Summer Camp for Junior Jihadis?
By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
“We will have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.” — Golda Meir
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (Worthy News)– Tailor-made for the children of the Gaza Strip, a summer camp in Rafah tries to transform would-be warriors into tomorrow’s terrorists, according to the UK’s Daily Mail.
This Islamic “children’s crusade” is called Generation of Faith, but instead of Qu’rans, the faithful are given AK-47 assault rifles, some of which are larger than the children who will be trained on them.
The youths aged from six to 16 all wear black uniforms with the camp’s name above a logo depicting two fists and two guns superimposed on a map of the Strip as they participate in a series of para-military exercises. The exercises include the simulated abduction of an Israeli soldier similar to that of Gilad Shalit; abducted in 2006, Shalit was released as part of a lopsided prisoner exchange after spending more than five years in clandestine captivity.
Much like military basic training, these pint-sized soldiers crawl under barbed wire while bullets whiz overhead; explosions and burning tires help simulate urban combat conditions as the children are further desensitized to the fear of fighting.
But it’s not all fun and games: the children are also instructed in Islamic studies, not unlike the terrorist training camps run by al-Qaeda for adult Arabs. However, until they are old enough for that, the children will swell the ranks of the estimated 300,000 under aged soldiers fighting in wars across the world.