Sunday, February 4th, 2024

As a musical theater nerd, I tend to have showtune lyrics running in my head as a response to most things that happen in my life. Currently occupying my brain is an Oscar Hammerstein lyric from South Pacific which begins like this:

You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear
You’ve got to be taught from year to year
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a different shade
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

Last night I watched Final Account, a Netflix documentary in which filmmaker Luke Holland interviews elderly Germans (my euphemism for “Nazis”) who share their memories in answer to Holland’s uncomfortable questions about 1930’s Germany and the Jews during the war. There was a common thread in all the stories: as children, they had been indoctrinated into Hitler’s idea of a perfect Aryan race, and they were taught, little by little, step by step, and very clearly, to hate the Jews. One man said that his teacher at school was a Nazi, and although his own parents were against the ideology, the school was more influential. Another man had a father who was, both by Jewish law and by Hitler law, considered Jewish, and the boy had to distance himself while becoming more involved, first in the Brown Shirts (which sounded like enormous Boy Scout-type fun) and then the natural, apparently obligatory, progression to Hitler Youth.

As I watched, disgusted, two things went through my head. One was, “How dare they be allowed to live full lives into old age?!” (Honestly, I would spit in their faces if I were to talk to them. They had no remorse. They all removed themselves from the crimes, if they even recognized that crimes had been committed). My other thought was, “This is exactly how Palestinian children are brought up to hate the Jewish people. They are taught.”

Palestinian textbooks feature three fundamentals: (1) Delegitimizing Israel’s existence and the presence of Jews, (2) Demonizing Israel and Jews, and (3) Inciting against Israel and Jews. Below are examples of actual lessons from Palestinian text books. It’s no wonder that we see videos of 7-year old children whose life goal is to die a martyr.

Grade 1: MATH. Learn by counting martyrs in each Intifada.
Grade 3: Learn how Jerusalem is not sacred to Jews.
Grade 5: ROLE MODELS. Learn how Jews are “Enemies of Islam in all times and places” while terrorists and Nazi supporters are glorified. The list of Palestinian heroes includes no scientists, no doctors, no engineers. The heroes are the terrorists who have died as martyrs. They proudly teach that “Dying is better than living” and “Death will lead to glory and victory”.
Grade 6: GEOGRAPHY. Learn how the Palestinian State goes from the river to the sea.
Grade 7: SCIENCE. Learn about Newton’s 2nd law using a slingshot aimed at IDF soldiers.
Grade 8: PROPER ARABIC. Use reading materials about suicide bombings and how the youth should conduct Jihad.
Grade 9: HISTORY. Learn how the 1929 Hebron Massacre in which 67 Jews were brutally tortured and killed was “a natural, legitimate act of resistance” (even though it was conducted 20 years before the State of Israel was formed). This lesson also teaches how killing infidels like Jews or Christians will lead you to Paradise.
Grade 10: Learn how Jihad is an obligation for every Muslim.
Grade 11: Learn how Jews control the world, using Nazi-like illustrations.
Grade 12: Finally, learn that the highest point one can aspire to is dying for a religious duty.

In early childhood, even before the Palestinian kids start school, they get sucked into the anti-Semitic narrative. Here’s a bit from a Sesame Street-esque TV show as produced by Hamas-run television in Gaza. This is from 2008, two years after Hamas came to power there. The show serves up political ideology disguised as cuddly animals. Click here to watch for 2 minutes. And in this episode, a Mickey Mouse look-alike is martyred at the hands of the Israelis. Click here to watch 4 minutes. The kiddie songs taught in these shows include lyrics like “When we get martyred, we will go to Paradise.” and “I am willing to sacrifice my blood for my country.” Note: The kids who watched this at five years old are now 21.

There is so much more, and I will most likely write about this again. But we all need to understand that these seeds are planted and nurtured from a very young age. It’s no surprise that the outcome is what it is today. As Luke Holland wrote in the epigraph of his German documentary, “Perpetrators are not born. They are made.”