In an interview on the Hamas-owned Al-Aqsa TV channel, Dr. Subhi Al-Yazji of the Islamic University in Gaza said that what motivates many martyrdom-seekers is the belief that "the Muslim faith requires us to make sacrifices." "Contrary to how they are portrayed by the West and some biased media outlets, which claim that they are youths of 18-20 years who have been brainwashed, most of the people who sacrificed their lives for the sake of Allah were engineers and had office jobs," he said.

Following are excerpts from the interview, which was broadcast on June 6, 2014.

Dr. Subhi Al-Yazji: We must realize that the Islamic concept of sacrifice motivates many of our youth to carry out martyrdom operations. Our youths who carry out martyrdom operations... Contrary to how they are portrayed by the West and some biased media outlets, which claim that they are youths of 18-20 years who have been brainwashed, most of the people who sacrificed their lives for the sake of Allah were engineers and had office jobs. They were all mature and rational.

Some people claim that they did this for the money. Take, for example, someone like brother Sa'd, who was an engineers, had an office job, owned a home and a car, and was married – what made him embark on Jihad? He believed that the Muslim faith requires us to make sacrifices.

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