> CHILDREN OF THE JIHAD
> Palestinian kids raised for war
> Taught to hate, kill Jews through 'Sesame Street'-type
> TV show
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> By Jon E. Dougherty and David Kupelian
>
>
>
> Heavily armed Israeli soldiers shooting at innocent
> Palestinian children caught in the crossfire. That is
> the image that has dominated international press
> coverage of the five-week-old wave of violence that
> has wracked the Middle East, during which, according
> to some accounts, over 40 Palestinian children have
> died.
>
> With each new report of youthful casualties, the
> perception of something unthinkable -- that Israeli
> soldiers are targeting children -- is reinforced in
> media coverage, a great deal of which tends to favor
> the perceived underdog in the clashes, namely the
> Palestinians.
>
> The reality is indeed unthinkable, but not in the way
> so neatly portrayed by sound-bite media accounts of
> Palestinian children being shot by Israeli soldiers.
> Indeed, powerful and secret forces are at work in
> Palestinian nurseries, preschools, entertainment
> venues, classrooms and summer camps - forces that
> shape the current and future battles between
> Palestinians and Israelis, indeed, make them all but
> inevitable. However, up until recently, this amazing
> story has for the most part been hidden from Western
> eyes.
>
> Palestinian children are taught to hate Jews, to
> glorify "jihad" (holy war), violence, death and child
> martyrdom almost from birth, as an essential part of
> their culture and destiny.
>
> As captured on an Israeli video documentary produced
> in 1998, a "Sesame Street"-like children's program
> called the "Children's Club" -- complete with puppet
> shows, songs, Mickey Mouse and other characters --
> focused on inculcating intense hatred of Jews and a
> passion for engaging in and celebrating violence
> against them in a perpetual "jihad" until the day the
> Israeli flags come down from above "Palestinian land"
> and the Palestinian flag is raised.
>
>
> Palestinian children throwing rocks at an Israeli
> military vehicle.
>
> In one song on the "Children's Club," very young
> children are shown singing songs about wanting to
> become "suicide warriors" and to take up "a machine
> gun" to direct "violence, anger, anger, anger" against
> Israelis.
>
> During the show, which features children aged 4-10,
> one young boy sings, "When I wander into Jerusalem, I
> will become a suicide bomber." Afterward, other
> children stand to call for "Jihad! Holy war to the end
> against the Zionist enemy."
>
> In another segment, a boy who appears to be no more
> than 8 or 9 years old chants: "My patience has run
> out. All Arab existence cries for revenge" against the
> Jews in Israel.
>
> The documentary also juxtaposes the children's
> programming with television news reporting, in which
> the news anchor - reflecting the same message the
> children are receiving -describes Palestinians as
> "noble, courageous" fighters, while describing Israel
> as "mean, fascist, racist, genocidal" and "Nazis."
>
> Other "highlights" of the "Children's Club":
>
> Groups of children are gathered together, shouting for
> "Jihad against Israel."
>
> One girl, who appears to be in a Palestinian school
> classroom, sings of donning "battledress" to "attack
> the Zionists."
>
> A small girl chants the now-familiar ditty, "When I
> wander into Jerusalem, I will become a suicide
> bomber."
>
> An adult narrator reads material in a Palestinian
> school pamphlet: "I have raised my children for jihad
> and on the principle that they never give up on their
> land."
>
> One segment depicts a small boy on the street
> chanting, "Revolution until victory."
>
> Another boy is shown in class proclaiming, "We will
> settle our claims with stones and bullets."
>
> In Palestinian school classrooms, the message is the
> same.
>
> "It's very scary - it's a state-run educational system
> that teaches its children to be martyrs," said Meyrav
> Wurmser, Ph.D., an expert in Middle East politics who
> taught at the U.S. Naval Academy and Johns Hopkins.
> Wurmser is the author of the recently published book,
> "Schools of Ba'athism," in which she makes a
> comprehensive survey and analysis of Syrian school
> textbooks. What she found is identical to what goes on
> with the Palestinians, she says.
>
> "In the Palestinian case, what we see is the cynical
> use of children, who are exposed to a state-run
> ideology that pushes them to their death, in the name
> of Palestinian nationalism," she says. "Children are
> taught to idealize death, to view it as a positive. In
> many cases, they are told that death is not death at
> all, but rather the beginning of a new life."
>
> Wurmser is currently the executive director of The
> Middle East Media & Research Institute, or MEMRI, and
> has published extensively on the Middle East and Arab
> and Israeli politics.
>
> How can children be sold on dying in battle?
>
> "The state threatens children if they're not willing
> to commit jihad," says Wurmser, "and tells them they
> will be punished by God if they do not commit jihad.
> If they do commit jihad, they and their families will
> be benefited by the state. [Their families] are
> promised major financial benefits if they kill
> themselves in suicide attacks against Israel."
>
> To get over the fear, explained Wurmser, "they are
> told by their teachers that they're not going to die
> at all. There is definitely an element of denial they
> are exposed to."
>
> This is not to say that some parents won't object to
> having their children converted to terrorists, says
> Wurmser, "but in the more religious families, there is
> no sense of sorrow. We see Palestinian mothers who
> have lost children - especially parents from very
> fundamentalist Muslim backgrounds -- who are not upset
> at all, but who say their sons have brought great
> honor to their families." This is typical, she says,
> of "radical national Arab regimes who have adopted the
> Islamic line."
>
> This shocking assessment was bolstered in an Oct. 27
> Jerusalem Post editorial, in which writer Gerald M.
> Steinberg provided details of statements made by
> Palestinians to reporters after their children had
> been killed in fighting.
>
> "Interviewed by journalists after [recent] tragedies,
> some of the parents of these young victims refer to
> their children as shaheeds (martyrs), whose lives were
> given willingly and proudly to the Palestinian cause
> in fighting the hated Zionist enemy," Steinberg said.
>
>
> Palestinian man teaching children how to fire M-16
> automatic assault rifles.
>
> "In an unbelievably shocking scene, one mother boasted
> that she bore her son precisely for this purpose, and
> the father proudly claimed credit for providing the
> training. The parents will also receive a sizeable
> financial 'reward' from the Palestinian Authority," he
> said.
>
> "For a people who count Abraham (or Ibrahim) among
> their ancestors, this willful child sacrifice violates
> the fundamental tenets of morality and ethics," said
> Steinberg. "The message of Abraham's non-sacrifice of
> Isaac was, and remains first and foremost, the
> absolute rejection of such practices."
>
> Middle East sources consulted by WorldNetDaily said
> the "Children's Club" is no longer being produced, but
> that other programs with similar messages and themes
> have taken its place.
