Report: Hezbollah Establishes Child Army

[ECH1969]

Hezbollah has begun replenishing its ranks after more than a month of war with Israel by recruiting the children of its fallen fighters, according to the Egyptian weekly Roz Al-Yusuf.

The newspaper reported that in recent weeks Hezbollah has organized more than 2,000 children aged 10-15 into armed militias. The Mahdi Boy Scouts, a Hezbollah-affiliated youth movement, has been tasked with training the youngsters to sacrifice their lives attacking Israel.

Today these children are referred to as "future suicides," the report said, adding that they can now be seen wearing "camouflage army uniforms, their faces black," and that they have been made to "take the Jihad and Holy War oath."

Roz Al-Yusuf said that top Hezbollah officials it contacted did not deny the report. Earlier, Hezbollah deputy commander Naim Qassam boasted on Radio Canada that "a nation with suicide children is a victorious one."

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004739966

[truthisfreedom]

1. i wonder how many of our tax dollars were spent on that propaganda?

[Kagemusha]

2. Yeah really...

It's the first time I've ever actually wanted to see an LBN post go to the I/P dun.. er.. forum.

[atfqn]

40. That was the first thing that came to my mind

who had the contract to write that "piece."

[Fozzledick]

3. Planning for more "civilian casulties"

[NOLADEM]

4. Ah yes, more propaganda

This would be NOTHING like junior ROTC programs around OUR country, would it?

Our country glorifies state sanctioned murder just as they do.

We are not so different.

If we were outgunned as badly as they are, we would resort to just as desperate means. Anyone would.

The depravity of one's tactics mirrors only one's desperation. If we would quit advocating such one sided policies in the region, it would strengthen the moderate's positions in the region, and such barbarity would fade away.

We are reaping what we sow. Nothing more.

[maalak]

5. we don't exalt and glorify child martyrs...

Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, said in an interview on Radio Canada: "A nation with child-martyrs will be victorious, no matter what difficulties lie in its path. Israel cannot conquer us or violate our territories, because we have martyr sons who will purge the land of the Zionist filth... This will be done through the blood of the martyrs, until we eventually achieve our goals."

you can see the Egyptian newspaper article for yourself:



it's not even remotely comparable.

[acmavm]

9. That's probably true. Israel just has their children sign the bombs

that they will use to kill other innocent children. Adults drop 'em for 'em.

[Lindacooks]

16. Yes.

Nobody should try to claim that Israel is pure on this subject.

[SquireJons]

39. I am no friend of Israels, but...

I have to agree with you whole heartedly on this issue. There is absolutely no comparison between JROTC and child militia's. I was in JROTC for 7 years by the time I graduated high school, and all it did was give me a sense of discipline and some exposure to military protocol. I was never incited to nationalism or bigotry or hatred. We were never encouraged to throw our lives away. Of all the criminal things that Hezbollah has done, this is the worst by far. If this can be verified, then it should be used as the basis of world wide total sanctions against any nation that harbors and supports Hezbollah (i.e. Syria and Lebanon). This is far worse than the Intifada, which was horrible enough already.

Remember the Sting song, "I hope the Russians love their children too?" Well, I guess that some muslims love their extreme views on religion more than they love their (or anybody else's) children. This is despicable, worse even than when the Taliban mortared the ancient statues of Buddha in Afghanistan. A pox on them all.

[hogwyld]

41. Don't believe this one sided propaganda

Besides that, when were you in the JROTC? I'm sure their message has changed since the fascists took over in 1981. Who know what kind of mindless dribble is being proselytized to tomorrows cannon fodder.

[SquireJons]

43. A looooooong time ago

Actually, 1981 was just a couple years after I left that world, but I doubt it's much different now. Schools are about educating kids, and JROTC programs are a reflection of the schools objectives. While I'm not sure what conditions are like now, I knew some folks in ROTC during college (during the Reagan years) and the focus was on personal development, honor and discipline. Could be more insidious on campus's now, I really don't know.

