A music video broadcast on official Palestinian Authority TV this month uses children to promote the ideal of dying for “Palestine,” whose borders are set by “the blood of the Palestinian martyr.”
The song also mentions the one who “joins the dance, rifle in hand.”
The song anticipates a time when Israel will no longer exist, defining as “Palestine” the area between Rosh Hanikra in northwestern Israel and Aqaba, the Jordanian city next to Israel’s southernmost town of Eilat. The song’s lyrics:
O Ahmed, this is my country—Palestinian ... Its borders are [set by] the blood of the Palestinian martyr—Palestinian History bears witness to us ... He joined the Arab folk dance with rifle in hand, He made a vow and fulfilled the promise: Palestine, my land, will remain decorated My land—from Aqaba to Rosh Hanikra
Similarly, a Palestinian girl in second grade recited a poem on official P.A. TV’s children’s program “The Best Home” last month illustrating that Palestinian children are still being taught to venerate the rifle and to be prepared to sacrifice themselves for “Palestine.” Addressing P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas, the girl recited: “By Allah, my blood is your blood”:
[Arafat] you are the rifle and I am the one who learned its art O [P.A. leader] Mahmoud Abbas, walk on and don’t worry ... By Allah, my blood is your blood You are the history of wonders And if someone petty rushes to condemn you, don’t worry about the dogs ... [Arafat,] you are the morning of the martyrs You are the evening of the martyrs You are the source of the gallantry You are the storm of combat.
“Palestinian Media Watch has exposed that for many years the P.A. has educated and encouraged Palestinian children to aspire to achieve martyrdom-death, an education which is clear child abuse,” said PMW director Itamar Marcus. “On the anniversary of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child [2019 marks the Convention’s 30th anniversary], which the P.A. has signed, PMW documented that the PA is far from honoring those rights, but instead presents terrorist murderers as ideals and role models for children to emulate.”
