Palestinian political strategy: Encourage children to kill themselves in Martyrdom-seeking attacks. Then complain to the international community that Israel is killing Palestinian children.
By Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik, Palestinian Media Watch
Yet another Palestinian teen has actively sought Martyrdom-death and achieved his goal in a confrontation with Israel.
Palestinian Media Watch has documented the PA and Fatah’s massive propaganda efforts promoting death as a “Martyr” for “Palestine” and Allah – even for Palestinian children.
Before Ghaith Rafiq Yamin, aged 16, went to throw a Molotov cocktail at Israeli soldiers, he left a will for family and friends to read on his social media accounts. Planning to put himself in a situation that would lead to his death, he explained in the will how he would like to be buried – “among children like himself” – a clear reference to other child and teen Martyrs.
Yamin also requested they don’t put him in a refrigerator in a morgue because “he cannot stand cold” and encouraged friends and relatives “to always visit him and sit next to his grave”:
“Young Ghaith Rafiq Yamin (i.e., terrorist, threw a Molotov cocktail at Israeli soldiers), who was shot by the occupation and ascended to Heaven in Nablus in the early morning hours yesterday [May 25, 2022], knew in his heart for certain that after 16 springs, life was already over. He began to deal with the details of his death and how it would be in the period of an occupation that spreads death with every Talmudic (i.e., Jewish) prayer of settlers who have invaded the site, and who have dispersed their evil and their bullets into [the young Palestinians].
Ghaith left behind his last will on social media and with his friends. He let them know that he cannot stand cold, and instructed them that when the time came, they were not to put the body in a [morgue] refrigerator. The Martyr of dawn expressed hope that those participating in the funeral would choose the gravesite, and that he would be [buried] among children like himself. He knew for a certainty that they would be together, ‘alive with their Lord, receiving provision’ [Quran 3:169, Sahih International translation].
Ghaith cannot stand being alone. He invited his friends and his relatives to always visit him and sit next to his grave. [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 26, 2022]
Palestinian Media Watch has documented numerous statements by PA and Fatah officials that endorse and encourage Palestinians to seek death in confrontations with Israel. And not just adults but children and teens as well. On the publication of results of the matriculation exams right after the 2015-16 terror wave in which many teenager terrorists had been killed during their attacks, the PA taught that martyrdom-death is an ideal:
“Death [of a teenager] as a Martyr is the path to excellence and greatness, and the path of those who know how to reach the great victory. [WAFA (official PA news agency), July 11, 2016;
official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 12, 2016]
This has been the PA’s ideology for decades and it continues. Recently, one Fatah official announced on behalf of all Palestinians that “we love Martyrdom-death as we love life.” And Palestinian teenagers buy into it. Last month, another boy sought death as a Martyr by participating in violent riots. He told his mom beforehand: “My cousins and I… One of us needs to be a Martyr.” The official PA daily admitted that the focus of Palestinian youth has been changed from planning their future to planning their martyrdom-death:
“The aspirations of the young people of Palestine change from planning the details of life and their futures to the circumstances of death, its heat and its cold, the site of burial, the visitors who will come one after the other to the cemetery, and the Martyrs who preceded them and who will come after them…[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 26, 2022]
Despite the will left behind by Yamin that clearly indicates he was deliberately seeking death, the PA claims he was “executed” by Israel and robbed of his future:
“The [PA] Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates: The execution of child Ghaith is a continuation of the series of crimes of summary executions” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 26, 2022]
The cartoon shows terrorist Yamin. A thought bubble emanating from Yamin’s head with “future” written in it in Arabic and English is being pierced by a bullet with a Star of David on it.[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 26, 2022]
The Palestinian political strategy is clear. Encourage children to kill themselves in Martyrdom-seeking attacks. And then complain to the international community that Palestinian children are being killed by Israel.
