Foundation defends award to Palestinian teacher

Despite revelations of husband’s killing of Israelis

JERUSALEM, April 2, (AP): The UK-based foundation that awarded a Palestinian schoolteacher a $1 million prize for preaching nonviolence is sticking by its choice following revelations that the woman’s husband participated in an attack that killed at least six Israelis three decades ago.

Earlier this month, the Varkey Foundation awarded Hanan al-Hroub its Global Teacher Prize. In its selection, it cited her slogan “No to Violence” and her efforts in protecting Palestinian schoolchildren from the effects of living in a conflict zone. She had developed a book called “We Play and Learn” focusing on the im- portance of playing, trust, respect, honesty and literacy.

However, her husband, Omar, served time in Israeli prison, convicted as an accomplice in a bombing attack that killed six Israelis as they were walking home from sabbath prayers in the West Bank city of Hebron in 1980. According to an Associated Press account at the time, Omar al-Hroub was a chemist who provided chemicals needed for making the bombs.

The Varkey Foundation was founded by Sunny Varkey, who established the for-profit GEMS Education company. When it granted al-Hroub the award on March 14, it made no mention of her husband’s past.

An article in the Qatari newspaper al-Araby al-Jadid, and translated into English by the US-based Palestine Chronicle, drew attention to him by praising him as a “freedom fighter ... who took part in one of the most daring guerrilla operations in the occupied territories.”

In a statement, the Varkey Foundation said it does not look into the conduct of candidates’ relatives and that the teacher was committed to nonviolence.

“As a point of principle, we only look at the qualities, achievements and conduct of the candidates themselves,” it said.