The world's largest scouting organization said Monday that an eastern Jerusalem troop which held a training course honoring Baha Alyan, the terrorist who murdered 3 Israelis last October on a Jerusalem bus, was not affiliated with the movement.
The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) said it had carried out an investigation and that the troop in question was not a member.
"We are able to confirm that the group concerned is not a member of the Palestinian Scout Association or recognized by WOSM," a statement to AFP said. "We are extremely disappointed that the good name of both organizations has been abused in this way."
The statement added that the scout movement "strongly condemns any acts of terrorism and all actions which seek to support them".
Last week, the son of Richard Lakin, who was murdered in the brutal attack committed by Alyan last October, called for the Palestinian scout movement to be thrown out of the WOSM.
“Should you allow the Palestinian Scout Association to keep its membership in the World Organization of the Scout Movement at the same time as they are presenting a murderer as a role model for future scout leaders, then your organization is effectively a co-sponsor of this terror promoting course,” Richard's son Micah Lakin Avni, of Tel Aviv, wrote to the world scouting organization.
“As long as Palestinian leaders nurture a culture of hate, encouraging school children to go out and kill, more violence is inevitable," Lakin Avni wrote.