The following is a longer excerpt from the report in the official PA daily:
Headline: “Martyr Ghaith with seven instructions – dealing with the details of death, far from the [morgue] freezer and its cold”
“The aspirations of the young people of Palestine change from planning the details of life and their futures to the circumstances of death, its heat and its cold, the site of burial, the visitors who will come one after the other to the cemetery, and the Martyrs who preceded them and who will come after them…
Young Ghaith Rafiq Yamin (i.e., terrorist, threw a Molotov cocktail at Israeli soldiers), who was shot by the occupation and ascended to Heaven in Nablus in the early morning hours yesterday [May 25, 2022], knew in his heart for certain that after 16 springs, life was already over. He began to deal with the details of his death and how it would be in the period of an occupation that spreads death with every Talmudic (i.e., Jewish) prayer of settlers who have invaded the site, and who have dispersed their evil and their bullets into [the young Palestinians].
Ghaith left behind his last will on social media and with his friends. He let them know that he cannot stand cold, and instructed them that when the time came, they were not to put the body in a [morgue] refrigerator. The Martyr of dawn expressed hope that those participating in the funeral would choose the gravesite, and that he would be [buried] among children like himself. He knew for a certainty that they would be together, ‘alive with their Lord, receiving provision’ [Quran 3:169, Sahih International translation].
Ghaith cannot stand being alone. He invited his friends and his relatives to always visit him and sit next to his grave…
Ghaith, who broke the hearts of those who love him with his words, hoped that no one would cry over him. He does not want tears to be shed because of him. He told those who love him that when the body is no more, the spirit remains present through his social media accounts. He instructed his relatives to keep them active so that his life story would remain present.
The bracelet that Ghaith greatly loved appeared in his will. He told those who love him… that it is waiting for them under [his] pillow. He gave it as a deposit that must be protected…
Dozens of Ghaith’s friends and companions from the school bench sat on adjacent seats in the plazas of the hospital in Rafidia. They spoke about… his feeling that death was near and told each other that Ghaith was influenced by the deaths as Martyrs of three young people from Nablus in an assassination operation that the occupation forces carried out in February [2022] (refers to terrorists Adham Mabrouka Al-Shishani, Muhammad Al-Dakhil, and Ashraf Mubaslat, who were killed as they were planning an imminent shooting attack -Ed.). He told his friends that he would join them.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 26, 2022]
Ghaith Rafiq Yamin – 16-year-old Palestinian terrorist who threw a Molotov cocktail at Israeli soldiers while participating in a violent Arab riot in Nablus on May 25, 2022. The soldiers shot and killed Yamin in self-defense. The rioters were attempting to attack Jews visiting Joseph’s Tomb.
Adham Mabrouka Al-Shishani, Muhammad Al-Dakhil, and Ashraf Mubaslat – Palestinian terrorists and members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades (Fatah’s military wing) who were shot and killed by Israeli security forces in Nablus on Feb. 8, 2022. When killed, the terrorists were armed with two M-16 semi-automatic assault rifles and intelligence indicated that they were planning an imminent terror attack. The terrorists had already committed six shooting attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers in previous weeks, among them:
– Jan. 25, 2022 – shooting on an Israeli military post near Nablus.
– Jan. 27, 2022 – shooting on a military post between the Israeli towns of Elon Moreh and Itamar east of Nablus.
– Jan. 29, 2022 – shooting on an Israeli military vehicle as it drove next to the PA village of Tell southwest of Nablus.
– Feb. 2, 2022 – shooting on a military post at an entrance to Nablus. PMW was unable to determine the details of the remaining two attacks, which reportedly targeted Israeli towns.
Headline: “The [PA] Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates: The execution of child Ghaith is a continuation of the series of crimes of summary executions”
“The [PA] Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned the crime committed by the occupation forces in Nablus in the early morning hours yesterday [May 25, 2022], as a result of which young Ghaith Yamin (i.e., terrorist, threw a Molotov cocktail at Israeli soldiers), 16, died as a Martyr following [the forces’] provocative invasion of the city. It said that this is a continuation of a long series of crimes of summary execution, which the occupation’s soldiers and officers are committing on orders from the political and military echelon in the occupation state.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 26, 2022]