Illustrative: Palestinians in Jenin at the funeral of gunman Youssef Salah who was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli forces. Photo: Reuters/Mohamad Torokman

At the funeral of a Palestinian terrorist who was shot and killed when he accelerated and rammed his car into an Israeli police car, a speaker summed up in one sentence the underlying cause of the recent months’ rise in the number of Palestinian deaths.

According to the speaker, Palestinians are happy to die as Martyrs through attacks against Israel because, “We love death like our enemies love life.” 

The speaker also praised Palestinian mothers for celebrating when their children die as “Martyrs”:

Speaker at funeral: “This people will not be defeated. A people in which a mother accompanies her Martyr son with sounds of joy will never be defeated. A people in which a child who is like a lofty mountain waits impatiently to become a young man so that he will be able to take revenge for his Martyr father will never be defeated. We love death like our enemies love life.” [emphasis added]

[Unidentified speaker, Official PA TV, March 8, 2023]

The desire to die as “Martyrs” for “Palestine” is a notion that the Palestinian Authority (PA) instills in Palestinians from early childhood. Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has documented that children are taught that it’s an honor to die fighting Israel, and youth are told they will become “grooms” who wed the Virgins of Paradise.

During the broadcast of a funeral last year, while showing the dead body of a terrorist, official PA TV played this song in the background:

Parents are expected to happily accompany their children to their “weddings,” as this mother of a “Martyr,” echoing the PA’s indoctrination:

Mother of terrorist Karam Salman: “Praise Allah, [Karam] asked for Martyrdom and he received it. He is the most handsome groom in the world, the most handsome groom in Paradise. The angels will accompany him to his wedding … we will accompany him as a groom to his wedding in Paradise.”

[Official PA TV News, Jan. 29, 2023]

“We love death like our enemies love life” is yet another slogan of the PA’s Martyrdom trap, which PMW has summarized in a video compilation showing how specifically how these messages are directed at and absorbed by children:

The unidentified speaker in the first video above made this statement at the funeral of terrorist Muhammad Awad Abu Kafya who was shot and killed after ramming his car into a police car and wounding an Israeli police officer in the Nablus area, on Sept. 24, 2022.

A cartoon posted by Fatah in Lebanon stressed the same willingness to die. The headline reads: “We will die for Palestine.”

Itamar Marcus is the Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article first appeared.