From Cradle to the Grave

The month-long attacks on Israelis have continued relatively unabated despite various governmental measures aimed at quelling the violence. Most of the attacks have been carried out by Palestinians with no known ties to militant groups, including a number of youth, some as young as thirteen years old.

What would motivate these young people to commit such heinous acts? Why would two young teen-age Palestinian boys stab a 13 year-old Israeli who was simply out riding his bicycle? Why would 17 year-old Bayan Ayman Abd al-Hadi al-Esseili feel compelled to stab a female border police officer in Hebron? The typical responses of world leaders? The attacks are caused by Palestinian frustration over Israeli occupation, the expansion of settlements, changing the status quo on the Temple Mount, etc.  In response to the unrest we hear indignant cries about the “ongoing cycle of violence,” both sides being at fault, excessive Israeli force, etc. The trouble is we have been hearing this drivel repeated ad nauseam for many years now.

Let me propose a simple answer that the media in general has ignored. From cradle to the grave the Arab Muslim is inculcated with hatred for the Jew. Not hatred for the Israeli – hatred for the Jew! It is part of the atmosphere, unavoidable and inescapable. Worse, it is applauded in the Arab culture. Beginning in the home and on children’s television, toddlers are taught hatred toward the Jew.

What could be sweeter than a Facebook video of little Rahf Abuesha holding a knife in her hand saying, “I want to stab a Jew”. Her father, a teacher in Jordan, then asks, “Why do you want to stab the Jew?” “Because he stole our land,” she replied. When asked, “With what do you want to stab them?” Her response was, “With a knife.”  Her father lauded her by saying,“Oh you’re so strong. Allah willing, my dear.”

An October 16th Palestinian children’s TV show praised Muslim attackers as “Young Heroes.”

Just prior to the October outbreak of violence, a Fatah spoksman, Dr. Nabil Shaath, on September 14 called for all schools in Jerusalem to “go out to the streets….. go to the areas of conflict in order to ‘explode’ in front of the occupier and its assistants.”

As a child grows up he is subjected to an an educational system that can only be described as reprehensible. The Palestinian Authority poisons the mind of its children. On July 21, 2015, Palestinian Media Watch released a special comprehensive report on PA education. It includes chapters on names of schools (dozens named after terrorists), school activities (e.g., visiting homes of terrorists), statements and activities of educators (e.g., presenting murderers as role models and promising a world without Israel), schoolbooks, informal education (children reciting poems on kids’ TV programs: e.g., Jews are monkeys and pigs; Tel Aviv is “occupied Palestine”), and a chapter with examples of honoring Hitler.

For the complete report as a pdf, Palestinian Authority Education: A Recipe For Hate and Terror, click here.

Then there is their religious training. Just recently a Rafah cleric, Sheikh Muhammad Sallah “Abu Rajab” in a passionate TV Friday sermon, urged Palestinians to go out and stab Jews while brandishing a knife in his hand. “My brother in the West Bank: Stab! My brother in the West Bank: Stab the myths of the Talmud in their minds! My brother in the West Bank: Stab the myths about the temple in their hearts!”  For the complete transcript, click here.

Couple all of this with a highly inflammatory social media it is easy to understand why peace is impossible. It would take more than an entire generation to undo the damage, and then only if the PA and Hamas embark on radical changes in their media, educational system and religious training.  Only when the words of Golda Meir penetrate into the hearts of the Muslim Arabs will there even be a chance for peace:

“We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”