#ChildrenAreNOTWeapons

Incitement: “To cause (someone) to act in an angry, harmful, or violent way,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

In the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, incitement to hate Jews, Israel, and Israelis is rampant. From a young age, residents of both the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the Palestinian-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria under Palestinian control are bombarded with propaganda and indoctrination.

When Palestinians are young, they are exposed to characters such as “Farfour,” a Hamas-created Mickey Mouse-like character who was martyred by Israel, and who refers to Jews as “filth” and “plunder[ers]” and to Israelis in general as “terrorists.” In a show with Nahul, a cuddly bee, a girl on the show says she wants to be a police officer so she can catch thieves and people who make trouble, and also shoot Jews. Another character on Hamas TV was Assud, a bunny who died on the screen from an Israeli bomb. Right before he dies, he tells the young female hostess on screen that he wants to be remembered as “a hero, a martyr.” A fourth character is Nassur, a teddy bear who, in his first appearance on the show, says that he wants to “be one of the mujahideen, one of the fighters… I will wage Jihad among them and carry a gun.” The reason he gives is to “defend the children of Palestine.” When characters on children’s TV shows promote violence, hate and terrorism, it enables the Palestinian leadership to turn children into weapons.

Later in life, Palestinians graduate from cartoon propaganda to celebrating martyrs, such as Abu Jihad, responsible for the death of 125 Israelis and posthumously awarded the “Star of Honor” by Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas in December 2013, according to Palestinian Media Watch. The “Star of Honor” had been awarded to another terrorist, Nayef Hawatmeh, who was responsible for dozens of terror attacks in Israel. When Palestinian leaders show explicit support for terrorism, it enables the Palestinian leadership to turn adults into weapons.

In addition to rewarding terrorists, anti-Semitic TV shows are broadcast across the Arab world, such as “Khaibar,” which was broadcast during Ramadan 2013. The name “Khaibar” alludes to the Muslim chant “Khaibar Khaibar ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad sa yahud,” which means, “Jews, remember Khaibar, the army of Muhammed is returning.” The chant refers to a seventh-century massacre of Jews in the city of Khaibar by Muhammed and his soldiers. According to Robert Wistrich, a professor of modern European history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, in his book Hamas, Hezbollah, and Holy War, when Muslims chant “Khaibar,” they “enthusiastically evoke the slaughter of the Jews”. Many Hamas martyrs chant this in videos, and according to Wistrich, Khaibar symbolizes Jewish treachery and defeat. In addition, one of the actors says that the series shows how Jews raise their children in a “vile, treacherous, depraved, and Machiavellian” manner, according to a MemriTV translation of the interview. When Palestinians are exposed to overt anti-Semitism, both parents and children are turned into weapons.

When Palestinians are constantly told that Israelis are terrorists and that martyrs deserve to be rewarded, and when Palestinians are isolated from the world where press is “Not Free” according to Freedom House, having alternative opinions about Jews and Israel is near impossible. In response to this, CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, and CAMERAonCampus have started a new social media campaign called #ChildrenAreNOTWeapons. This campaign highlights the incitement of Palestinian children to violence and hate by showcasing different photos of Palestinian children holding up three fingers, which shows support for the kidnappers of the three Israeli boys. The logo for this campaign is a child in a Chamsa (a religious symbol, guarding against the evil eye) and is meant to unify both Muslims and Jews since the Chamsa is universal to both Judaism and Islam. The child in the Chamsa shows that we must protect children against the “evil eye” of incitement.

Help raise awareness to discontinue the practice of children being weapons. Promote #ChildrenAreNOTWeapons.