PA Official Tells Students That Martyrdom Is a Greater Achievement Than Graduating
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by Ephraim D. Tepler
The opening of a hall that the Palestinian Authority named for a terrorist who killed 125 people. Photo: Palestinian Media Watch.
Every year, the Palestinian Authority (PA) marks the publication of high school matriculation results by recycling the same grotesque piece of propaganda: Graduating is an achievement, but dying as a “Martyr” is an even greater one.
And every year, PA officials rely on the same Arabic wordplay. The word shahada means both “certificate” and “Martyrdom,” allowing them to present death as a “Martyr” as being the ultimate graduation.
Ramallah District Governor Laila Ghannam appears particularly fond of this formulation. Having used virtually the same message last year, she once again seized graduation season to tell Palestinian students that their dead peers had earned the “greater certificate”:
Posted text: “With the publication of the high school exam results, I send my warm congratulations to our successful students and their families and wish them a future full of success and excellence… Today, we gratefully remember our Martyr students who were supposed to share with us the joy of success but achieved a greater shahada [also: certificate] with Allah.”
[Ramallah Governor Laila Ghannam, Facebook page, July 24, 2026]
Ghannam apparently never tires of repeating this dangerous wordplay. The students who studied, passed their exams, and remained alive received an ordinary certificate while the dead terrorist “Martyrs” supposedly received the “greater” one from Allah.
Palestinian Media Watch has documented the same message year after year: PA media repeatedly exploits matriculation results and graduation ceremonies to drill into Palestinian youth that academic achievement is admirable but that Martyrdom is greater.
The wording may be stale, but the propaganda remains deadly. Once again, the PA has transformed a celebration of education and life into another opportunity to glorify death.
Ephraim D. Tepler is a researcher at Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), where a version of this article first appeared.
