RSS
Can a Mother Pray for Her Son to Die as a Martyr? Palestinians Can
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visiting the West Bank city of Jenin. Photo: Reuters/Mohamad Torokman
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is incredibly effective at brainwashing people across the generational spectrum to believe that achieving martyrdom, i.e., dying for Allah, is of supreme value.
Official Palestinian TV broadcasts this messaging regularly, making it difficult to miss. On the Moons of Palestine program, which focuses on promoting martyrdom, Hussein Fawaqa reminisced about how his terrorist brother, Muhammad, would tell his mother from a young age that she would miss him after he dies as a Martyr:
Hussein Fawaqa, brother of terrorist Muhammad Fawaqa: “Praise Allah’s name, He chose [Muhammad Fawaqa], and He chose a path for him that everyone wishes for but not everyone achieves. Ever since he was little he always would talk about Martyrdom: ‘I will die as a Martyr and you will miss me’… He wished for it and he achieved it…”
[Official PA TV, Moons of Palestine, April 9, 2024]
Fawaqa’s mother not only expressed pride about her son’s desires but prayed that her son’s request to die as a martyr would be granted:
“Um Hussein,” mother of terrorist Muhammad Fawaqa: “He would always tell me: ‘I want to be a Martyr, pray for me, mom, that I will die as a Martyr.’ I would tell him: ‘You’re making a precious request of me’; the truth is I prayed for him [that he be granted Martyrdom].” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Moons of Palestine, April 9, 2024]
Muhammad Fawaqa is a 21-year-old Palestinian terrorist who was killed while participating in violent confrontations with Israeli forces north of Ramallah on Oct. 18, 2023.
And Muhammad Fawaqa’s mother is not the only mother openly declaring how she wanted her son to die.
Uday Al-Zayyat’s mother also told Moons of Palestine about how she wanted her son to be a Martyr and that all the little children of the neighborhood want to become Martyrs as well, just like her son:
Mother of terrorist Uday Al-Zayyat “Abu Saqr”: “I told him: ‘Get married, let me hold your child.’ He said: ‘Allah willing, in Paradise’. I thought he was just saying that, and every time I said: ‘Get married,’ he would say: ‘In Paradise.’ … I congratulate him on the Martyrdom he achieved…
He would say: ‘Mom, don’t be sad, our paths are the paths of Martyrdom.’ …He only thought about the situation and the occupation [i.e., Israel] …
Ask the children of the neighborhood: ‘What do you want to be?’ [They say:] ‘Like [Uday] “Abu Saqr.”’ I ask: ‘What does that mean, like “Abu Saqr”?’ They are little and say: ‘He fought and went to Paradise, and we will fight and go to Paradise.’ … ‘I want my son to be a Martyr, this is [a source of] pride for Palestine and for me.’” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Moons of Palestine, March 19, 2024]
Uday Al-Zayyat “Abu Saqr” is a Palestinian terrorist and co-founder of a local terror cell who was killed together with five other terrorists in an Israeli drone strike in the Tulkarem refugee camp on Nov. 22, 2023.
On yet another episode of Moons of Palestine, Yanal Samhan, the granddaughter of terrorist Jihad Al-Abd Rushd Samhan, demonstrated how this ideal of Martyrdom gets spread across the generations:
I’m very happy that he’s my grandfather. I’m very proud of him … I’m happy that Allah chose us to be the family of a Martyr …He was a great leader, a Jihad fighter, a self-sacrificing fighter…He really loved to see people doing Jihad for Allah. Given how he loved this matter and aspired to Martyrdom, Allah chose him.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, Moons of Palestine, April 8, 2024]
Jihad Al-Abd Rushd Samhanis was a Palestinian terrorist, PA Preventive Security Forces member, and Fatah member who was arrested in 1988 and served 10 months in prison for his role as a terror leader in a wave of Palestinian violence and terror against Israel, in which approximately 200 Israelis were murdered (the first Intifada, 1987-1993). Samhan was arrested again in 1992 on charges of terror activity, but was released in 1994 in a prisoner exchange deal, and joined the PA Preventive Security Forces the same year. Samhan was killed on Sept. 26, 1996, while attacking Israeli soldiers during the Western Wall Tunnel Intifada.
As if sacrificing one child on the altar of martyrdom were not enough, one father also prayed that his second son would become a Martyr as well.
In an interview on official PA TV, Yasser As’ous shared how he stood over the grave of one of his sons who had already been killed while shooting at Israeli soldiers and prayed that his other son, who was injured at the time, should die as a Martyr rather than recuperate.
Yasser As’ous: “The second [child], Allah willing, Allah will grant him Martyrdom. Allah willing, now before I leave [the cemetery], Allah will inform me that he became a Martyr. Praise Allah Master of the Universe, our God chose them.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Facebook page, Jan. 8, 2024]
Hazza Darwish, Rami Darwish, Ahmed Darwish, Alaa Darwish, Rizq Suleiman, Muhammad As’ous, and Wadi’ As’ous are Palestinian terrorists who shot and threw explosives at Israeli forces conducting a counter-terror operation in the Jenin refugee camp on Jan. 7, 2024. The terrorists were killed in an Israeli airstrike, thereby ending their attack. During the confrontations, Israeli border policewoman Shay Germay, 19, was killed and three other border police officers were wounded by an explosive.
The PA through all its outlets indoctrinates its population, especially its children, to die as Martyrs.
This has not changed ever since Palestinian Media Watch wrote in the The Jerusalem Post about the PA’s child soldier strategy. It has not changed ever since former Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) coined it “civilization abuse.” And it has not changed now with the PA’s supposed “revitalization.”
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.
The post Can a Mother Pray for Her Son to Die as a Martyr? Palestinians Can first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.