by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
In an interview on PA TV News, PA Mayor Mustafa Fuqaha claimed that the Israeli army deliberately “targets children and young ones.” The mayor accused the Israeli army of leaving behind explosives “shaped like pens and toys” after training exercises “to tempt children to touch them or pick them up.”
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Palestinian Media Watch has reported how similar libels were voiced by the PA during the PA’s terror campaign (the Intifada). In 2003, PA TV viewers were told that Israelis “drop objects from jet planes that attract children to play with them and then they blow up. These are bombs and mines designed as toys.”
In 2001, the official PA daily claimed that Israel had taken “a new step aimed to kill more children” by throwing “large quantities of poisoned candies in front of two schools.” The paper reported on a medic who, “when he collected ten pieces of these unwrapped candies, [he] felt the rubber glove on his hand melting, in addition to experiencing breathing difficulties, strong headache, and dizziness.”
These are examples of the PA’s systematic program of spreading libels about Israel that Palestinian Media Watch continues to document.
The following are longer excerpts of the libels accusing Israel of deliberately targeting children by making explosives and poison look like toys and candies:
PA TV newsreader: “What kinds of explosives are left [by the Israeli army after training]? We are talking about the explosions they cause.”
Mustafa Fuqaha, Mayor of Ein Al-Bayda in the Jordan Valley: “Some [explosives] are in different shapes. Some are shaped like pens, and some look like toys. Some are in different shapes to tempt children to touch them or pick them up. This is a real danger and real proof that the Israeli army targets children and young ones.”
[PA TV (Fatah), Dec. 29, 2012]
“They (i.e., Israel) drop objects from jet planes that attract children to play with them and then they blow up. These are bombs and mines designed as toys.”
[PA TV (Fatah), March 3, 2003]
“In a new step aimed to kill more children, the occupation forces (i.e., Israel) threw large quantities of poisoned candies in front of two schools last night… Salem Ahmad, a medic, said that when he collected ten pieces of these unwrapped candies, he felt the rubber glove on his hand melting, in addition to experiencing breathing difficulties, strong headache, and dizziness.”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 22, 2001]