8-year-old congratulates 15-year old cousin on her “Martyrdom-death”: “1,000 times congratulations”
- PA education never fails: In 2002 and now, more than 20 years later, young Palestinian girls still see “Martyrdom-death” as an ideal
Last month, 15-year-old Sadil Ghassan Naghnaghiya Turkeman – a female Palestinian terrorist and member of the Islamic Jihad terror organization – was killed during an Israeli counter-terror operation in Jenin.
Naghnaghiya was reportedly filming the exchanges of fire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian terrorists when she was shot. Israeli army officials said it was unlikely she was shot by Israeli forces.
Naghnaghiya's Facebook profile picture showed her holding an M16 assault rifle, and one of her posts read:
"We do not love Martyrdom-death, rather Martyrdom-death loves us...
#Jenin_mother_of_the_Martyrs"[Website of The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center,
Israeli research institute, June 27, 2023]
[Sadil Ghassan Naghnaghiya Turkeman, Facebook page,
accessed July 12, 2023]
[Website of The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center,
Israeli research institute, June 27, 2023]
Two days later, her 8-year-old cousin Jana “congratulated her 1,000 times on her Martyrdom” on Fatah TV, and expressed how “happy” she is for her dead cousin:
Posted text on Telegram channel: “Jana Bilal Naghnaghiya, 8, speaks about her good friend and cousin Sadil [Naghnaghiya]”
Jana Bilal Naghnaghiya: “Sadil was very beloved by the people, very very much, by the children and adults… Now, she is- congratulations on the Martyrdom, congratulations, congratulations, congratulations. I want to tell you congratulations with my whole heart, 1,000 times congratulations…Today I was happy for her, I was very very happy. Congratulations on the Martyrdom.”
[Fatah-run Awdah TV, Telegram channel, June 21, 2023]
The fact that 8-year-old and 15-year-old girls hold the view that “Martyrdom-death” is something to be happy about is the result of decades of PA brainwashing of Palestinian children to seek death in violent confrontations against Israel.
In 2002 – over two decades ago – Palestinian Media Watch exposed the shocking words of two 11-year-old girls, Walla and Yussra. They told official PA TV that “Martyrdom-death” is “a very, very beautiful thing” and “sweet,” and that what they desired was “not this world but the Afterlife”:
Official PA TV host: “You described Shahada (i.e., “Martyrdom-death”) as something beautiful. Do you think it is beautiful?”
Walla, aged 11: “Shahada is a very, very beautiful thing. Everyone yearns for Shahada. What could be sweeter than going to paradise?”
Host: “What is better, peace and full rights for the Palestinian people, or Shahada?”
Walla: “Shahada. I will achieve my rights after becoming a Shahida (i.e., “Martyr”).”
Host: “Ok, Yussra, would you agree with that?”
Yussra, aged 11: “Of course, Shahada is sweet. We don't want this world, we want the Afterlife. We benefit not from this life, but from the Afterlife.”
Host: “Do you actually love death?”Yussra: “Death is not Shahada.”
Host: “No, I mean the absence after death.”Yussra: “No child loves death. The children of Palestine adopted the concept that Shahada is very good. Every Palestinian child, say someone aged 12, says: O Lord, I would like to become a Shahid.”
Host: “We've got a call, Sabrine from Ramallah.”
Sabrine (on telephone): “Ayyat Al-Akhras (i.e., suicide bomber, murdered 2 and wounded 28 in Jerusalem in 2002) was 17 when she blew herself up –”
Host: “Sabrine, are you for it or against it?”
Sabrine (on telephone): “Of course I support blowing up, it is our right.”
Host: “Sabrine, now, is it natural that Ayyat Al-Akhras blows herself up?”
Sabrine (on telephone): “Of course it's natural.”[Official PA TV, June 9, 2002]
While optimists in 2002 might possibly have deluded themselves into thinking this was a temporary educational product of the second Intifada – the 5-year Palestinian terror campaign against Israel – 8-year-old Jana Naghnaghiya proves only too clearly that it is sadly still the norm and, as PMW has exposed, is one of the fundamental messages of PA children's education in 2023.
Theoretically, Walla and Yussra, who would be around 32 years old today, could be the mothers of Sadil and Jana. And whether Walla and Yussra achieved “Martyrdom-death” or lived to have children, their statements in 2002 represent an entire generation of Palestinian kids who were taught by the PA that death for Allah and “Palestine” is a cherished value and worth more than life. The PA never stopped teaching this. Sadil and Jana are the newest outcomes of the PA’s input: “1,000 times congratulations… on the Martyrdom.”