Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appoints Mohammad Mustafa as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA), in Ramallah, in the West Bank March 14, 2024 in this handout image. Photo: Palestinian president office/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has reported extensively on the Palestinian Authority (PA) policy of convincing children to seek Martyrdom — death for Allah — while fighting Israel. We continue to see the results of this indoctrination, as parents of terrorists report that their children had requested to die as martyrs, just as they had been taught.

Father of 16-year-old terrorist Khaled Al-Uruq: “[Khaled Al-Uruq] is not the first Martyr and not the last, praise Allah. He asked for [Martyrdom] and achieved it, praise Allah. He always told me: ‘I want to die as a Martyr.’ Praise Allah, [the conditions] were enabled and he achieved it.” [emphasis added]

[Official PA TV, April 25, 2024]

On one hand, the PA, through its official television channel, seeks to portray Al-Uruq as a hero for confronting Israel. On the other hand, the PA, through its official daily, Wafa, also tries to advance the claim that the 16-year-old Al-Uruq was a victim by publishing an innocent-looking picture of him after he was shot and killed in Ramallah.

At the same time, another picture of Khaled Al-Uruq has been circulating online in which he is prominently featured holding a rifle with his finger on the trigger.

It is of note that according to Wafa, Khaled’s father — the same father who praised Allah for making his son a Martyr — is also an officer in the Palestinian intelligence services.

This incident is just the latest of many instances reported by Palestinian Media Watch, where minors notify their relatives or friends of their desire to die as Martyrs and then go and perpetrate violent attacks in which there is a high likelihood that they will die. They are then used by the PA to claim that Israel is targeting children, while at the same time, these terrorists are glorified by the PA as Martyrs who have taken heroic action.

The PA’s promotion of child Martyrdom is blatant child abuse, as young children are taught that their life’s goal should be to die a young hero. Indeed, as once stated by a young girl on Fatah’s Facebook page, “our weapon is our Islam and our ammunition is our children.”

Ephraim D. Tepler is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Itamar Marcus is PMW’s Founder and Director. A version of this article originally appeared at PMW.