OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES

I've just seen a video that chills the spine: "Ask for Death." Assuming the edited film clips are sponsored by the Palestinian Authority, as claimed, and that the translations from the Arabic are accurate, it shows what jihadist brain-washing looks like in children: calm belief that masks a terrifying, homicidal rationale for religious suicide attacks.

(If the above link does not work, right-click it and then click "open in new window.")

The video, directed by Itamar Marcus, begins with a voiceover: "'Ask for death' is the message the Palestinian Authority has been conveying to its children since the start of violence in October 2000." It continues with two earnest 11-year-old girls interviewed on official Palestinian television.

"Shahada [dying for Allah in battle] is a very, very beautiful thing," says Walla. "Everyone yearns for Shahada."

"Of course Shahada is a good thing," says Yussra. "We don't want this world, we want the Afterlife. We benefit not from this life, but from the Afterlife. Oh Lord, I would like to become a Shahid."

The video clip of 6 minutes and 40 seconds is labeled as the product of Palestinian Media Watch. It is explained and outlined here with documentation (including fuller quotations from both girls).

What is peculiar, which made me suspicious of the video's origin -- though not of its basic validity -- is that the Palestine Media Watch I've been aware of is a pro-Palestine, anti-Israel advocacy group associated with Noam Chomsky, while the video is obviously pro-Israel and anti-Palestine.

Notice the difference in the names of the groups. My feeling was that Palestinian Media Watch had co-opted the name of its opposing site in the propaganda war. But, in fact, it's the other way around. The pro-Israeli PMW associated with Marcus was established in 1996. The pro-Palestine PMW associated with Chomsky was begun in 2000.

Regardless of who's co-opting whom, "Ask for Death" has to be seen to appreciate the depth of the horror that has infected the Middle East and now threatens the rest of the world.