Hamas TV Shows 4-Year-Old Girl Vowing Suicide Bombing
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Hamas television broadcast a video dramatization on Wednesday in which the four-year-old daughter of female suicide bomber vows to do what her mother has done. The child is an actress, but the point was clear.
According to Palestinian Media Watch, the child actress, playing the part of a real child named Duha, finds her mother preparing explosives in her bedroom and sings, "Mommy, what are you carrying in your arms instead of me?"
The mother tries to hide the bomb. Later, Duha sees a television news story about her mother's suicide bomb attack. "Instead of me, you carried a bomb in your hand," Duha sings. "Only now, I know what was more precious than us."
Duha asks her mother to tell the Muslim prophet Mohammed that she sends her love -- and that she will be following in Mommy's footsteps. The last image shows Duha finding explosives in her mother's bedroom drawer.
The video is based on real people. Duha's mother was Reem Riyashi, who, at the age of 21, blew herself up at the Erez crossing, killing four Israelis. Hamas and the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades of the Fatah faction claimed responsibility for the 2004 attack.
Palestinian Media Watch Director Itamar Marcus told Cybercast News Service that there have been other programs where young teens express their desire to become martyrs, but he has never seen a child as young as the actress playing Duha serve as an advocate for suicide bombing.
"This is Hamas' ideology," said Marcus. Reem Riyashi was said to be the first female suicide bomber employed by Hamas.
After she killed herself and others, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, praised her for setting an example for other women to die in the fight against Israel.
In an unrelated story on the same topic, Iraqi police said on Wednesday that two children were used as decoys to help a bomb-laden car make it through a U.S. checkpoint in northern Iraq.
Both children died when the car blew up. According to press reports, the driver of the car was allowed to park in a busy shopping area after he made it clear that he was leaving his kids in the back seat.
"Children in the back seat lowered suspicion," Major General Michael Barbero was quoted as saying. "We let it move through. They parked the vehicle. The adults run out and detonate it with the children in the back."
According to Palestinian Media Watch, the child actress, playing the part of a real child named Duha, finds her mother preparing explosives in her bedroom and sings, "Mommy, what are you carrying in your arms instead of me?"
The mother tries to hide the bomb. Later, Duha sees a television news story about her mother's suicide bomb attack. "Instead of me, you carried a bomb in your hand," Duha sings. "Only now, I know what was more precious than us."
Duha asks her mother to tell the Muslim prophet Mohammed that she sends her love -- and that she will be following in Mommy's footsteps. The last image shows Duha finding explosives in her mother's bedroom drawer.
The video is based on real people. Duha's mother was Reem Riyashi, who, at the age of 21, blew herself up at the Erez crossing, killing four Israelis. Hamas and the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades of the Fatah faction claimed responsibility for the 2004 attack.
Palestinian Media Watch Director Itamar Marcus told Cybercast News Service that there have been other programs where young teens express their desire to become martyrs, but he has never seen a child as young as the actress playing Duha serve as an advocate for suicide bombing.
"This is Hamas' ideology," said Marcus. Reem Riyashi was said to be the first female suicide bomber employed by Hamas.
After she killed herself and others, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, praised her for setting an example for other women to die in the fight against Israel.
In an unrelated story on the same topic, Iraqi police said on Wednesday that two children were used as decoys to help a bomb-laden car make it through a U.S. checkpoint in northern Iraq.
Both children died when the car blew up. According to press reports, the driver of the car was allowed to park in a busy shopping area after he made it clear that he was leaving his kids in the back seat.
"Children in the back seat lowered suspicion," Major General Michael Barbero was quoted as saying. "We let it move through. They parked the vehicle. The adults run out and detonate it with the children in the back."