In the latest honor bestowed upon terrorists and those who incite to terrorism, the PA presented a Palestinian woman, whose four sons murdered Jews, with a rose and a plaque as a reward for her “sacrifice.”
On the occasion of International Women’s day, the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs held a ceremony honoring not only female employees, but also women prisoners serving time in Israeli jails, mainly for acts of terror, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reports. Among the guests of honor was Um Nasser Abu Hmeid, whom the official Palestinian Authority (PA) daily describes as a “mother of four prisoners sentenced to life in the Occupation’s prisons.”
Karake presented Hmeid with a rose and a plaque of honor at the event.
“What the paper did not mention was that Hmeid’s four sons are all terrorist murderers who have either murdered Israelis themselves or participated in murderous terror attacks and are serving a total of 18 life sentences,” PMW says.
PMW quotes PA Parliament Member and director of the PLO commission Issa Karake, who praised Hmeid for being “a maker of men and of the future,” adding that she was being honored “in recognition of her long-standing sacrifice, which no one can deny, through giving birth, education and orientation.
“She is the Martyr (Shahida), the prisoner, the wounded and expelled one, the mother, sister, wife and daughter of all of those,” he stated.
Palestinian women and mothers in particular are often seen ululating in celebration over their “martyred” relatives. The mothers often express joy during the funerals of sons killed during a successful terror attack against Israeli citizens.
In November, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported on one such mother, whose son was one of two terrorists who brutally murdered five Israelis in a synagogue in Jerusalem last year. The mother was shown reciting a poem honoring the dead killers while receiving guests in her mourning tent. Other women were ululating.
During the Second Intifada (2000-2005), official Palestinian Authority (PA) TV ran numerous video clips encouraging children to become “martyrs” and their mothers to celebrate their deaths. The following line from a poem, for instance, was aired hundreds of times: “How sweet is Shahada (martyrdom), when I am embraced by you, my land! My beloved, my mother, most dear to me, be joyous over my blood, don’t cry for me.”
Recently, PA TV broadcast an interview with the mother of a “martyr” who gave a more nuanced explanation for the joyous reactions to the death of a child. This mother stated that she misses her dead son “every day” and that Palestinian women do “feel agony and pain.” She explained that Palestinian mothers love their children “but also the homeland.” The ululations, she clarified, are “because our child is going to heaven to marry the dark-eyed Virgins”:
“We say ‘praise Allah’ for everything. It’s our duty to give ourselves and our children. Praise Allah, it’s true that this hurts and that we feel agony and pain,” the mother said. “Today, every day and every moment, I miss my son. I’ll never forget my son. It’s true what they say that we ululate for our [dead] children because our child is going to heaven to marry the dark-eyed virgins, Allah willing. May Allah make a dwelling for him in the highest paradise. It’s not that we don’t love our children. We do love our children, but also our homeland. We say ‘Allah willing’ and maintain our resolve.”
The belief that “martyrs” are rewarded by Allah by marrying 72 dark-eyed virgins is a central message promoted by the PA and its ruling Fatah party.
In October 2014, terrorist Abd Al-Rahman Al-Shaloudi was killed by Israeli police after mowing down pedestrians at a light-rail station, killing two Israeli civilians, including an infant. PMW documented that Fatah’s official death announcements for Al-Shaloudi did not refer to his “death” but to his “wedding”: “Fatah accompanies to his wedding the heroic Martyr Abd Al-Rahman Al-Shaloudi, who carried out the Jerusalem operation…”
Grieving over Sons for Better World Image?
District Governor of Ramallah and El-Bireh Laila Ghannam, a known terror supporter, recently encouraged Palestinian women to cry over their dead sons and men and show their true feelings of sadness. Ghannam stated that she was “against ululations, against restraining the emotions and against presenting ourselves as a nation of barbarians who don’t care about loss and deprivation.” She seemed critical of Palestinian culture and its glorification of child martyrs as fighters carrying weapons, because “the world… thinks we have no feelings.”
“When the world sees us carrying a martyr and hears our ululations, it thinks we have no feelings – especially when it’s a child; for when a child dies as a martyr, the first image we publish is of him holding a weapon.”
Yet PMW has shown that Ghannam herself repeatedly participates in the Palestinian tradition of honoring terrorists.
Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir once said: “We will only have peace when our enemies love their children more than they hate ours.”
By: United with Israel Staff
(With files form PMW)
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