Jihad for kids

Petra Marquardt-Bigman
The Warped Mirror/JPost
29 June '10

When it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the media always seem willing to report and comment extensively - so much so that one could be tempted to describe the coverage as disproportionate. However, some ten years ago, at the beginning of the so-called Al Aqsa Intifada, it became clear that there are quite a few subjects that are on the "don't do" list of the international mainstream media.

It is in part due to this rather systematic exclusion of some subjects, that there is a considerable gap between what most Israelis know about the Middle East and what global audiences are being told about the region. Particularly in the Western media, more or less well-meaning commentators regularly admonish Israelis not to be so "paranoid" and to realize that with a bit of goodwill from their side, the Middle East would be transformed into a model of peaceful coexistence.

One reason why this advice does not seem convincing to Israeli audiences is because they tend to be much more aware of the open Jew-hatred and incitement that permeates the public discourse in the Arab and Muslim world. An utterly dispiriting example of this incitement has recently attracted some attention when a lot of blogs linked to a chillingly sleek YouTube clip that shows a group of cute kids putting on a polished musical performance about the desirability of being martyred for Palestine. With a catchy tune, they tell other kids that without Palestine, childhood isn't worth much.

Most of the posts that featured the clip described the song as a "new hit", but the original report about this video was already published a year ago on the web site of The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT). Under the title "'Birds of Paradise' - Martyrdom Recruitment as Children's Entertainment", the report notes that there are "dozens of editions and edits of the video, ranging from Arab parents having their children parrot the lyrics to Jihadists using it as background music in terrorist videos."




A Saudi journalist is quoted as expressing concern about the enormous popularity of the song, and the IPT report also points out that the media company, "Birds of Paradise", that produced the clip has published similar material. IPT argues that the song should therefore be seen as part of "a new wave in Jihadist youth indoctrination. It is far more professional, better edited, and presented in a much more kid-friendly style than previous Jihadist children's programming. The themes are easily digestible even for toddlers. Child actors portray Israeli soldiers, all wearing yarmulkes, who ruthlessly gun down other children shown playing and dancing. Minutes later, the kids exact revenge and kill the soldiers. Violence is not only the answer for children, but it is framed in a cute, kid-friendly way."

Precisely because it is so appalling to see this kind of "kid-friendly" indoctrination, reports like this are usually dismissed in "politically correct" circles as unrepresentative or exaggerated, and therefore not really newsworthy. However, the fact of the matter is that by now there is ample documentation of Islamist efforts to indoctrinate children with jihadist ideology.

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