EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
Raised To Hate
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alestinian teen Hussam Abdo hated school so much
he was willing to blow himself up and murder Jews to
avoid having to go to class. Avenging a friend's death
at the hands of Israeli soldiers also compelled him to say yes to
be a "martyr" bomber.
When an explosive belt was strapped to his body and he
was told to head to Huwara Checkpoint, south of Nablus, his
intent was clear: to cause Jews the same pain he believed they
were causing Palestinians.
"Just like they came and caused our parents' sadness and
suffering, they, too, should feel this," Abdo told the BBC in a
chilling interview. "Just like we feel this, they
should also feel it."
Abdo, who has four sisters and one broth-
er, revealed a simple but shocking mission: "I
would become a martyr and go to my God.
It's better than being a singer or a footballer.
It's better than everything."
School enraged him. "I used to go there
and run away," he said. "Then I had prob-
ROBERT A. lems with the teachers. The principal took
SKLAR
me to the police because I got into a fight
Editor
with the teachers."
BBC Jerusalem correspondent James
Reynolds conducted the interview with the would-be bomber
in an Israeli prison. The boy wore prison
brown and handcuffs. "He was tiny — he did-
n't even reach my shoulder," Reynolds related
July 16 on the BBC News World Edition Web
site. "The boy sat down, smiled and talked
readily. A prison guard sat at the end of the
room watching our conversation."
It was a conversation that parents the world
over should ponder.
The right redirection and the right influences could change
Palestinian kids. As much as I want to believe peace is possi-
ble, I can't help but feel it will take a generation or two just to
change the Palestinian mindset that Jews are invaders who
ruthlessly seized Palestinian land 56 years ago.
Targeting Jews
On March 23, a classmate told Abdo a man from the Al Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades, the terror wing of Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat's Fatah movement, was seeking a martyr bomber. Abdo
responded to the call. The recruiter told him not to worry
about his family after the bombing — Al Aqsa would be there
to help.
At 6 the next morning, Abdo prayed, then kissed his moth-
er, Tamam, and said he was going to school. Instead, he made
a beeline to hell.
His Al Aqsa handlers deceived Abdo into believing a prom-
ise of 100 shekels ($22) for his family and 72 black-eyed vir-
gins for him in Paradise if he detonated a bomb amid Israeli
soldiers. The handlers took pictures of Abdo and strapped on
a bomb vest. The boy arrived at Huwara, a West Bank check-
point, at 1 p.m.
Televised footage captured the boy obeying the orders of
soldiers to try to take off the bulky nail-lined vest. Israeli find-
ings show terrorist groups sending at least 29 suicide bombers
younger than 18 over the past
46 months.
In an April 2 column, I
expressed outrage that terror-
ists are so adept at keeping a
drumbeat of hate that soldiers
have a hard time distinguish-
ing between innocent
Palestinians and those enlisted
The Root Cause
to be martyrs for Allah.
It's revolting that such a
While Israel awaits a legitimate peace partner,
society would think the world
world Jewry must confront the urgent matter
would grant it statehood.
of kids in the West Bank and Gaza Strip being
Abu Muhammad, Abdo's
taught that "the Zionist enemy" is squatting on Abdo: would-be teen bomber at checkpoint
uncle, described his nephew as
Palestinian land. Palestinian kids are bombard-
"a short, naive boy who had
ed with anti-Zionist shows, textbooks and
been struck in the head when
newspapers. Current school texts show a land called Palestine'
he was a child and has been suffering from an illness since
that includes Israel. Talk about overt incitement!
then — a boy who doesn't know good from bad."
The intifada, incited by Islamists, is as much a religious
Abdo's disjointed thoughts with the BBC indicated that he
statement as a political struggle. Not even an Israeli military
may be mentally slow, but confirmed the confused state of his
triumph would overcome so many years of indoctrination to
upbringing. He didn't fear dying, yet thanked God "the opera-
hate Jews. Bear in mind that Abdo's mother shocked few after
tion didn't' go through" and "felt relieved" when he spoke with
her son's would-be act of terror when she said she would have
his mother after his capture. He now wants to go home and
encouraged him to become a "martyr" had he been 18.
work in his father's store. "It's just the way it is," he told the
Rabbi Michael Moskowitz of Temple Shir Shalom in West
BBC. "God doesn't want me to die."
Bloomfield spent two weeks this summer in Israel with
In this seeming contradiction I detected the nervous uncer-
Federation's 2004 Teen Mission. He saw Detroit kids affirm
tainty of a child desperate for parental guidance and societal
their Jewish identity, connect with their ancestral homeland
inspiration.
and embrace the value of helping make the world a better
Yet hope springs eternal. When Reynolds asked Abdo if he
place for all.
would set out to bomb Jews knowing what he does now, the
He believes terrorists preyed on Abdo's sense of uselessness
boy said, "No — because of prison. And in also in the end,
and lack of self-esteem. "They gave him purpose and mean-
there'll be peace."
ing, as delusional as that was," Rabbi Moskowitz told me
Like Rabbi Moskowitz, I haven't lost hope. To lose it would
Tuesday. "They gave him something to grab on to. Lump that
play into the clutches of Islamic terror-mongers.
together with strong anti-Israel sentiment and you see why
Exiling Arafat, ending the occupation and resuming talks
this keeps happening.
would invite peace. But be brutally honest: Until the Palestin-
"How sad."
ian people — kids especially — accept coexistence, recognize
How true.
Israel and resist anti-Semitism, peace will be a pipe dream. fl
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