Teacher of Omariya Secondary School for Girls at ceremony honoring Palestinian terrorist who murdered seven Jewish worshipers while they were leaving a synagogue in Jerusalem.  Photo: Impact-se.

A Palestinian school funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) celebrated a terrorist attack that took place in Jerusalem on Jan. 27 and claimed the lives of seven Jewish worshipers who were leaving a synagogue, according to Israeli education watchdog Impact-se.

Omariya Secondary School for Girls in Qalqilya held a ceremony to herald the attack and honor its culprit, Alqam Kharyi, Impact-se announced in a report shared with The Algemeiner. In a Facebook post advertising the event, the school said Kharyi is a “hero” and that “the Jews will taste the bitterness” of his crimes. The school also said that Palestinians will “bring down destruction” to secure Jerusalem for themselves.

“The Omariya School is indicative of everything that is wrong with how US taxpayer money is abused in the Palestinian Authority’s educational sector,” Impact-se CEO Marcus Sheff told The Algemeiner on Tuesday. “A school is more than bricks and mortar: it is where lessons are learned and values imparted. USAID built the school but it cannot be indifferent to the lessons of hate and values of antisemitism taught within its gates.”

Representatives with USAID did not respond to The Algemeiner’s request for comment.

USAID provided $1.2 million to build the school, which opened in 2009, according to Impact-se. The agency’s logo and a US flag can be seen in a screenshot of video of the ceremony, which was not the first time that the school honored a terrorist.

In Dec. 2022, the school celebrated the release of Karim Younes, who killed an IDF soldier in 1980, from prison, and in Jan. 2021, it posted pictures of female students planting trees in a “Martyrs Garden” to commemorate Hamas terrorist Ibrahim Muhammad al-Fayid, who in 2004 arranged a suicide bombing in which a 26 year old riding a bicycle detonated near IDF soldiers a bomb that was on his person. The attack injured three Israelis.

In 2021, Israel-based watchdog NGO Monitor argued in a report that USAID is “vulnerable to engagement with grantees and/or partners linked to terrorist organizations, or with groups that support, glorify, or excuse violence” because of slapdash vetting of potential beneficiaries.

Antisemitism and incitement of violence in Palestinian school is creating a new generation of terrorists and prolonging the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In January, experts and lawmakers told The Algemeiner that the problem has persisted despite years of international pressure.

One case linked to the radicalization of Palestinian teenagers is that of a 17-year-old who was shot dead after attempting invade an Israeli family’s home in the West Bank while armed with a knife attended a school that taught students to murder Israelis. The twelfth grader attended A-Zeer Boys High School in the Bethlehem Governorate, which used textbooks promoting “Jihad and martyrdom” and described Jews as “dangerous” and “perverted in nature.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.