A new song performed by a Palestinian children’s choir about the supposed glory attached to ‘martyrdom’ – dying a violent death while waging war and terrorism on infidels, in this case, Jews, has become a hit on Arabic websites. The choir is also reported as becoming one of the most popular children’s groups in the Arab world. In the video clip, produced by the Jordanian-owned production company and television channel Birds of Paradise,’ which can be viewed on YouTube, a young brown-eyed girl sings in front of what seems to be a group of children in pre-school the lyrics, ‘Without Palestine, what does childhood mean?’

YouTube has already received dozens of spin-offs and remakes of the video, some of which depict Arabic children mimicking the lyrics while others show Jihadists using it as background music. Journalist Fawzia Nasir al-Naeem wrote in the Saudi Arabian newspaper Al-Jazirah that the group represents a new wave in Jihadist youth indoctrination, as it is child-friendly, as opposed to previous Jihadist programs (‘New hit song for Palestinian children: When we die as martyrs,’ Haaretz, June 22, 2010).

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “We see here not only another case of obscene incitement to hatred and murder of Palestinian children by inculcating vicious doctrines that murdering non-Muslims, especially Jews, is a pathway to heaven, but also the increasingly global nature of the threat of such ideas.

“It did not take long for suicide bombing to move from the Israeli street to every other street of the Middle East and then Western capitals. The poisonous and evil ideas celebrated in this song have found a global Muslim audience. The tragic consequences of this culture of hatred, death and murder being further popularized will be with us in years to come.”