bit bothered by the "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas praising a cold blooded murderer who literally targeted children.

(h/t Joshua Fox)