When discussing the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers by Hamas terrorists, a Jordanian journalist recently claimed in a talk show that “there are no children in Israel” and that the kidnapped teens are, in fact, soldiers.
The journalist, Bassam Badareen, a former head of the Jordanian bureau of the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, further claimed that the IDF and the residents of Judea and Samaria "are experts in smuggling weapons and drugs, in spreading prostitution, and in sowing corruption among the Palestinians."
The remarks were made on the Jordanian Roya TV channel and were translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
“I believe that there are no children in Israel. I say this as a matter of principle. This racist, colonialist, expansionist country,” Badareen claimed, adding that if Israel knew the meaning of the world children, “they wouldn't be treating the Palestinians the way they do. They train their children to use weapons from the age of seven. We know that all Israelis are, in fact, soldiers.”
“On top of that, [the three who were kidnapped] are settlers. I believe that in principle, they are soldiers, not children,” he continued.
“We always see pictures of children, especially settlers, shooting weapons. Dozens of wounded Palestinians, as well as martyrs, were shot by [Israeli] children,” claimed Badareen.
“According to a scenario, discussed by the Israeli press and many other sources, drug-smuggling gangs were involved. There are many possible scenarios. The area from which they were kidnapped is rife with criminal activity. The Israeli occupation army, the settler gangs, and the settler youth are experts in smuggling weapons and drugs, in spreading prostitution, and in sowing corruption among the Palestinians, in Jerusalem, in Hebron, and elsewhere, and they have Palestinian accomplices,” he charged.