Palestinian Supporters Complain After Finding This Logo in a U.S. Army Guide

When Gizmodo published a story on Friday focusing on a U.S. Army manual meant to familiarize soldiers with the logos of world terrorist organizations, Palestinian supporters expressed dismay, because among the logos shown is the red, white, black and green Palestinian flag.

The PLO flag was included in the terrorist group logo manual

Gizmodo reports that the declassified manual titled “Terrorist, Insurgent & Militant Group Logo Recognition Guide” written by the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command was posted online last week. According to the date on the document, it appears to have been originally circulated among military personnel in 2009.

The Palestinian flag appears in the manual as the logo for the Abu Nidal terror organization, but it’s also the flag used as the official flag for the Palestinian Authority and is presented by Palestinians as the flag for a future Palestinian state. It’s unclear if the flag ever was the logo for the Abu Nidal Organization, known for such terrorist attacks as the hijacking of a KLM airliner and the attacks on the El Al counters at the Vienna and Rome airports in 1985.

The military document states it aims to provide “a hip pocket” reference for deployed soldiers, detailing the logos of “insurgents, terrorists, paramilitary, and other militant groups worldwide.”

“It’s a visual taxonomy of terror,” writes Gizmodo.

According to a PDF Gizmodo linked to, this page appeared in the manual presenting the Palestinian flag as the logo of the Abu Nidal Organization.

One commenter on the site, Jean Salim, asked, “Why is there a Palestinian flag in an article with terrorist in the title?”

Another reader answered with an apparent shade of sarcasm, “Probably has to do with the terrorist attacks committed by the Palestinian Authority. I don't get it either, but committing terrorist attacks seems to earn the label of terrorist in the cockamamie world we live in.”

To which Salim accused the reader of engaging in profiling: “You are being ridiculous, this flag represents millions of persons that identify as Palestinians. You cannot passively label them all as terrorists.”

“A lot of Americans have committed what is considered as terrorist attacks, by American standards and recognition. Should I label all Americans as terrorists? Your argument stems of pure racists and discriminating rhetoric based on mass labeling and profiling,” Salim added.

The pro-Palestinian website Electronic Intifada was also perplexed at the image choice in the Army manual and pointed out that there appears to be no known logo for the Abu Nidal group.

“In any case, even if the Palestinian flag were indeed the logo of any specific organization, the guide provides no warning or caveat that the Palestinian flag by itself should not be ‘recognized’ as the symbol of a ‘terrorist, insurgent or militant’ group given its global recognition as the flag of a country,” writes Electronic Intifada, a website that promotes the idea of a bi-national “One State Solution” for the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

It also notes that the guide categorizes both the PLO and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) as “Mainstream Islamist,” though both are considered to be secular groups. The PFLP’s stated ideology is Marxist-Leninist.

“It is also bizarre that the PLO and its main faction Fatah should appear in a guide to ‘terrorist’ groups at all,” notes Electronic Intifada.

Though it is not designated as a terrorist group by the State Department, Fatah continues to voice support for perpetrators of attacks on Israeli civilians including recently on its official Facebook page.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, known as the “military wing” of Fatah, is categorized by the State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Al-Aqsa is also included in the military manual.

Mahmoud Abbas, who besides being the President of the Palestinian Authority also heads Fatah, met just last week with President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting.

The U.S. has trained and equipped the Palestinian Authority security forces which are dominated by Fatah, so there is apparently a disconnect between official U.S. Government policy and the military manual.

The Palestinian flag depicted in the manual was raised in Washington at the official PLO diplomatic mission in Washington, as captured by a reporter for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in 2011:

File photo: Haaretz

The Army guide states that it “should not be considered a finished intelligence product.”

In a caveat on page two, it writes, “This is a work in progress and will be updated as often as possible; all recommendations, additions and corrections are welcome.”

TheBlaze has contacted the Pentagon’s public affairs department and will update this space with any response.

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