As for whether or not this article is BS, I think a serious investigation is justified. If a high ranking official in the Hezbollah party says they are recruiting distraught children of fallen militants, than they are deliberately manipulating the emotional state of the most vulnerable members of their own community. That can not be condoned in any developed society. We hear stories of this sort coming from the most backward nations in Africa and shake our heads. Not because the lives of African children are valued any less than children elsewhere in the world, but because the societies there are so different from our own that we don't expect them to act and feel the same way on issues such as this. As underdeveloped as most Arab nations are, we still expect the same norms of behavior and thought as in Europe or Asia or North America. Even in Brazil, where government backed militias have been known to target street children for murder, the programs have to be denied and repudiated. Otherwise, people would rise up against their own government. Just because people are poor and oppressed, doesn't mean that they suddenly accept the notion of their children dying.

[struggle4progress]

44. If they do this, they'll end in the Hague with the Congo's Lubanga

[Kailassa]

6. What utterly unbelievable bullshit.

The GOP's propaganda section can't be paying too well.

[wellst0nev0ter]

54. Actually, It Makes Sense

Iranians used child martyrs during its war with Saddam. It doesn't take a leap of faith to believe that a shiite guerrilla group backed by Iran would do the same.

[heidler1]

7. I keep wondering what percentage of US people would join

some Hezballoh like organization here if either Mexico or Canada were as threatening toward the us, as Israel is toward Lebanon? Yeah we'd call them a militia.

[MADem]

8. Excerpts, here (translated)

http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD127606



ON Edit: A few TIME MAGAZINE photos and commentary about the al-Mahdi scouts and Camp Jihad:
http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/inside_hizballah/

[tocqueville]

10. why not try an incubator story again ?

a simple question :

how come the IDF in its claims of killing 500 Hezbollah militias hasn't presented the single body of a child ?
THAT would have been a scoop !

probably because they weren't any. The reports show that the IDF encountered professional fighters of the same age.

Child "armies" have always paraded in shows of force in Gaza, West Bank etc... that's nothing new. It's mostly a way of showing that "you" are in for the long run.

It's another thing to send a 10 years old with a suicide explosive belt, even if it might have happened. And it's another thing to have a "military training" with 14-15 years old. Baden Powell invented the concept.

[cali]

11. I'm amused

by the responses on this thread. Anything posted, no matter how aberrant, pertaining to Israel or the U.S., is immediately lapped up. Post something that reflects badly on H'zbollah or Iran, and it's automatically labeled as Republican propaganda. Although that's certainly possible, the reactions are always so predictable. As for the Kuwait/baby/incubator story, just because that was a fraud, doesn't automatically mean that any negative story out of the mideast is one also.

[tocqueville]

13. I am not amused

because this is an example of blatant propaganda

I could return you comment by saying that for certain persons anything negative said about Israel cannot be true or is dismissed as peripheral, an exception.

It's obvious in this case that it is propaganda. Not because the Hizbollah isn't capable of recruiting 10 years old and send them through field mines as the Irani did in the war against Iraq IN A DESPERATE SITUATION, but because it doesn't make sense.

Even if the Hezbollah uses propaganda among children (btw they wouldn't be the first, even the West does that or has done that), this is presented as if they needed to recruit in that age category to replace their losses, which is preposterous after their victory. They have surely plenty of healthy males 18-25 lining up right now. If the Israeli had to fight children they would had penetrated much farther in Lebanon then they did. It wasn't explosive-strapped 10 years old who blow up 50 merkavas, but adult men equipped with sophisticated anti-tank weapons.

That's why this article is BS. Besides it's published in Egypt. Egypt is a Sunni country heavily dependent of the US. The Sunnis leaders are really "annoyed" today over the Hezbollah clout. Because the Sunni on the street doesn't really care that the Hezbollah is Shiite, they see a victory against Israel, a victory that their own leaders failed to achieve. This is very dangerous for the leaderships in Egypt, Jordan and even Saudi Arabia. So a little demonizing of the Hezbollah doesn't hurt, even if CIA dollars are not involved.

[maalak]

14. is it "demonizing" if it is accurate?

there is no shortage of examples of children being indoctrinated into hateful ideology, state-sponsored anti-semitic textbooks, or video footage of children as martyrs being glorified... this is nothing new, back in the day Arafat was featured on PA tv talking about how child martyrs were the greatest symbol that could be sent to the world...

this article isn't talking about them being used as foot soldiers, it's specifically calling out how they are being recruited for later use in suicide attacks.

