Fanatically Deadly Indoctrination for Children
Hard to imagine that any group could possibly feel proud of indoctrinating children into the sacred channels of religiously-sanctioned hatred and a wish to devote oneself to the destruction of a perceived enemy as a way to do honour to one's God. If you're a member of a violently jihadist order like Hamas or Hezbollah the way appears to be clearly guided by a compassionately loving hand of God. Obviously, a very personal god, one who states very precise preferences.A god, simply put, that has had superimposed over His holiness and the sacred script that outlines Islamic precepts a more ancient and primitive ethos of a culture more attuned to deadly warfare on a scale small enough to encompass wiping out one's close clan enemies, and large enough to embrace launching a war against another nation whose presence is seen to be spiritually troubling in its foreignness among like-aspiring others.
Hamas's young Palestinian heroine - a guide and mentor for all other young Palestinian children who have been carefully and assiduously taught, through the written and the spoken word, through the examples they see around them of dedicated 'occupation' fighters, through the overheard conversations at home and in their neighbourhoods to detest and fear their Jewish neighbours - is proud of her status as a 'resister'.
As why would not any 11-year-old child of earnest and trusting mien, encouraged and praised by those who educate her to become the symbol of young Palestinian resistance, newly-minted martyrs-in-the-making. There is nothing particularly abnormal about Saraa Barhoum, whose parents have allowed her to be carefully groomed as a child exponent of jihad on Tomorrow's Pioneers, aired on Hamas television.
She appears to be a bright child, readily adapted to her role as a television personality, a spokesperson for Hamas, an explainer to other children of the trust placed in them for the future by Allah, to protect and uphold the virtues of Islam and in particular the deserved place of Palestinians in a landscape once dedicated to Allah, but wrested from rightful Palestinian ownership by hatefully greedy, militaristic Jews.
With Farfour - the larger-than-life animal character who espoused the Palestinian cause - slain by an evil "Israeli" adversary on the television programme, a new liberator in the form of an equally-large character bee has come to the fore. Sweet little Saraa explains Farfour's demise as indicative of what has occurred time and again: "A lot of people in Palestine have died as martyrs, and lots of Palestinians hope to be martyrs" according to Saraa who hopes herself to ascend to such an honoured end.
"Of course" she responded when asked if she foresaw such a role for herself. "It's something to be proud of. Every Palestinian citizen hopes to be a martyr." Taken to its logical conclusion on the basis of this child's apprehension of the situation, Palestinians owe much to the presence of the Israeli population in the area for affording them the opportunity to reach toward such a divinely-inspired conclusion to their lives.
Not all Palestinians are so devoid of conscience and morals that they feel this kind of programming, both on television and the grooming of young minds, represents the kind of outreach that should take place within the Palestinian community. But officials with Hamas television claim that the show has been designed to assist young children to 'connect' with their country and their God.
As for Saraa's thought process with respect to her Israeli counterparts, other young girls representing another culture, another nation: "They have to leave", she says. "This is our country. They kicked us out and stole our happiness. This is a natural result." It is natural for children to think of such simplistic solutions to a problem they see upending the lives of their parents, their neighbours.
It is the shameless, shameful role of Hamas in schooling vulnerable children to hate and seek revenge, and see an enemy where there is a potential neighbour that cries out to the world its starkly primitive nihilism.
Labels: Human Fallibility, Middle East, That's Life
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, August 16, 2007
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