Palestinian women, facing COVID-19 domestic violence at home, urged to blow themselves up in Israeli cities

Palestinian Media Watch notes that this music video, urging women to become suicide bombers in Israeli cities, has been shown numerous times on official PA TV in recent weeks:

Lyrics: “Strap on the explosive belt

Detonate the first in Haifa

and the second in Atlit (i.e., Israeli cities)

Do not let the usurper (i.e., Israel) sleep

Make him constantly terrified...

O my enemy,

this is the day you have never seen...

Strap on the Molotov cocktails

and the AK-47 bullets

Make the tyrant constantly afraid,

and may a volcano of oil boil below him...

Strap on the belt, O daughter of my land,

and detonate it in front of the enemies

How sweet is the taste of Martyrdom,

I have found none like it...

O Wafa [Idris] and Ayyat [Al-Akhras] (i.e., female suicide bombers)

You have lifted our heads to the heavens

Our public is now following you

by the thousands”

It has been years since the last female Palestinian suicide bomber attempt. Why would this message be broadcast so much today?

Perhaps the answer can be found in this article about how Palestinian women are suffering under the closures of COVID-19.  The PA minister of women's affairs Dr. Amal Hamad gave a press conference on Saturday where she revealed that domestic violence has doubled in the territories since the pandemic began, including cases of incest. There have been 20 attempted suicides by Palestinian women in recent weeks. 

Could it be that the Palestinian leaders are trying to recruit abused women in order to give them a path to move from being ashamed to becoming heroines? Is this their planned response to Israel possibly extending sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria? Suicide bombers no longer generate as much sympathy as they used to, but a narrative of "distraught Palestinian women" could be effective among certain circles.

Given that many female suicide bombers in the past have been discovered to have been doing something considered "shameful," this seems like disturbingly possible scenario.

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