[tocqueville]

33. Israeli child recruiting

http://www.iansa.org/regions/nafrica/documents/child_recruitment_israel_en2004.pdf#search=%22israeli%20youth%20recruiting%22

read and weep

I don't deny that child recruiting is horrible and illegal by international standards. I just say that this article, the way it's presented in the present context is a propaganda piece.

[Zhade]

47. What you fail to realize (I'll assume it's not intentional)...

...is that to someone like Arafat, a martyr is not just those who attack Israelis, but also anyone who dies due to IDF raids/bombings/whatever.

It's a distinction with a difference. The first view suggests that children are attacking the IDF; the second, historically accurate view suggests that innocent children dying under Israeli bombs are considered martyrs by those such as Arafat.

[maalak]

49. then how do you explain any of this?

Children as Combatants in PA Ideology:
http://pmw.org.il/tv%20part3.html

Indoctrinating Children to Aspire to Violence and Death for Allah
http://pmw.org.il/indoctrinating%20children%20to%20violence.htm

in particular, check out Arafat's Message to Children: "Be a Shahid"

Interviewer: Mr. President, what message would you like to send to the Palestinian people in general, and, particularly, to the Palestinian children?

Arafat: The child who is grasping the stone facing the tank - is it not the greatest message to the world when the hero becomes a shahid?

Shahid is definied as:

A holy martyr. literally, "one who bears witness. Used to refer to suicide bombers as well as saints.

Arafat is being VERY clear about who and what he's referring to.

[Zhade]

52. I don't explain anything from biased sources.

I don't even waste my time with them.

[maalak]

53. those are primary sources...

directly from the PA themselves, but i can see how tuning it out would be more comfortable. i guess...

[Zhade]

57. Palestine Media Watch is from the PA?

If so, considering the number of rightwing "____ watch" sites that essentially lie about the situation, you can see why I'd make that mistake.

I'll reconsider what you posted.

[maalak]

58. the video clips and sources they cite absolutely are primary sources.

[eridani]

55. Also used to refer to ANY civilian killed by the IDF n/t

[hogwyld]

42. Your amusement amuses me

While there are some here who want nothing less than the total elimination of the jewish state, there are others that want nothing less than the elimination of arabs and palestinians from the ME. Myself, I believe this is a propaganda piece to shift perceptions after Israel lost the both the real war, and more importantly, the PR war. Perception is very important in that area, and if Israel is percieved to be weak, and beatable, then their troubles have truly just begun. The Arabs left Israel alone after 1973, because Israel was percieved to be unbeatable. Not so now.

[struggle4progress]

46. Established groups monitor use of children as soldiers:

http://www.un.org/special-rep/children-armed-conflict/English/ChildSoldiers.html
http://hrw.org/campaigns/crp/index.htm
http://web.amnesty.org/pages/childsoldiers-index-eng
http://www.child-soldiers.org/

If true, Hezbollah is committing a war crime and the Hague is an appropriate remedy ...

[radwriter0555]

50. Only after the Hague first pursues the bush regime and its war crimes...

I think that would be more than fair. Bring ALL the criminals to justice!

[msmcghee]

51. My God, now they've been forced . .

. . to sacrifice their own children's lives to stop those blood-crazed Jews. Can no-one stop the Jews? :sarcasm:

[brentspeak]

12. Kicked and recommended

Even the Egyptians recognize Hezbollah for it is -- a malignant cancer on the Lebanese as well as a terror group bent on destroying Israel.

[HuffleClaw]

15. meep

nice propaganda. i suppose it 'justifies' the killing of children?

[maalak]

19. who is claiming anything even remotely like that?

[radwriter0555]

17. bollocks. This is pure, utter, unadultered lies and propoganda.

Good idea! We'll trust israel to deliver honest and accurate news about hezbollah, since after all, we know that the PR folks for hezbollah have an office in downtown Jeruselum!

[maalak]

18. this was reported in Egypt...

... not Israel.

[radwriter0555]

21. "...Jerusalem, Israel (AHN) - Hezbollah has begun ..."

The logline indicates otherwise.

