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August 3, 2005
Ideology of Death
I recently watched the documentary Death in Gaza, based on the footage of filmmaker James Miller, who was accidentally killed by fire from an Israeli tank while making this movie about the lives of Palestinian children. While I had problems with the portrayal of Israelis as big, bad, bullies, I found that the film was worth seeing to gain perspective on the terrorist mindset. Specifically, how Palestinian children are raised in a culture that celebrates death and seeks to exploit how Israelis cherish life.
In one scene, we see a twelve year-old boy hanging out with a group of black-masked terrorists (or "militants," as they are referred to in the film). One of the terrorists says, "Let's see what you look like with a rocket launcher." He then hands the weapon to the child and demonstrates the proper way to hold it. When the interviewer asks if the boy is too young to be involved in the resistance, another terrorist replies that if the child were to die, "there are a thousand more kids like him."
While this movie focused on Israel, the ideology of death can just as easily be seen in the 9/11 hijackers or the 7/7 suicide bombers in London. But the scary part is that not only do these people revel in death, but they aim to take advantage of the fact that the civilized world values life above all else.
At a rally for martyrs featured in "Death in Gaza," a voice speaking through a loudspeaker can be heard saying, "You desire paradise, they are eager to cling to life." Later in the movie, the militants explain why they use a young boy as a lookout by saying, "This job is perfect for a little boy because nobody suspects him." These cretins put a child in the line of fire, because they know Israeli culture values the lives of children. Terrorists employ children, and then if a Palestinian child is caught in Israeli crossfire, they cry outrage that Israel killed an "innocent" child, and the rest of the world rises up to condemn Israel. They exploit the compassion of the rest of the world, who are their "useful idiots."
All of this is really disturbing to me, because it makes me wonder if it is possible to defeat militant Islam without employing tactics so brutal that any civilized person would find them hard to stomach.
Posted by Philip Klein at August 3, 2005 1:31 PM
Comments
Reminds me of the reaction to Tony Blair's decision to deport Muslim leaders that preach hate and encourage terrorism. People in Western societies value tolerance, so we naturally are somewhat outraged by the idea of deporting someone because of what they believe or say, but the hate-activists appear to be taking advantage of our tolerance.
Posted by: Anonymous at August 11, 2005 10:31 AM