“My son, we were not created for happiness. In my eyes, you are meant for Martyrdom!”

“Our weapon is our Islam, and our ammunition is our children.”

A young boy is brimming with excitement, waiting for a toy from his mother. But instead of rewarding her son with a toy for finishing his food, his mother hands him a rifle. When the boy expresses confusion, she responds with a grim announcement:

“My son, we were not created for happiness. In my eyes, you are meant for Martyrdom!” [Official Fatah Facebook page, Nov. 22, 2019]

This is one of the abusive messages in a poem recited by a young girl on Palestinian radio that Abbas’ Fatah Movement chose to share with its 250,000 followers on Facebook. A second message in the poem that is clear child abuse tells Palestinian children why they are to die as Martyrs: They are merely the “ammunition” for Islam – the “cannon fodder" with which to liberate and conquer Jerusalem.

“Jerusalem is ours, our weapon is our Islam, and our ammunition is our children. And you, O my son, are meant for Martyrdom.”

The ideologies expressed in this poem illustrate the Palestinian Authority’s abuse of its own children that Palestinian Media Watch has documented since the first years of the PA. Palestinian children are taught to romanticize and seek death.

Ru'a Tamimi: “His mother promised him a gift if he finished his food. The boy wondered in excitement: “Is it a toy?” His mother approached him with a glowing look while carrying the gift. He looked, and it was a rifle! He shouted loudly: “O Mommy! Mommy! What is this? Is this the gift?” She picked him up, hugged him, and said: “My son, we were not created for happiness. In my eyes you are meant for Martyrdom!” [Official Fatah Facebook page, Nov. 22, 2019]

The poem also highlights the indoctrination of Palestinian children to adopt a worldview that violates the child’s natural instinct for life. Like any child, the boy hopes for a toy and is surprised when instead he receives a rifle. Since this contradicts his natural feeling the boy’s discomfort is included in the poem: “[The boy] returned to his bed and complained to his pillow, for he is too young for these things.” However, at the end of the poem, having dreamt that Jerusalem asks the boy to come and rescue it from “the Jews,” the boy complies and sets off “carrying in one hand the rifle”:

“[The boy] awoke from his sleep in order to live the remainder of his day, saying: 'What was taken by force will only be returned by force' while carrying in one hand the rifle, and in his other hand – a sad poem.”

For decades, PMW has pointed out that there is something terribly wrong with Palestinian children’s education, and that children’s rights are openly and consistently being abused. With a message similar to this poem, official PA TV told kids in 2001 and continuously during the 5-year PA terror campaign, in a music video, to throw away their toys and pick up stones. The video appeared again in 2007:

That same year, then Senator Hillary Clinton appeared with PMW Director Itamar Marcus at a press conference in the US Senate after being shown the PA’s educational materials in school books and PA TV broadcasts. Clinton concluded that the PA was “profoundly poisoning the minds of these children” and that this amounted to “child abuse”:

“It is my privilege once again to join Palestinian Media Watch for this press conference, and for the latest report that they have compiled about the Palestinian textbooks… These children deserve an education that instills respect for life and peace instead of glorifying death and violence. The videos we viewed… were a clear example of child abuse… Children were encouraged to see martyrdom and armed struggle and the murder of innocent people as ideals to strive for.” “These [PA] textbooks do not give Palestinian children an education; they give them an indoctrination. When we viewed this report in combination with other media that these children are exposed to, we see a larger picture that is disturbing. It is disturbing on a human level, it is disturbing to me as a mother, it is disturbing to me as a United States Senator, because it basically, profoundly poisons the minds of these children.” [Feb. 8, 2007]

Sadly, Fatah’s broadcasting the young girl’s recent recital of the poem whose message is that mothers see their children destined to die as Martyrs as Islam’s “ammunition” for the Palestinians’ political battle against Israel, demonstrates with all clarity that nothing has changed and that Palestinian children are still being abused by their leaders and adults of society.

The following is a longer excerpt of the girl’s recital:

Ru'a Tamimi: "His mother promised him a gift if he finished his food. The boy wondered in excitement: 'Is it a toy?' His mother approached him with a glowing look while carrying the gift. He looked, and it was a rifle! He shouted loudly: 'O Mommy! Mommy! What is this? Is this the gift?' She picked him up, hugged him, and said: 'My son, we were not created for happiness. In my eyes you are meant for Martyrdom!'

For the Jews killed his father for no reason other than that he prayed for too long. The soldiers jumped at this and wondered: 'Who knows who he is turning to? Is he turning to his God?' They are cursed. Jerusalem is ours, our weapon is our Islam, and our ammunition is our children. And you, O my son, are meant for Martyrdom.

[The boy] returned to his bed and complained to his pillow, for he is too young for these things…

He gave in to his dreams. He sees his bride (i.e., Jerusalem), but she is handcuffed, and the Jews surround her, and she says to him: 'O my knight, release me from the handcuffs… I, Jerusalem, say this to you: What was taken by force will only be returned by force.'

[The boy] awoke from his sleep in order to live the remainder of his day, saying: 'What was taken by force will only be returned by force' while carrying in one hand the rifle, and in his other hand – a sad poem.”

Host 1: [applauds] "My darling, my love, well done! Come here so I can kiss you. I can’t continue the conversation without kissing you…"

Host 2: "Do you read them [the poems] on the school radio?"

Ru’a Tamimi: “Yes, I read them.”

[Official Fatah Facebook page, Nov. 22, 2019]

