While children around the world go to amusement parks for fun and recreation, the youth of Iran attend in order to prepare for war.
Iran recently opened a unique source of education and amusement for children – The City of Games for Revolutionary Children in Mashhad, Iran. Attendance is free of charge to children aged 8 through 13.
The park’s objective is to instill the messages of Iran’s Islamic Revolution and of the revolutionary Shi’a, according to Hamid Sadeghi, the park’s director.
At the park, the children wear military uniforms and undertake activities simulating fighting the enemies of the Islamic Revolution, accompanied by a guide who takes on the role of a military commander and whose orders they must obey.
At 12 stations, children can launch plastic missiles and fire plastic bullets at targets such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US and Israeli flags, and members of the Saudi royal family, Iran’s arch rivals in the region.
At the final station, children are blindfolded and challenged to throw a ball at a puzzle of an Israeli flag and knock it down, and then put together a puzzle of the Iranian flag. This activity, Sadeghi explains, teaches the children “that the most important element[s] for attaining victory are wisdom and intelligence for fighting the enemy.”
He said that there was “great demand” to visit the site.
The Palestinian terror organizations hold similar annual summer camps with special terror training, including military exercises, the use of weapons and learning how to abduct Israeli soldiers.
By: Max Gelber, United with Israel
MEMRI contributed to this report.