PA filler claims martyrdom for Al-Aqsa more important than family
"Al-Aqsa is more precious than my children and more precious than my family – Al-Aqsa is my life, Al-Aqsa is my life…"
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFPilgrims and tourists outside Al-Aqsa Mosque after the second prayer of the day(photo credit: SHAKIR RIMZY)
Fillers shown between televised broadcasts on official Palestinian Authority TV emphasizes to children that martyrdom and the importance of Islamic holy sites like the Al-Aqsa Mosque should outweigh devotion to one's family, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported.One such broadcast translated by PMW and uploaded to their YouTube channel shows Arabic words pop up and fade away over a background of thunderous and lightning-filled storm clouds."Al-Aqsa is more precious than my children and more precious than my family – Al-Aqsa is my life, Al-Aqsa is my life…," the lyrics read, which are chanted by several people off-screen. The video then cuts to several clips of people praying, clashes with Israeli forces and groups of Jews on the Temple Mount.The clip concludes by cutting to a woman saying "The whole world is with Palestine, and wherever you need us, we are with you" before the Arabic words "We are with you, Palestine" pop up on the storm cloud background.This is not the first time that the Palestinian Authority has encouraged martyrdom among Palestinian children. According to one PMW report, in November 2019, Fatah released a video in which a child, Ru'a Tamimi, reads a story she wrote in which, when a boy finishes all of the food on his plate, his mother surprises him – with a rifle. “We are not meant for happiness my son,” the mother informs the boy as she actively recruits him to embrace armed struggle against the Jews and, if needed, to die for the so-called liberation of Jerusalem. A later PMW report discussed Tamimi's comments on PA TV cursing US President Donald Trump.Tamimi is part of the Tamimi clan, the same as Ahlam Tamimi, the terrorist responsible for the Sbarro Pizza shop bombing in 2001 that killed 15 and injured 130. Tamimi was released in 2011 as part of the Gilad Schalit prisoner exchange deal.In addition to the bombing itself, Ahlam Tamimi became infamous for her lack of remorse. In an interview with a Jordanian news site that was later translated by MEMRI, she expressed her satisfaction with her actions.
"I do not regret what happened. Absolutely not," she said, adding: "Do you want me to denounce what I did? That's out of the question. I would do it again today, and in the same manner."