[maalak]

22. "according to the Egyptian weekly Roz Al-Yusuf"...

did you actually read it before deciding to find a way to condemn Israel?

Hezbollah has begun replenishing its ranks after more than a month of war with Israel by recruiting the children of its fallen fighters, according to the Egyptian weekly Roz Al-Yusuf.

here's a scan of the original article:

[radwriter0555]

27. I sure did. This news report is still bogus and nothing more than pile

of crap to stir up the fear and hate and to try to create more reasons to 'disarm hezbollah' and attack lebanon. Just because this crackpot story came out of egypt by way of lsrael doesn't mean it's got any more credibility.

It is what it is.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

20. Chucky?

[IChing]

23. Has anyone checked the reporter's other headlines?

http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/119297.php

IDF: Tank Losses Really Not So Bad: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004555105
August 16, 2006 12:06 p.m. EST

Report: Syria Readying Guerilla Attacks On Israel
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004636370

Bodies Of Iranian Soldiers Among Hezbollah Dead http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004494543Aug. 10, 2006 at 10:10 AM

650 French Jews 'Return Home' to Israel

July 25, 2006 10:26 p.m. EST:http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004330230

Canadian Soldier Says UN Position Used As Cover By Hezbollah
July 26, 2006 11:40 p.m. EST:http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004343191
Ryan R. Jones - All Headline News Correspondent

Quite a reporter I must admit.

[radwriter0555]

28. AHN is a rather murky news outfit.. not much info out there about them.

Are they a murdock org since the reporter could be from Australia?

[IChing]

30. Seems he is out of the Jerusalem Post mostly

But his reports and headlines should be taken with a grain of salt as with all reporters.
He doesn't have very many anti-Israel headlines.

I think the story is true but
just saying there are agenda's being pushed by both sides.

[daleo]

24. Junior Reserve Officer Traning (U.S.)

"The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) is a program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools across the United States that "instills in students in United States secondary educational institutions the value of citizenship, service to the United States, personal responsibility, and a sense of accomplishment.
....
In public schools, JROTC is usually an elective course with membership limited to US citizens and legal foreign nationals, those who will graduate with their 9th grade corhort, and have not experienced an out of school suspension during the preceding 6 month period. Boarding schools or (pre-college) military schools may offer JROTC programs, with some requiring participation as a condition for acceptance to the school.
...
Cadets typically wear their uniforms once or twice a week, usually standing for inspection, with the exception being those cadets who attend a JROTC-based military academy. Many cadets participate in extracurricular activities such as a drill team, color guard, marksmanship team, rocketry team, or orienteering.
...
Successful completion of the program (usually 2-4 years of classes) can lead to advanced rank upon enlistment in the Armed Forces.
...
As of June 2006, there are:

1555 Army JROTC units<2>
794 Air Force JROTC units<4>
619 Navy JROTC units<5>
260 Marine Corps JROTC units<6>
1 Coast Guard JROTC unit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JROTC

[maalak]

26. that's a world of difference from preparing children for suicide...

and glorifying that suicide in an attack that targets people because they are Jews.

i can't believe people seriously see some sort of moral equivalency between JROTC and Hezbollah's child militia and vocal praise of suicide attacks.

[daleo]

38. Both are indoctrinating children (pre 9th grade in the JROTC case)

Both are aimed at children, both have to do with recruiting them for war when they are too young and impressionable to make rational independent decisions.

[msmcghee]

59. What could be wrong with teaching children that dying . .

. . for their ideology is the highest virtue. After all, it's for a good cause. They are teaching them to kill Jews. :sarcasm:

[bemildred]

25. Haaretz article that mentions this:

---

Later, for balance, there is a photo shoot entitled Inside Hezbollah, which opens with members of Hezbollah's al-Mahdi scouts youth organization giving a straight-arm salute. Captions describe the group as "somewhat like the Boy Scouts" and "a popular and exclusive training ground for future leaders" pictured pledging "their commitment to martyrdom."

On a camping trip, another caption tells us "Here they were asked to create art projects; the boys made a Star of David out of stones so that anyone entering their tent would have to step on it.

Photographer Alexandra Avakian, who, the spread tells us, "found her subjects to be gracious and accommodating."

