Recent Video Shows Palestinian School Children Subjected to Anti-Israel Indoctrination

Palestinian children study a chapter of anti-Israel hatred in a YouTube video from the Hamas-affiliated Shihab news agency.

Overview

1. The Hamas-affiliated Shihab news agency recently posted a video to its Facebook page entitled “The Palestinian Alphabet.“^[1] The video, which was uploaded to YouTube, shows a class of young Palestinian children being indoctrinated with “the fundamental Palestinian national principles” before they learn the Arabic alphabet. One of the children stands and recites the meanings of the Arabic letters. The Arabic letter alif (A) is for Asra [prisoners]; the letter ayn [‘A] is for Awda [the return of the refugees]; the letter mim (M) is for muqawama[“resistance,” i.e., terrorism], while in the background there are pictures of armed terrorist operatives from all the terrorist organizations; the letter qaf (Q) is for Al-Quds [Jerusalem]; the letter ha [H} is for huriya [freedom].

Above: Mim for muqawama (“resistance,” i.e., terrorism). Below: Qaf for Al-Quds (Jerusalem) (YouTube).

2.   The teacher praises the child and writes on the board, “This is how we first learn our fundamental national principles even before [we learn] the alphabet.”

“This is how we first learn our fundamental national principles even before [we learn] the alphabet” (YouTube).

3.   The Hamas-affiliated Shihab news agency, which distributed the video, operates in the Gaza Strip and is popular among Internet users in the Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria. Its materials contain strong anti-Israel incitement. In March 2015 its

Facebook page was shut down because of its anti-Israel incitement.^[2]

4.   The school in the video is apparently in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. In any event, the material clearly reflects the anti-Israel indoctrination received by the younger generation of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria, starting with kindergarten and continuing through university. The students are brainwashed with an extreme anti-Israel narrative in both formal and informal educational frameworks. The younger Palestinian generation is educated in an atmosphere of hatred for Israel, adherence to the so-called “right of return” of the Palestinian refugees to Israel, support for “the armed struggle” and violence as the way to liberate Palestine and for turning shaheeds and prisoners into role models. The main role young Palestinians currently play in the ongoing terrorist attacks – sometimes Palestinians as young as high school students – is the direct result of the systematic anti-Israel education they have been subjected to.

^[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw66ugZwvPo
^[2]In March 2015 the Facebook management closed the official Shihab Facebook page after they had received complaints the agency’s page contained strong anti-Israel incitement. In response Shihab created an alternative Facebook page, which gathered a growing number of followers. A short time later it reposted its original Facebook page, which included a post thanking its followers for their patience and trust. It also thanked the Facebook management for changing their minds about closing down the page, which “always protected the rights of the Palestinians” (Arabsensor.co.il, March 10, 2015).

http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/article/20983