Incitement is a weapon - Dr. Ephraim Herrera

by Dr. Ephraim Herrera

The Muslim perception sees the very existence of Israel as a triple desecration: first, Israel controls part of Dar al-Islam, which was conquered in the seventh century C.E. by the caliph Omar and therefore belongs to the Muslim nation forever; second, Jews must be subservient to Muslims; and third, in the state of Israel Jews rule over Muslims, Israeli Arabs.

The recent unrest in Jerusalem is characterized by the enormous number of minors acting alongside adults. The parents of those youngsters don't have to make any effort to persuade them to throw rocks and Molotov cocktails at Jews, Jewish cars, or Jewish homes. From the time they are in nursery school, Palestinian children learn to hate Jews and aspire to eliminate them and their state. 

Here is an excerpt from one of the songs taught in Palestinian Authority kindergartens: "You [Jews] are destined for humiliation and suffering. Sons of Zion, you are the worst creatures, barbaric monkeys, pathetic pigs. ... Jerusalem will vomit you up because you are impure and it is pure; it is clean and you are dirty. ... I'm not afraid of your barbarism as long as my heart is my Quran and my city, as long as I hold weapons and rocks in my hand." 

PA schools are often named after despicable murderers. No fewer than three schools are named after Dalal Mughrabi, the Fatah terrorist who took part in the 1978 attack on an Israeli bus that killed 38 Israeli civilians, including 12 children, and left 71 wounded. And now Palestinian newspapers are praising the "brave" Palestinian children and running cartoons showing parents supporting their children who throw rocks. It need not be said that Israel has been erased from the maps used in PA textbooks. 

These all stem from the policy of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who said last week that Jews "desecrate Al-Aqsa with their filthy feet." The word "desecrate," a religious term, is almost never used in the Israeli media. In the same speech, Abbas referenced the shahids (martyrs) who have fallen for Al-Quds (Jerusalem), their promised place in Allah's Paradise, and the reward Allah will give to those who have been wounded by Israeli security forces. 

This approach signifies that the PLO is lining up with the Islamists and abandoning the idea of a Palestinian national home as a second ideological line. The Muslim perception sees the very existence of Israel as a triple desecration: first, Israel controls part of Dar al-Islam, which was conquered in the seventh century C.E. by the caliph Omar and therefore belongs to the Muslim nation forever; second, Jews must be subservient to Muslims; and third, in the state of Israel Jews rule over Muslims, Israeli Arabs. Therefore every individual has an obligation to throw off the triple defilement and annihilate the state of the Jews. 

Israel invests a fortune in intelligence and security forces in an attempt to contain the youngsters' intifada, but puts much less effort into stopping the education of hatred. The best way to stop an overflow is to shut off the taps, and the main tap of hate in the Palestinian home is education children receive to eliminate Jews and their state. Only when we remove the bottle of religious hatred from the Palestinian children's diet will we be able to get rid of the burning Molotov cocktails. A demand to stop Palestinian anti-Semitic incitement might win the support of the international community. Israel could link the issue to services and benefits it provides to the Palestinians and bring international attention to the issue of hatred of the Jews, forcing the PA to stop its anti-Semitic education.

Moreover, the government should look into the education at Arab schools and mosques in the capital, the Galilee, and the Negev, where it does have the authority to root hatred out of the curriculum.

Dr. Ephraim Herrera is the author of Jihad -- Fundamentals and Fundamentalism.

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=13853

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