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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.

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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.

Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.

The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.

Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.

Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.

The post Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel

People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.

At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.

Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.

Mass prayers were later held in the square.

State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.

In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.

“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.

There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.

Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.

Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

TRUMP THREAT

Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.

Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.

Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.

A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.

According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.

Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.

Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.

The post Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival

Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

i24 NewsChants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.

One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.

This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.

The post Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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