TEACHING KIDS TO HATE JEWS

Youngsters and Jihad - Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen

What would you like to be when you grow up? A Hamas children's magazine has a clear answer: a terrorist. A children's story it published calls upon small children and encourages them to commit terrorist acts and sacrifice their souls for Allah. Western politicians who delude themselves in the belief that Hamas will change have only to consider what Hamas leaders say. On Feb. 3, Hamas chief Khaled Mash'al declared in Damascus: "Before Israel dies, it must be humiliated and degraded."

The children's magazine named Fatah in its last two issues carried an illustrated story about the heroism of a very young but courageous Palestinian child, who is determined to be a jihad fighter like his older brothers. The story demonstrates the indoctrination and "education" to which even the youngest of Palestinian children are exposed by Hamas in schools and publications. The story, translated by Jonathan D. Halevi of the Orient Research Group in Toronto, begins when the child Basaal (meaning the "brave," in Arabic) is exposed to jihad activities while watching television, reading newspapers, and at meetings his brothers hold with their friends to plan attacks on Israeli convoys. This is how "peaceful" Hamas brings the message of Khaled Mash'al alive for Palestinian children. (Washington Times)