Revealed: How Palestinian Authority Schools Celebrated Oct. 7
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by Itamar Marcus and Ahron Shapiro
Partygoers at the Supernova Psy-Trance Festival who filmed the events that unfolded on Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: Yes Studios
Over 1,000 days have passed since Hamas’ Oct. 7 atrocities against Israel, and Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) is still uncovering depraved celebrations in Palestinian Authority (PA) schools of the horrific massacre.
Oct. 7 was used to teach math, and the “best” answers, those which celebrated Hamas’ terror, were posted on Facebook by the school. PA schools held assemblies with readings and poems by children celebrating the atrocities and torture: “Only blood do we see as an ally, and we will cool the fire in our heart with the body parts and screams of soldiers.” PA schools also celebrated the Palestinian pride, honor, and joy of Oct. 7: “We woke up to the sounds of laughter … We never imagined such pride … The sense of honor is indescribable.” This report documents some of the most horrific celebrations of Oct. 7 in PA schools.
All the transcripts from the assemblies follow below, and the full report can be read here.
PA school terror-math for third graders
Welcome to terror-math for nine-year-olds. Shortly after the massacre, a third-grade teacher understood that the events of Oct. 7, which were being celebrated throughout the PA, were a good medium for teaching math. The following was the assignment she asked the children to prepare:
“Create a verbal math question based on the war in Gaza, using 9 X 150.”
Seven answers were so good that the PA school decided to publicize them by posting them on its Facebook page. Four of the children’s examples celebrated the terror attacks, and one celebrated murder:
3rd grader #1:
“Multiplication exercise: The [Oct. 7] Al-Aqsa Flood:”
“At least 150 Israelis were killed in one day. What was the number killed in nine days?”
“Solution: 9 X 150 = 1,350 killed.”Teacher’s comment:
“May Allah protect you! Excellent!”
3rd grader #2:
“[Hamas’] Al-Qassam Brigades fired 150 rockets at Israel for an hour. How many rockets did they fire in nine hours?”
“Solution: 9 X 150 = 1,350 [rockets].”Teacher’s comment:
“Excellent! May Allah protect you!”
3rd grader #3:
“[Hamas’] Al-Qassam Brigades sent 150 Jihad fighters to [each of] nine settlements (i.e., Jewish towns) in Israel. How many Jihad fighters entered [all] the settlements?”
“Answer: 1,350 Jihad fighters.”Teacher’s comment:
“May Allah protect you, champion! Victory to the residents of Gaza!”
3rd grader #4:
“[Hamas’] Al-Qassam Brigades launched 150 rockets daily at the occupation’s settlements (i.e., Israeli towns). How many rockets were launched over nine days?”
“Solution: 9 X 150 = 1,350 rockets”Teacher’s comment:
“Excellent! Champion. May Allah increase [your reward]!”
Three students focused on the suffering of Palestinians, implicitly blaming it on Israel.
3rd grader #5:
“In Gaza City, at least 150 children die as Martyrs [daily]. How many child Martyrs are there in nine days?”
“9 X 150 Martyrs = 1,350 [child] Martyrs”Teacher’s comment:
“May Allah protect you! Wonderful! Mercy and peace to the Martyrs of Gaza!”
3rd grader #6:
“At least 150 Martyrs were killed in Gaza in one day. How many were killed in nine days?”
“9 X 150 = 1,350 Martyrs.”Teacher’s comment:
“Excellent! Champion! Our blessings be fulfilled! Mercy and forgiveness to our Martyrs!”
3rd grader #7
“Nine trucks carrying displaced people left northern Gaza. Each truck [had] 150 people. What is the number of people in nine trucks?”
“9 X 150 = 1,350 people”Teacher’s comment:
“Excellent! May Allah protect you! Allah’s mercy to our Martyrs!”
The teacher praised all the responses in their notebooks as “Excellent” or “Champion” and gave them all “smiley” stickers as well as a blue stamp of the PA Ministry of Education.
Screenshots of the children’s notebooks, with the full translations and the teacher’s praise, follow below.
PA school assemblies
As odious as the math questions were, the PA school assemblies were blood fests, with numerous PA schools featuring readings and posters celebrating Oct. 7, referring to the murder, the blood, the death, and the torture.
