The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) recently discovered a disturbing array of items when investigating the Kasbah complex in Beit Hanoun. Among the weapons found were children’s Hamas uniforms, IDF vests, Kalashnikov-type weapons, grenades, cartridges and ammunition boxes, and mortar bombs, reported Israel National News. Additionally, several tunnel shafts were found in homes, including one in a school that was the largest tunnel discovered.
This news highlights the ongoing indoctrination of Palestinian children in a deep-seated hatred for Israel. For years, reports have documented how children in Gaza are raised from an early age to embrace jihad and fight against their perceived enemies. Rajaa Al-Halabi, the head of the Hamas Women’s Movement, revealed that most kindergartens in Gaza belong to Hamas, which indoctrinates children with the culture of “Allah is our goal” and “jihad for the sake of Allah.”
In 2015, an Al-Aqsa TV program, owned by Hamas, featured young children dressed in military fatigues answering what they wanted to be when they grew up. Shockingly, one child answered that they wanted to be an engineer “so that I can blow up the Jews.” Another child added that they wished to “liberate Jerusalem from Jews by means of the Al-Qassam Brigades.”
Given the ongoing indoctrination of young children, it is little surprise that Hamas TV went so far as depicting Jews as apes in a recent cartoon. Such propaganda is just one piece of the wider program aimed at fostering hatred from a young age.
The indoctrination is also perpetuated through educational materials. These materials are produced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the Palestinian Territories, which provides education to 533,000 children. A review of the UNRWA study materials found that “the existence of the State of Israel was consistently ignored.” In one example, Israeli forces were depicted as a demon sticking its fangs in Palestine, using demonic imagery to demonize Israelis.
The variety of sources and the evidence that is emerging is indicative of a wider problem in the region, one that is perpetuating violence and further ethnic conflict. The one question for fifth graders stating that angels will drag infidels (Jews and Christians) by their hair to hell is a worrying reminder of how young children are manipulated in this way. This level of indoctrination bodes ill for the future of the region and the prospects for peace.