Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook explain in the Jerusalem Post what I have long contended: that suicide bombings are not the result of poverty and desperation, but of deeply held religious motivations.
"I always wanted to be the first woman who sacrifices her life for Allah. My joy will be complete when my body parts fly in all directions."These are the words of female suicide terrorist Reem Reyashi, videotaped just before she killed four Israelis and herself two weeks ago in Gaza.
What is surprising about this horrific statement is that she put a positive value on her dismemberment and death, distinct from her goal to kill others.
She was driven by her aspiration to achieve what the Palestinians call "shahada," [martyrdom] death for Allah. She had two distinct goals: To kill and to be killed. These independent objectives, both positive in her mind, were goals greater than her obligations and emotional ties to her two children.
This aspiration to die, which contradicts the basic human instinct for survival, is at the core of the suicide terrorism fervor. Only when this death worship component is recognized as a basic tenet of Palestinian belief will it be possible to understand the challenges Israel and the world face from suicide terror.
Palestinian society actively promotes the religious belief that their deity craves their deaths. Note the words of a popular music video directed at children, broadcast hundreds of times on PA TV, which depicts the earth thirsting for the blood of children: "How sweet is the fragrance of the shahids, how sweet is the scent of the earth, its thirst quenched by the gush of blood, flowing from the youthful body."
This conviction that the deity thirsts for or craves human death as tribute and sacrifice has its roots in ancient beliefs.
The Bible cites ancient cultures of the Land of Israel: "Their sons and their daughters they sacrifice to their Gods" [Deut: 12]. Even the Israelites were drawn to it: "And they built altars to give their sons and daughters to Molech which God did not command nor consider this abomination [Jeremiah: 32]."
As recently as 500 years ago, South American tribes used to leave children to die on mountain tops as presents to their gods. The common denominator driving human sacrifice cults was the belief that the deity craved the death of innocents.This is precisely the belief that the leaders of Palestinian society are inculcating in their people. Moreover, Palestinians have been taught on PA TV by their religious leaders that they are born for the very purpose of dying for Allah: "The believer was created to know his Lord and to uphold Islam to be a shahid, or intend to be a shahid. If the Muslim does not aspire to shahada, he will die as in the jahiliya [pre-Islam faith]. If we truthfully request it of Allah, He will grant us its rewards even if we die in bed."
To further encourage this self-annihilation, Palestinians are taught that dying for the deity is rewarded: "All his sins are forgiven from the first gush of blood; he is exempted from the torments of the grave (Judgment)... he marries 72 Dark-Eyed [Virgins or Maidens of Paradise]... on his head is placed a crown of honor, one stone of which is worth more than all there is in this world."
EVEN CHILDREN are not spared the indoctrination that the deity wants their deaths. A telling example is the story of 14-year-old Faras Ouda, a boy elevated to heroism by the Palestinian leadership.Yasser Arafat regularly singles out Ouda as a role model for children, addressing children on TV once as "peers, friends, brothers and sisters of Faras Ouda," another time telling them "This generation represented by your colleague, the hero Shahid, Faras Ouda!" Yet another time he said, "We are saluting to the spirit of our hero Shahid Faras Ouda, Faras Ouda, Faras Ouda!"
What was Faras Ouda's great accomplishment that Arafat elevated him to archetypical role model? The boy's goal in life was to die for the deity, as reported in the PA daily Al-Hayat Al Jadida: "On the day of his death Faras Ouda left his home with a slingshot, after having made himself a wreath decorated with photos of himself and having written on it 'The Brave Shahid Faras Ouda.'
Faras Ouda wanted to die for the deity, achieved it, and thus became Arafat's hero.Palestinian mothers have been taught to aspire to death for Allah for their children. A mother explained recently on PA TV why she expressed sounds of joy upon hearing of her son's death: "A mother makes sounds of joy because she wants him to reach shahada. He became a shahid for Allah Almighty. I wanted the best for him; this is the best for [my son] Shaadi."
PA ideology rejects the values that other societies hold supreme. Here is Issam Sissalem on PA TV: "We are not afraid to die and do not love life."
Palestinian children have learned to see dying for the deity as their goal in life. In a chilling talk show interview on PA TV, two 11-year-old girls explain cheerfully and eloquently what they and their young friends desire:
Walla: Shahada is very, very beautiful. Everyone aspires to shahada. What could be better than going to paradise?
Host: What is better, peace and full rights for the Palestinian people or shahada?
Walla: Shahada.Yussra: Of course shahada is sweet. We don't want this world, we want the Afterlife. We benefit not from this life but from the Afterlife... Every Palestinian child aged, say 12, says "Oh Lord, I would like to become a shahid."