The following are selections from 11 of those terror-embracing readings in PA schools.
A video compilation can be viewed here.
PA schoolgirl: Oct. 7 atrocities were “a beautiful dream”
Student at PA school: “That day went down in history (i.e., Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel)… We woke up to the sounds of laughter. There are those among us who thought he was dreaming, but it is a beautiful dream that he never wants to wake up from… On Saturday [Oct. 7], the people who resist returned to their land… It was impossible to express the emotions in our hearts, and we never imagined such pride in our people on our faces. The sense of honor that we felt is indescribable.”
[Kharas Girls’ Elementary School, Oct. 12, 2023]
PA schoolgirl: “October, month of blood, you have arrived, welcome”
“October, month of blood, you have arrived, welcome.
October, do not leave easily.
October, teach them a lesson to be delivered by teachers of revenge;
justice has witnesses.
We came to you (i.e., Israel) in multitudes,
Open your door, we are death.
We will let you taste eternity in fire [of hell].
Oh, world! What do you want the response to be? Candles, prayers, and flowers?
We will respond to blood with blood and remove the dust of oppressive history with black gunpowder.
Only blood do we see as an ally,
And we will cool the fire in our heart with the body parts and screams of soldiers.
Open your door, we are death, or close it – we will get to you, the target is identified.”[Shweikeh Mixed Elementary School, Facebook page, Nov. 5, 2023]
PA schoolgirl: Israelis pretend to be brave but are all rats
Student: “Allahu Akbar! This is the [Al-Aqsa] Flood. Long live the lions [of Hamas] and down with tyranny.
Today, we raid them [Israelis], and they don’t raid us. Nothing will stop [us] if faith calls…
We long for Martyrdom, and our enemy fears the encounter. He is surrounded by walls.
They [Israelis] pretend to be brave, but when they see the faces of the lions – they are all rats.”[Askelan Mixed Elementary School, Facebook page, Oct. 16, 2023]
PA schoolboy celebrates Hamas’ Oct. 7 atrocities – it “brought us joy”
Student Riyan Yusef Malkiya: “Last Saturday morning, the Flood of Palestinian Resistance toward our occupied lands began (i.e., Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack), and our Resistance succeeded in igniting a dream of more than 75 years through the return to our occupied lands by force. October 7 will be a date that historians will mark in the coming years, and it is a historic day that brought us joy and restored our hope for liberation and independence.”
[Sinjil Boys’ High School, Facebook, Oct. 11, 2023]
The “Flood” of Palestinian Resistance is Hamas’ name of the Islamic Resistance Movement, i.e., Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
PA schoolgirl: “Oct. 7 raised the morale of the Palestinian people”
Student at PA school: “The Al-Aqsa Flood operation (i.e., Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel) is a large-scale military operation that was carried out by the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation on Oct. 7, 2023. The operation succeeded in inflicting heavy losses on the Israeli enemy and raised the morale of the Palestinian people.”
[Siris Elementary School for Girls, Facebook, Nov. 14, 2023]
“Good morning Gaza… a morning of glory and fame” girl at PA school assembly
“Good morning, Gaza, a morning of victory, Gaza, a morning of glory and fame, a morning of heroic Martyrs, a morning of child Martyrs.
Good morning, oh people of the Resistance [Hamas], as you play the anthem of victory with bullets and rifles.
Good morning, O you who stand guard like lions in tunnels and trenches, Good morning, O men of heroism, O men of power.”[Palestine Girls Elementary School, Facebook, Nov. 13, 2023]
“Heroes of Gaza… taught the enemy a lesson” – PA schoolgirl recites after Oct. 7 massacre
PA schoolgirl: “[The men] of Gaza – they are the ones who lit up our faces and raised our heads.
They are the ones whose ground we kiss beneath the soles of their shoes, and we give our lives for them.
They are the ones who humiliated the occupation (i.e., Israel) and defeated it and proved that eternity in this land is ours.
Heroes of Gaza – the men among men – they restored our honor from point-blank range.
And avenged the vengeance of our exhausted hearts – on land, in the air, and at sea.
