Palestinians Don’t Know Whether To Tout Dead Terrorist As ‘Journalist’ Or ‘Child’

“Sticking to the ‘Israeli Occupation Slaughters Innocent Palestinian Child’ model has served us well and has shown no signs of losing its utility.”

Jenin, July 18 – Divisions emerged among propagandists for the jihadist militants targeting the Jews of the Jewish homeland over the last several weeks, with one major faction insisting that their movement maintain its proven practice of referring to all fighters who get killed in confrontations with the IDF as minors, and the other urging that the movement ride the current wave of international concern for the safety of reporters in conflict zones, and refer to any such martyred fighters as such.

Palestinian activists and political figures continued their recent debate today over how to characterize dead terrorists for a credulous international news media, which will convey uncritically to their audience reports that Israel’s military has once again killed innocent noncombatants: keep calling all the dead terrorists “children” regardless of their having achieved majority and trained with terrorist organizations, in keeping with decades of Palestinian precedent; or exploit the righteous outrage over cases such as Jamal Khashoggi or Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and have the same media call the dead terrorists reporters instead?

“Tradition has a momentum all its own,” explained Hanan Ashrawi, a veteran Palestinian propagandist. “I see the benefit of latching onto the latest trend, since the Palestinian cause has always hitched itself to the latest issue of concern, but I would argue that sticking to the ‘Israeli Occupation Slaughters Innocent Palestinian Child’ model has served us well and has shown no signs of losing its utility, so why mess with what works? Chasing after the fickle concerns of the western liberal elite runs the risk of hitting the wrong note if one’s timing is off. The classics became the classics for good reason.”

Younger activists challenged that attitude. “Yes, we’ve been doing it forever, but somehow we’re no closer to liberation,” insisted Sheikh Jarrah activist Muhammad El-Kurd. “Of course we expose ourselves to potential missteps with the wrong hijacked cause or the wrong mode of expression. But our target audience is a forgiving sort – they want reasons to hate Israel and aren’t particular about accuracy or relevance. Just look at my attempt to invoke Pride, which led to my fellow Palestinians denouncing me as gay, a filth, a traitor to Islamic values – a decidedly illiberal attitude at total odds with the declared values of western progressives who will simply not care because Palestine Über Alles, as far as they’re concerned, even if, by the values of the Palestine they love so much, their ilk would be first against the wall, or thrown off the roof.”

International media figures voiced confidence that whichever angle the Palestinians choose, the media will carry water for the Palestinian cause.

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