Public opinion polls indicate that Yussra and Walla represent an overwhelming majority of Palestinian children who embrace this belief. According to three different polls, 70 to 80 percent of Palestinian children aspire to shahada.
In the ancient world, there was widespread belief that the deity wanted humans to die as the ultimate form of worship. People gave their children to the deity of Molech and the Baal. This ancient belief has now returned to plague the world.The world had assumed that the Palestinian suicide terrorist was facing a dilemma of having to choose between the value of killing Jews and the value of life. Clearly, this is false.
Killing Jews is one "value." Death for deity is itself a value greater than life. Seeking shahada is not desperation but aspiration. As the mother explained her joy after her son's death: "I wanted the best for him."
Does no one question why Arafat's wife and child are in another country with loads of money living the good life rather than be willing to die for their god? I don't know where the family members of Hamas or Hezbollah leaders are and if they are willing to make the sacrifice.
Actually Arafat's wife (who lives in Paris) has publicly said that if she had a son she would want him to die as a martyr for Palestine. Well, she has a daughter, and martyrdom these days seems to be an equal-opportunity employer, so how about it Mrs. Arafat?
BTW, Rantissi (Hamas leader) does have two sons that he does not encourage to become martyrs. It's so much easier to encourage other people's children to die, isn't it?
I believe it was Abraham Lincoln who is quoted as saying, "the philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next". The days ahead for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict do look very dark indeed.
A few of us have been saying for years that the terrorist groups were no more than Death Cults and both Robert Spencer and Itamar Marcus have now come out and publicly said it.
I used to post on the old Jerusalem Post forum and after many discussions and disseminations, about 3 years ago, we could only assume from the joy that the terror supporters had and from the articles written of the almost ecstatic experience for a Palestinian mother to see her child become a Shaheed, it because pretty obvious.
The terror groups can never be contained (or restrained) in any way, because of their bloodlust. Even if the PA education system changes now and starts telling the truth, it would be 3-5 generations before the hate and death glorification is bred out of them.
Israel should finish the wall ASAP, completely disengage and leave the Palestinians to their own devices, although they'll probably end up killing each other. But they won't be able to continue to blame Israel or anyone else, except Arafat and his cronies for the situation they find themselves in.
They exist purely on handouts and as yet, haven't ever proved themselves to be productive in anything but destruction. When they're on their own, they'll have to have a decent economy, provide work, which is an alien concept to many Palestinians and they'll have to deal with law and order in their own territory.
Leave them to it and let the world see what these whingers really are - parasites who live of the dead!
If you think the above statement by A.L. looks bad for the PA and Isreal, what about the schools in the good ole USA? What are our students learning or not learning. History books have been rewritten to exclude God or any reference to God in our founding fathers. Evolution is taught a FACT!! No room for creationism. (beacuse there is not God) Can't pray, it might offend someone. What are the 10 Commandments? Situation ethics!! No absolutes. Wanta have sex, ok, come to the clinic and get a condum. Wanta have an abortion, ok, let us know, and by the way, we wont tell your parents. I could go on and on!!!!
Charlie,
In California 48% of university freshmen lack English skills and need remedial courses, and 37% lack basic Math skills and also need remediation. I don't know if prayer is the answer for public schools, but more homework would certainly help. The average student has no more than an hour and a half of homework a day. Not to mention that besides being part of a future generation of better-educated people, students doing homework have no time to do much else...
Nannette:
Please add Paul Bermman to your list. He examines death cult ideology in his indespensible "Terror and Liberalism."
If their death wish is so stringent,they should all go in the middle of the deset and blow themselves up.
The sooner,the better.
Nanette,
Speaking of handouts, none of the stories of Arafat's multi-billion dollar secret bank accounts has made it into the Arab press.
jay
here's a thought... russia answered it's terrorist threat with swift special tactics. Israel has enforced a policy of "an eye for an eye" but with precision and calculated targets. Britain has always been an ally and a positive
Christian majority.
all three plus (North America)are nuclear (super)powers, with global military reach, superior military technology, and well over half of the world's land.
In the days of 1939 to 1945, the real "allies" proved that any evil can be overcome by those working for the same goal, working together. I say North America, Britain, Israel, Russia and her former Republics seriously consider a renewed alliance. Open borders and talks, joint military training and deployment, and all working towards the same goal; an end to terror.
What good is the "United Nations" when weak nations like France an Germany (BTW, why does Germany deserve a seat?) - or human rights violators like China have the power to VETO any proposal. That problem would not exist with the New united-nations.
just a thought.