They beat the drums of war and taught the enemy a lesson that will be hard to forget.”[Yasser Arafat Girls’ High School, Facebook page, Oct. 25, 2023]
“Strike! Strike! Strike from Gaza!” – PA schoolgirl applauds Oct. 7 atrocities
PA schoolgirl: “The heart of the angry will explode
So that the land returns to its people, and those imprisoned return to it.
Strike! Strike! Strike from Gaza, and stone them
So that the danger returns to the oppressor.
Strike! Strike with fire-spitting salvos as numerous as the raindrops.
Oh my people, oh my people – rise up! Rise up and revolt
for the land liberated by [Caliph] Omar (i.e., Jerusalem).
We will restore justice and return it.
May the Martyrs among us increase as much as they may.
This is our oath, this is our oath:
We will fight them
so that we die here or win.”
Teacher encourages students to clap: “Say Allahu Akbar!”
[Applause][Martyr Yasser Arafat Girls High School – Nablus, Oct. 12, 2023]
“Our land will be liberated from the Jews” – PA schoolgirls celebrate Oct. 7 atrocities
PA schoolgirls: “Even if the occupation is prolonged, and they shackle our hands in chains –
We will march on the path of the heroes, and raise the flag of independence.
And my flag will fly, oh revolutionaries…
Our rights will inevitably return – and we will cross the [Israeli] borders to Al-Aqsa.
And we will return to the land of the land
And liberate it from the Jews.
[Applause from the audience]
[Below is the translation of the signs held by the girls – from right to left]:
“Just as Gaza tasted the taste of Martyrdom – Israel tasted the taste of death.”
“Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine, no matter how long the occupation lasts.”
“Allah, save our brothers in Gaza and grant them victory.”
“Inevitably our rights will return, and our land will be liberated from the Jews.”[Martyr Yasser Arafat Girls High School Facebook page, Oct. 17, 2023]
“Gaza is free… we liberated it in a flood of blood” – PA schoolboy celebrates Oct. 7 atrocities
PA schoolboy: “The revolution is coming, coming.
In Jerusalem, we will raise a flag, and it will return to its people.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ [Brigades] and [Islamic] Jihad, heroes who raise our heads.
Gaza is free and without worry, we liberated it in a flood of blood.
To Gaza on the day of victory shall I sing, and I will sing to it
Oh, bullets of the revolutionaries, ululate on the land of the Martyrs and greet it [Gaza] with peace.
Let the whole world hear: Gaza is free and will not kneel.”[Deir Al-Sharaf Boys School, Facebook page, Oct. 12, 2023]
“I am – to death, oh Gaza” – PA schoolboy’s Martyrdom poem in honor of Oct. 7
PA high school student: “My homeland – I did not live to gather darkness of humiliation, nor to bow and kneel.
I did not live to be trampled under the shoes of those who killed, of those who placed the cannon before us.
I am – to death, oh Gaza! Therefore, I will not flee nor complain,
and I will not cry nor shed a tear except before Allah.
I am the strength, oh the West Bank, I painted death in my eyes
so that [I could] sacrifice myself and to prevent…
The Martyr of Jerusalem taught me, that glory is not given
and is not granted, and is not bought in a factory.[Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Secondary School for Boys, Oct. 22, 2023]
Conclusion
The Western countries that decided to recognize a Palestinian state have chosen to ignore all PMW’s evidence that the Palestinian Authority and its Ministry of Education are fundamentally terror-promoting and terror-celebrating entities. Some countries have given lip service to demands for reform by asking the PA to change its schoolbooks. However, what is clear from this report and countless other PMW reports on PA school activities is that changing a few texts in the schoolbooks will not even scratch the surface of total reform needed in the PA Ministry of Education. PMW has documented that the entire PA Ministry of Education — its school principals and teachers, along with education through the PA’s main party Fatah — are all guilty of poisoning the minds of Palestinian children by indoctrinating hatred, denying Israel’s right to exist, and celebrating murder. They must all be removed from positions of influence and replaced by new educators who are actively supervised, in the same way Germany’s education and educators were supervised by the Allies for years after World War II.
Itamar Marcus is the Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW). Ahron Shapiro is a contributor to PMW, where a version of this article first appeared.
