The deaths of several 14-year-old Arabs on their way to try to murder Israelis has the Hamas terrorist organization, whose hatred and incitement is a major cause of these deaths, in disarray. In several incidents over the past two weeks, IDF soldiers noticed terrorists attempting to infiltrate Jewish communities in Gaza, and shot them. Many of the would-be murderers turned out to be teenagers fueled by hatred and promises of a glorious afterlife.
Israel has lost many victims to these infiltration attacks. During the current warfare, Liron Harpaz, 19, and Assaf Yitzchaki, 20, were murdered in Oct. 2001 when terrorists infiltrated Elei Sinai; Miri Ochana and her 11-yr.-old daughter Yael and St.-Sgt. Moshe Mekonen of Beit She\'an were killed in Moshav Hamra in the Jordan Valley this past February; Prof. Baruch Zinger of Gedera was killed in northern Gaza four months ago, and earlier this month, Sgt. Nitzan Avraham, 22, was killed while preventing a terrorist infiltration in Morag. In addition, at least two teenage Arab girls attempted or were successful in blowing themselves up as part of their murderous war against Israel.
Israel\'s thwarting of infiltration attacks in Gaza this month and the revelation of the tender age of many of the terrorists had led some Arabs to call on their leaders to stop using children as candidates for suicide missions. Hamas dutifully issued an announcement yesterday morning denouncing the use of children as suicide bombers. However, this was not an absolute ban, but rather only a call to delay their martyrdom until the children are older. Hamas leader Abdul Rantisi said, \"To die while you are struggling and defending your people is much better than to die every minute by the humiliation of occupation.\"
Palestinian Media Watch (pmw.org.il) has released a \"slide show\" entitled, \"The Ultimate Child Abuse\", by PMW Director Itamar Marcus, explaining how the Palestinian Authority has educated a generation of children to see heroic martyrdom as an ideal to be sought. \"Israel, the world, and the Palestinian children themselves, will be victims of this education for many years,\" Marcus writes. Two examples:
The 5th-grade textbook \"Our Arabic Language\", p. 60, as well as other books, include this poem on the backdrop of a drawing of a child-martyr:
\"I shall carry my soul in my palm / And toss it into the abyss of destruction… / By your life! I see my death, but I hasten my steps towards it… / Hearing [weapons] clash is pleasant to my ear / And the flow of blood gladdens my soul… / By your life! This is the death of Men / And who asks for a noble death - here it is…\"
\"When I become a Martyr, give out Kannafa [sweet cake].\" These are the words that 14-year-old Wajdi Al-Hattab often said to his friends in the days prior to his death in the riots, as reported in the official Palestinian Authority daily paper. The paper went on to report his 9th grade friends\' reaction to his death: \"they swore they would carry on, down the road of shahada [Martyrdom for Allah]... A 12 year old boy who died in the fighting named Karam, so yearned for his own Martyrdom, that he wrote his own \"death announcements\" on the walls of his own home...\"
Israel has lost many victims to these infiltration attacks. During the current warfare, Liron Harpaz, 19, and Assaf Yitzchaki, 20, were murdered in Oct. 2001 when terrorists infiltrated Elei Sinai; Miri Ochana and her 11-yr.-old daughter Yael and St.-Sgt. Moshe Mekonen of Beit She\'an were killed in Moshav Hamra in the Jordan Valley this past February; Prof. Baruch Zinger of Gedera was killed in northern Gaza four months ago, and earlier this month, Sgt. Nitzan Avraham, 22, was killed while preventing a terrorist infiltration in Morag. In addition, at least two teenage Arab girls attempted or were successful in blowing themselves up as part of their murderous war against Israel.
Israel\'s thwarting of infiltration attacks in Gaza this month and the revelation of the tender age of many of the terrorists had led some Arabs to call on their leaders to stop using children as candidates for suicide missions. Hamas dutifully issued an announcement yesterday morning denouncing the use of children as suicide bombers. However, this was not an absolute ban, but rather only a call to delay their martyrdom until the children are older. Hamas leader Abdul Rantisi said, \"To die while you are struggling and defending your people is much better than to die every minute by the humiliation of occupation.\"
Palestinian Media Watch (pmw.org.il) has released a \"slide show\" entitled, \"The Ultimate Child Abuse\", by PMW Director Itamar Marcus, explaining how the Palestinian Authority has educated a generation of children to see heroic martyrdom as an ideal to be sought. \"Israel, the world, and the Palestinian children themselves, will be victims of this education for many years,\" Marcus writes. Two examples:
The 5th-grade textbook \"Our Arabic Language\", p. 60, as well as other books, include this poem on the backdrop of a drawing of a child-martyr:
\"I shall carry my soul in my palm / And toss it into the abyss of destruction… / By your life! I see my death, but I hasten my steps towards it… / Hearing [weapons] clash is pleasant to my ear / And the flow of blood gladdens my soul… / By your life! This is the death of Men / And who asks for a noble death - here it is…\"
\"When I become a Martyr, give out Kannafa [sweet cake].\" These are the words that 14-year-old Wajdi Al-Hattab often said to his friends in the days prior to his death in the riots, as reported in the official Palestinian Authority daily paper. The paper went on to report his 9th grade friends\' reaction to his death: \"they swore they would carry on, down the road of shahada [Martyrdom for Allah]... A 12 year old boy who died in the fighting named Karam, so yearned for his own Martyrdom, that he wrote his own \"death announcements\" on the walls of his own home...\"