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Skeleton with Bloody Knife and Bomb Greets Palestinian Kids at Summer Camp
A poster celebrating death and terrorism at a Palestinian summer camp in July 2025. Photo: Palestinian Media Watch.
At a summer camp, Palestinian children and youth are greeted by a giant mural of a skeleton holding a bloody knife and a bomb with a lit fuse.
The skeleton is wearing a bandana in the colors of the Palestinian flag, and appears on one of the walls surrounding the football field where the kids spend part of the summer camp:
Text on mural in Arabic and Spanish: “Rayo is in favor of the resistance”
[Lajee Center, Facebook page, July 7, 2025]
This mural is at a summer camp of the Lajee Center, an NGO at the Aida refugee camp north of Bethlehem, which “is supported by the Mennonite Central Committee.” [Lajee Center, Facebook page, July 5, 2025]
As Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has documented for decades, the word “resistance” is a Palestinian euphemism for terror against Israel.
“Rayo” refers to the Spanish football club Rayo Vallecano.
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[Lajee Center, Facebook page, July 7, 2025] |
[Lajee Center, Facebook page, July 10, 2025] |
The skeleton is the logo of the Bukaneros, a politically inclined far left-wing support group of Rayo Vallecano:
[Nice One, accessed July 20, 2025]
A similar message condoning terror is conveyed by a skull possibly symbolizing death (to Israel), draped in a keffiyeh (Arab headdress), who watches from another wall as kids enjoy the summer camp activities:
[Lajee Center, Facebook page, July 13, 2025]
Other huge wall paintings around the football field show masked rock throwers and text in English and Arabic that also encourages terror:
[Lajee Center, Facebook page, July 5, 2025]
[Lajee Center, Facebook page, July 7, 2025]
The text on walls reads: “Resistance until liberation and return”
In its own words, the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), which supports the Palestinian NGO running the summer camp, is “a global, nonprofit organization that strives to share God’s love and compassion for all through relief, development and peacebuilding,” and strives “to make peace part of everything we do.” [emphasis added]
The murderous skeleton teaching terror against Israel to Palestinian kids at the summer camp hardly fits the ideology of the Christian principles guiding MCC:
For MCC, peace is not just a wish. It’s our work. It’s a conviction rooted in our faith and Anabaptist convictions.
With conflict on the rise around the globe, peacebuilding skills are critical. We want to promote reconciliation, speak out against injustice and build resilience through trauma healing.
All over the world, MCC partners with local communities and organizations to build a brighter, more peaceful future.
[MCC website, accessed July 20, 2025]
At the camp, the instructors and the participating children are all wearing shirts with MCC’s name and logo on the sleeve. Text on the front says “We’re here to stay” while “1948” is written on the back, a reference to the “right of return” to “Palestine” of “1948” — an expression of the Palestinian desire to eliminate the State of Israel.
The Lajee Center states on its website that it is “a community-based grassroots creative cultural center,” and that it is independent of the Palestinian Authority:
Lajee Center refuses any financial support from Palestinian political factions so as to not foster or support in any way any favoritism or divisions within Palestinian society…
[https://lajee.org/, accessed July 20, 2025]
Regarding its “ideology,” Lajee Center explains that it “works in full support of all national, human, and moral rights without exception.”
However, the center also states that “much of our project work focuses in some way on the inalienable ‘Right of Return’ for all refugees as stipulated in United Nations resolution number 194,” thereby expressing support for flooding Israel with refugees and consequently eliminating Israel as a Jewish state.
Moreover, Lajee Center supports the BDS campaign against Israel:
Lajee Center is an active signatory to the 2005 Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli regime. Our commitment to BDS includes full practice of all aspects of BDS in our work and the spreading of information and awareness about BDS through networking, workshops, and education.
[https://lajee.org/, accessed July 20, 2025]
The Lajee Center also cooperates with the anti-Israel NGO BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights.
In addition to the Spanish Bukaneros, the Lajee Center also has strong ties to another European football fan club: The Green Brigade, a supporter group of the Scottish Celtic Football Club. Together, Lajee Center and the Green Brigade established the Lajee Celtic Football Academy, where the summer camp is being held:
The pictures show the football field of the Lajee Celtic Football Academy. On the wall is the logo of the academy, which features a large key symbolizing the Palestinian refugees’ “right of return,” with “1948” written on it. [Lajee Center, Facebook page, July 14, 2025]
The Green Brigade is known for its extreme anti-Israel stance and solidarity with “Palestine.” On Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and committed a massacre, Green Brigade members displayed two huge banners declaring “Free Palestine” and “Victory to the Resistance”:
[The Scottish Sun, Oct. 9, 2023]
Describing the warm relations with the Celtic support group, Lajee Center mentions sports’ ability to create bridges:
It is a widely held belief that football has the power to break down barriers and inspire hope. Lajee Celtic, training in the shadow of an illegal separation wall, stands as the next living proof of that idea.
[Website of Lajee Center, accessed July 20, 2025]
While the Lajee Center takes pride in its ties with foreign football fans and the “breaking down of barriers,” this ideal seems to not include Israel given the messages encouraging terror on the Lajee Celtic Football Academy walls.
