By
Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
A
poem in the Palestinian youth magazine Zayzafuna teaches children that
throwing rocks at Jews is something mandated by Muhammad, Islam’s prophet. The
funders of the magazine include the Palestinian Authority.
The following lines were part of the poem printed in the magazine’s October
issue together with the image above of a kid throwing rocks:
“O children of my country, sing to the occupied homeland so it will be
liberated…
Sing
by the order of Prophet [Muhammad]
that
we carry a rock
that
we will throw at the people of the Gharqad [tree]”
[Zayzafuna, October 2017]
That Jews are the intended target is clear from
the reference to the Gharqad tree – “the tree of the Jews.” According
to Muslim tradition Jews will try to hide behind the Gharqad tree when the
Muslims come to kill them on Judgment Day.
The
story of a stone or tree beckoning a Muslim to kill a Jew appears in numerous
Islamic texts. One example is the following Hadith from
the Sahih Muslim book of Hadith:
“The last Hour will not come until the
Muslims fight the Jews and kill them until the Jews hide behind a stone or a
tree, and the stone or a tree will say: ‘Muslim, or servant of Allah, there is
a Jew behind me; come and kill him’; but the Gharqad tree will not say [this],
for it is the tree of the Jews.”
Palestinian Media Watch has documented problematic
content in the magazine before. One story, allegedly a dream by a young
Palestinian girl, glorified Hitler and
presented his killing of Jews as a positive accomplishment for the benefit of
humanity. Another issue of Zayzafuna published sayings that it
attributed to Hitler.
Zayzafuna is a PLO magazine for children partially funded by the PA.
The magazine, which includes material written by both the magazine’s staff and
child readers, shows the kind of messages the publishers deem suitable for
youth and also serves as a window into the minds of the Palestinian children
submitting material to the magazine. Zayzafuna‘s website no longer
exists but stated (in May 2016) that the magazine’s advisory board is comprised
of PA officials and educators, including Jihad Zakarneh, PA Deputy Minister of
Education, and Abd Al-Hakim Abu Jamous, Head of the Media Department at the PA
Ministry of Education. Zayzafuna included a note on its third
page acknowledging the PA Ministry of Culture for its financial support of the
printing of the magazine. It also included a disclaimer, stating that: “The
opinions and texts in the magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinions of
the Zayzafuna Association. In May 2011, the Deputy Chairman of the Zayzafuna
organization Abd Al-Karim Ziyada explained on PA TV that the PA gives “a
monthly payment of 10,000 shekels ($2,700) to cover the magazine’s
[costs].” [Official PA TV, May 9 and 13, 2011]
The
following is the full version of the poem in the youth magazine:
A poem by Syrian poet Sulaiman Al-Issa
Headline: “The children of my country”
“O children of my country, sing to the occupied homeland so it will be
liberated
Sing for a wide space that will inspire the revolutionaries and the revolution
In the field so they will strike roots
Sing to the sun so it will send light for freedom
Sing to the moon so we will remain awake at night
Together with those who love my country
On summer nights
Inspiring those who love Allah
To hold the morning prayers
Together with those who come to the mosque
Sing
by the order of Prophet [Muhammad]
that
we carry a rock
That
we will throw at the people of the Gharqad [tree]
