Children at a Dar Al-Huda kindergarten in the Gaza Strip present a show while dressed as terrorist operatives and "abduct an IDF soldier" (YouTube, May 29, 2016).
Overview
1. On May 26, 2016, children at the Al-Huda al-Islami kindergarten in the Zeitun neighborhood in Gaza City put on a show for the end-of-the-year party. The kindergarten class was called "the Jerusalem Foj." [Foj in Arabic refers to a military unit larger than a battalion.] The kindergarten belongs to the Dar al-Huda Islamic charitable association and is affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). The association is supported by donations, including donations from abroad, and operates an independent Islamic educational system in the Gaza Strip which has 12 kindergartens and two schools (see Appendix B).
2. The end-of-the-year party, similar to others of the same sort, was another opportunity to indoctrinate kindergarten children with violence and hatred for Israel. The children put on a well-prepared "military" show. Wearing "uniforms" of the Jerusalem Battalions (the PIJ's military-terrorist wing), they simulated the conquest of an IDF post. They simulated military activities, including briefing and training operatives, initiating the operation, and killing and abducting IDF soldiers. They also simulated firing rockets and launching drones, with accompanying fireworks, smoke and sounds of explosions and gunfire (See Appendix A).
Left: Uniformed Al-Huda kindergarten children armed with wooden rifles on stage. Right: The stage during the show, with a model of an IDF tank, an IDF post and IDF soldiers standing guard (Facebook page of Al-Huda al-Islami, Gaza, May 30, 2016).
3. The end-of-the-year show was attended by parents and senior PIJ figures in the Gaza Strip. Among them were Sheikhs Hader Habib and Omar al-Fura, chairman of the Dar al-Huda charitable association (Facebook page of the Al-Huda al-Islami kindergarten, May 30, 2016). Sheikh Hader Habib gave a speech praising the children and the kindergarten teachers. He said the show sent a "message of brotherhood." He also attacked the "Zionist enemy," claiming Israel was responsible for everything done to the detriment of the Palestinians and caused them to bear arms to defend themselves. He ended by calling on Israel to leave the lands of the Palestinians (YouTube, May 30, 2016).
Senior PIJ figure Sheikh Hader Habib delivers a speech at the Al-Huda kindergarten's show (YouTube, May 29, 2016).
4. Last year the Al-Huda kindergarten also put on a show encouraging violence and hatred for Israel. The children wore Jerusalem Battalions uniforms and demonstrated various military maneuvers. On stage was a model of camouflaged rocket launcher (YouTube, June 18, 2015).
Military-terrorist show put on at the end of the 2015 school year by the children in the Al-Huda kindergarten (YouTube, June 18, 2015).
| 5. The shows put on by the Al-Huda kindergartens at the end of the year are additional examples of the indoctrination to violence and hatred for Israel the children in the Gaza Strip receive, especially in kindergartens affiliated with Hamas and the PIJ. The younger generation is a particularly important target audience for creating a reservoir of future terrorist operatives. Thus the formal and informal educational systems in the Gaza Strip, from kindergarten to university, teach them violence and hatred for Israel and imbue them with the desire to participate in a violent struggle against it |