Yet another photo in the cover story, a reinterpretation of the classic David v. Goliath composition, shows a Hezbollah gunman, natty in aviator sunglasses and AK 47, with what is described as a downed Israeli jet burning in the background

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/744724.html

[Zhade]

29. This might as well be from the Jerusalem Post.

I'll check for a more credible source.

(If true, reprehensible.)

[Scurrilous]

31. This story is from...

...the August 18, 2006 edition of roz al-yusuf as translated by the good folks at MEMRI.


More from roz al-yusuf:

http://www.adl.org/egyptian_media/egyptian_media_update_print.asp

Roz Al-Yusuf, August 24, 1998 ("Senior Arab Legue Official Tells US: The Story of the Israeli Blood Tainted with AIDS")

"A reliable source at the Arab League provided details of the report circulated by the League to its member states warning of imported blood units contaminated with the AIDS virus, hepatitis and bilharzia. They were manufactured by an Austrian company and Israel treated the blood units before they were sent to the Arab and Third World nations."

[IChing]

32. Didn't the ADL give Italy's Berlusconi their highest award?

http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=8447


Said Berlusconi: “Mussolini never killed anyone. Mussolini sent people away on vacation, in internal exile.”

The comments about Mussolini, a staunch ally of Adolf Hitler, did not sit well with many. Left-wing political foes immediately labeled Berlusconi a fascist apologist.

And Amos Luzzato, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities said, “Berlusconi’s comments cause me profound pain.”

Luzzato noted that Mussolini introduced Italy’s first racial laws in 1938, leading to the deportation of 8,000 Jews to Nazi concentration camps.

Nevertheless, the gaffe-prone Berlusconi will be hailed as a friend of Jews and Israel and be presented with ADL’s distinguished statesman award, said ADL national director Abraham Foxman.

Noting that Berlusconi quickly clarified his remarks and was expected to meet with Italy’s Jewish leadership this week, Foxman contended that the prime minister’s misstatements do not overshadow his positive actions on behalf of America, Israel, and against anti-Semitism.

Despite some controversial comments about Mussolini made last week, Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, will still be the guest of honor at a New York City dinner in two weeks sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League.

[Zhade]

36. MEMRI??? You mean, the org started by the PNACer's wife?

M. Wurmser, wife to David "PNAC RULES!" Wurmser?

Yeah, this is bogus.

[cigsandcoffee]

34. This doesn't surprise me at all.

Hezbollah is a militant organization fighting what they consider a "to the death" struggle with Israel. Why wouldn't they go for the most easily exploitable group to drum up some martyrs?

[allemand]

35. The article doesn't even match the MEMRI translation.

Hezbollah has begun replenishing its ranks after more than a month of war with Israel by recruiting the children of its fallen fighters, according to the Egyptian weekly Roz Al-Yusuf.

The newspaper reported that in recent weeks Hezbollah has organized more than 2,000 children aged 10-15 into armed militias. The Mahdi Boy Scouts, a Hezbollah-affiliated youth movement, has been tasked with training the youngsters to sacrifice their lives attacking Israel.

Today these children are referred to as "future suicides," the report said, adding that they can now be seen wearing "camouflage army uniforms, their faces black," and that they have been made to "take the Jihad and Holy War oath."

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004739966

Compare this to the MEMRI translation:

According to Roz Al-Yusuf, "Hizbullah has recruited over 2,000 innocent children aged 10-15 to form armed militias. Before the recent war with Israel, these children appeared only in the annual Jerusalem Day celebrations, and were referred to as the 'December 14 Units,' but today they are called istishhadiyun <'martyrs'>..."

"Hizbullah has customarily recruited youths and children and trained them to fight from a very early age. These are children barely 10 years old, who wear camouflage uniforms, cover their faces with black paint, swear to wage jihad, and join the Mahdi Scouts ...

"The Mahdi Scouts organization was founded in Lebanon on May 5, 1985... According to the organization's website, the number of who had undergone training by the end of 2004 was 1,491, and the number of scout groups which had joined was 449, with a membership of 41,960. According to the organization's most recent statistics, since 2004, 120 of its members have been ready to become martyrs.

http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD127606

So the number of 2,000 scouts who underwent training refers to the period from "May 5, 1985" to "the end of 2004".

