The Suicide Sisterhood
... The haunting image, recently broadcast around the world, of a winsome five year-old girl dressed to accompany her father at an anti-Israeli demonstration in Berlin. Three cardboard tubes, painted to look like sticks of dynamite, were strapped around her waist. Any father who would dress his innocent little girl to look like a suicide terrorist is beneath contempt. Any society that encourages young women to blow themselves up while killing others deserves the scorn of civilized nations.
The murderous culture behind this disgraceful picture — and a number of similar photos of little boys wearing fake explosives at terrorist training camps — is taught throughout the Middle East and neighboring regions in radical Islamic schools called madrassas, which are largely funded by extremist Wahhabi sects based in Saudi Arabia. The culture of terrorism is also being taught in Yasser Arafat's Palestine, where girls are taught to revere female bombers as role models.
It is bad enough to teach young men to rip themselves apart, but shameful for grown men to encourage young women to do the same. For cowards such as this, a millstone around the neck would be too kind.
Since the intifada began in September 2000, four women associated with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have joined more than 40 men in executing suicide missions in restaurants, markets, and other public places. A fifth homicide bomber, dressed as a pregnant woman, was stopped before she could detonate explosives hidden beneath her clothes. This woman was prepared to orphan her seven-year-old daughter, but said in a CBS Evening News interview that she would have changed her mind if the Palestinian leader had asked her to stop.
That did not happen, because female suicide terrorists serve a useful purpose in Arafat's twisted scheme of things. According to James Phillips of the Heritage Foundation, an expert on the Middle East and terrorism, it is possible that Arafat is using the spectacle of fanatical women killing themselves to get other Arab regimes to join the conflict. In that part of the world reluctant warriors are ashamed to be outdone by women. The concept of shame is more powerful than honor in inspiring reluctant warriors.
Leaders of the civilized world, starting with President George W. Bush, ought to harness the power of shame toward a more worthy purpose: deterring those who finance and train the cult of homicide bombers. Someone needs to say what the diplomats will not say: Tolerance and praise of suicide murderers in the Arab world constitutes a sickening descent into cultural barbarism.
Examples of societal decadence abound. Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Great Britain wrote poetry to honor the "resistance" of a teenage female bomber. Yasser Arafat's wife Suha, safely ensconced in Paris with her seven-year-old daughter, announced how proud she would be if her nonexistent son blew himself to pieces while killing Israelis.
Telethons in Saudi Arabia raised millions for the families of "martyrs," and Saddam Hussein of Iraq sent checks averaging $25,000 to the families of homicide bombers. Saddam's blood money — two and a half times the amount sent to other victims' families — subsidizes and encourages even more carnage in the streets.
True respect for women, which is clearly lacking in Saudi Arabia, coincides with respect for human rights and a civilized order among nations. Civilization teaches good men to protect and defend women and children. Only bad men (and women) would inspire young boys and girls to kill themselves and unsuspecting civilians.
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