Similarly, the far-left Bukaneros are known for their support for “Palestine” and the “resistance” i.e., terror against Israel. The following tweet shows the Bukaneros-inspired painting at the Lajee Center, crediting the Bukaneros with making it:
[“Antifa Ultras,” X (Twitter) account, July 2, 2025]
At a football match in 2024, Bukaneros members demonstrated their solidarity by waving Palestinian flags:
As is PA policy, children at the Lajee Center summer camp were also taught to envision a “Palestine” that erases the entire State of Israel with map drawing activities:
[Lajee Center, Facebook page, July 10, 2025]
[Lajee Center, Facebook page, July 7, 2025]
Other camp shirts included the one below with the Lajee Center logo on the sleeve and a fist holding a key symbolizing the “return” of Palestinian “refugees”:
Text on shirt: “We are alive and remaining, and we continue dreaming further”
[Lajee Center, Facebook page, July 14, 2025]
Another camp shirt shows the PA map of “Palestine” with the text: “One people, one destiny and the return is certain“:
[Lajee Center, Facebook page, July 14, 2025]
The author is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this story first appeared.
The post Skeleton with Bloody Knife and Bomb Greets Palestinian Kids at Summer Camp first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hezbollah Marks Year Since Israel Killed Veteran Leader Nasrallah
People gather at a site damaged by Israeli airstrike that killed Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during a commemoration ceremony in Beirut southern suburbs, Lebanon, Nov. 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah on Saturday commemorated one year since leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by Israel, the opening salvo of a war that ultimately battered his once-powerful group and left swathes of Lebanon in ruins.
A string of Israeli bunker-busting bombs on a Hezbollah complex in Beirut’s southern suburbs killed Nasrallah, who had led the powerful Shi’ite religious, political and military group for more than 30 years.
His heir apparent Hashem Safieddine was killed weeks later. Now pressure is swelling on the group to disarm – a demand Hezbollah has rejected.
Hezbollah’s secretary general, Naim Qassem, who assumed the post a month after Nasrallah’s killing, delivered a speech to mark the anniversary.
He reaffirmed that Hezbollah would not allow disarmament and warned of a fierce confrontation, describing the fight as an existential battle that the group was capable of facing.
Crowds, including Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani, gathered in Hezbollah strongholds in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon’s south and east, to mark the day.
Tensions over the commemoration have been mounting this week, particularly after Hezbollah projected the portraits of Nasrallah and Safieddine on the towering rocks off the coast of Beirut.
The display went ahead, despite orders by Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and the Beirut governor not to do so, angering Lebanese opponents of Hezbollah who said the cliffs should not be used for political displays.
Nasrallah became secretary general of Hezbollah in 1992 aged just 35 after his predecessor, Sayyed Abbas al-Musawi, was killed in an Israeli helicopter attack.
With his fiery speeches, he swiftly became the public face of a once-shadowy group founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982 to fight Israeli occupation forces.
The day after Hamas’ cross-border attack into Israel on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah entered the fray in solidarity with its Palestinian ally by firing on Israel from southern Lebanon.
That prompted exchanges of fire for nearly a year before Israel sharply escalated by detonating explosives-rigged communication devices used by Hezbollah, pummeling the country with air strikes and sending troops into Lebanon’s south.
Israel’s air and ground campaign prevented a formal burial for Nasrallah for months. Followers have since flocked to his grave to pray.
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New Zealand Says Not Joining Push for Palestinian Statehood
The United Nations headquarters building is pictured though a window with the UN logo in the foreground in the Manhattan borough of New York, Aug. 15, 2014. Photo: REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
i24 News – New Zealand will not join the push to recognize Palestinian statehood, though it remains committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Minister Winston Peters said at the United Nations Headquarters on Friday.
“With a war raging, Hamas still in place, and no clarity on next steps, we do not think that the time is now,” Peters said in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly.
New Zealand’s position represents a departure from the line adopted by Australia, Britain and Canada, who joined in a recognition of Palestinian statehood on Sunday.
Israel and the US administration of President Donald Trump have said such unilateral moves will only serve to undermine the prospects of a peaceful end to the conflict and achieve nothing for the Palestinians. Both boycotted the New York event.
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Trump: Intense ‘Regional’ Talks on Ending Gaza War Ongoing, Israel and Hamas Briefed
US President Donald Trump points a finger as he delivers remarks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, July 31, 2025. Photo: Kent Nishimura via Reuters Connect
i24 News – US President Donald Trump stated on Friday in a message posted to his Truth Social network that talks, ongoing for four days, concerning ending the Gaza war were productive.
“I am pleased to report that we are having very inspired and productive discussions with the Middle Eastern Community concerning Gaza. Intense negotiations have been going on for four days, and will continue for as long as necessary in order to get a Successfully Completed Agreement,” the post read.
“All of the Countries within the Region are involved, Hamas is very much aware of these discussions, and Israel has been informed at all levels, including Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. There is more Goodwill and Enthusiasm for getting a Deal done, after so many decades, than I have ever seen before. Everyone is excited to put this period of Death and Darkness behind them. It is an Honor to be a part of this Negotiation. We must get the Hostages back, and get a PERMANENT AND LONGLASTING PEACE!”