Martyrdom: All I Ever Wanted For My Kids!

Parents want the best for their kids, right? I guess for some people that includes martyrdom.

Yasser Arafat told his people that to die as a child-martyr is a wonderful thing. Look at his face as he talks about the child “grasping the stone, facing the tank.” You can see that he is overcome by emotion and can barely contain his delight as he sees that wondrous spectacle in his mind’s eye.

Perhaps for us Israelis, the most shocking of all is seeing our own Member of Knesset, Dr. Ahmed Tibi, addressing an official event in the Palestinian Authority in 2011 while he was Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. Here an elected Israeli official stood before a huge crowd of people who want us dead, telling them that “There is no higher value than Shahada (death for Allah)!”

With a Hamas scarf wrapped around his neck, Tibi told the audience that martyrdom leads to freedom. Finally, he blessed the martyrs, including the martyrs he claims reside within the green line, meaning within the part of Israel over which there is international consensus regarding its legitimacy. What are you trying telling us by this, Dr. Tibi?

While the speaker in the first video is obviously pleased that his toddler son already wants 72 virgins in the sky, I wonder if Arafat wished for shahada for his daughter Zahwa, now about 21 years old and named for his mother. Does Dr. Tibi hope one day that the Palestinian Authority will name a street or school after one of his daughters, either Ya’ara or perhaps Natalie who works in the school Hand-in-Hand?

And, of course, there is the most recent vile demonstration of a father trying to martyr his toddler son.

For if there is no greater honour than martyrdom, why not wish it for your own flesh and blood? Hey kid! Wanna be a martyr and make Daddy proud?

[Feature Image via Pixabay]