A Hamas television program for children once again is promoting martyrdom as a positive goal for Palestinian Authority children in Gaza.
The latest episode of “Tomorrow's Pioneers,” broadcast last week on January 22 on Al Aqsa (Hamas) TV, features a young host asking a 10-year-old girl whether she was afraid of dying last year during the fighting between IDF soldiers and Hamas terrorists. The battle took place during the counter-terrorist Operation Cast Lead, launched to still the thousands of rocket and mortar shell attacks from Gaza at southern Israeli civilians, largely unchecked, for eight years.
“How was it for you during the war? Were you afraid that you would... leave this world?” the young host asks.
“No, I wasn't afraid,” the little girl answers proudly. “I wished for Shahada (martyrdom) – Shahada for Allah.”
“How wonderful. Even this little girl --- how old are you?”
“Ten.”
The child host praises her caller, pointing out to the children viewing the program, “She is not more than ten years old, and wants to die as a Shahida (martyr) for Allah. We all wish for this,” she tells her audience.
The media watchdog organization Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), which monitored and translated the video clip, pointed out in a report on the motivation behind suicide terrorism that the PA took advantage of an ancient tradition in Islam in order to create this weapon against Israel.
The concept of Shahada, or "Death for Allah," mandates Muslims to aspire to die in combat for Islam. “The PA told their people that this ancient tradition also applies to them in confrontation with Israel today,” PMW explained.
The entity that aspires to become an independent nation within the current borders of Israel promotes Shahada [against Israel] “as a mandatory religious Islamic duty, both for adults and children, promising great rewards. The Palestinian Authority today is an all-encompassing, death-worshipping society,” according to the PMW.