[Scurrilous]

37. MEMRI:

<snip>

"In mid-June 2006, with discussions over the fate of Iran's nuclear program reaching fever pitch, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) held an event on Capitol Hill titled “Must See Iran TV II.” The event, cosponsored by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), was aimed at raising congressional awareness of Iran's threatening posture toward the United States and its allies in the Middle East. The MEMRI presentation was to include translated clips from Iranian television that highlighted “themes associated with Iran's nuclear aspirations, its acquisition of offensive weapons, anti-Americanism, and statements by leading Iranian government officials, including President Ahmadinejad,” according to an article in the New York Sun written by MEMRI Executive Director Steven Stalinsky (June 14, 2006).

Since 1998, when it was founded as a 501(c)3 organization by a number of hardline pro-Israel ideologues, MEMRI has been a key source of information on the Mideast region by providing what it calls “timely translations of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends in the Middle East.”

Its efforts, however, have been frequently criticized as providing a biased and distorted version of the region. In an op-ed for the Rocky Mountain News, Rima Barakat, a Denver-based Muslim activist, accused MEMRI of producing “unbalanced propaganda littered with inflammatory articles aimed to incite hate and bigotry toward any person whom MEMRI considers anti-Israeli or anti-Zionist” (March 27, 2006). MEMRI's bias, claimed Barakat, is also apparent in its translations. In once instance, wrote Barakat, “Halim Barakat (no relation), a professor at Georgetown University, published an article in Al-Hayat Daily of London titled ‘The Wild Beast that Zionism Created: Self-Destruction.' By the time MEMRI ‘translated' it, the title had been distorted to ‘Jews Have Lost Their Humanity.' Barakat objected, ‘Every time I wrote Zionism, MEMRI replaced the word by Jew or Judaism. They want to give the impression that I'm not criticizing Israeli policy, but that what I'm saying is anti-Semitic.”

According to MEMRI—which maintains offices in Washington, Berlin, London, Tokyo, and Jerusalem—its main subjects of interest include jihad and terrorism, U.S. and Mideast politics, reform in the Arab and Muslim world, Arab-Israeli conflict, inter-Arab relations, economic studies, and Arab anti-Semitism. MEMRI's slogan, “Bridging the Language Gap Between the Middle East and the West,” does not convey the center's stridently pro-Israel and anti-Arab political bias. Until recently, MEMRI was more forthcoming about its political orientation in its self-description and in staff profiles on its website. But its website now offers no information about its staff, board of directors, or funding. Three weeks after September 11, 2001, MEMRI also deleted the following sentence from its “mission statement” on its “About Us” page: “In its research, the institute puts emphasis on the continuing relevance of Zionism to the Jewish people and to the state of Israel.” (See MEMRI's “Mission Statement” page in the Web Archive, as well as “Media Myths: The Middle East Media Research Institute Is Objective and Independent,” Arab Media Watch, August 19, 2006.)

MEMRI's founders, Meyrav Wurmser and Yigal Carmon, are both hardline pro-Israel ideologues aligned with Israel's Likud party. Carmon is MEMRI's president; Wurmser left her position as executive director in early 2002 to direct the Center of Middle East Policy at the Hudson Institute. Stalinsky has been MEMRI's executive director since Wurmser's departure. Oliver Revell serves without compensation as a member of MEMRI's board of directors, together with Carmon and Stalinsky. In 2001, MEMRI operated on a budget approaching $1.8 million, according to its 2001 tax year Form 990."

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1511

[Tom Joad]

45. This belongs in the Israel/Palestine forum.

[Scurrilous]

48. Looks like the mods agreed. n/t

[pelsar]

56. why all the surprise?

all societies teach their youth their values...all societies have 'youth groups'.

since were in the I/P...israel has multiple youth groups, and given the liberal nature of the society many have different political viewpoints (less in the last years) which reflect the society.

Hizballa is a militant/relgious cult that promotes suicide bombings and believes in martyrdom....so whats the surprise that they teach their kids that killing (jews/israelis) and sacrificing their lives is good, that the bases for Hizballas belief.