PA award to Egyptian writer of poem that includes words "our enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail"

Palestinian Media Watch(1) has reported that on three different occasions, Palestinian Authority TV has broadcast children reciting(2) a poem that includes the words "my enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail."

El-Gakh receiving the plaque of honor, published by Palestinian news service Ma'an, Oct. 1, 2013

Last week during a performance given in the PA, the Egyptian writer of the poem, Hesham El-Gakh, recited this and other poems, after which the PA Minister of Culture Anwar Abu Eisheh and PA District Governor of Ramallah Laila Ghannam venerated him with a plaque of honor. The event was broadcast on official Palestinian Authority TV Live.

To warm up the audience, a young girl recited a small part of the same poem, the stanza including the words "my enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail":

"When I was young, I was taught that Arabness is my honor...
and that our lands extend from one end to the other,
and that our wars were for the Al-Aqsa Mosque,
and that our enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail
and that our nation's armies are outstanding."

[Official PA TV Live, Sept. 30, 2013]

The poem describes what children have been taught by Arab leaders, opening with "When I was young I was taught...", but criticizes these leaders for not acting according to their own teachings. "My enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail" was one such teaching, the poem states. The poem criticizes the Arab world for its lack of unity, which prevents it from fulfilling the goals it has set.

Click to view the poem recitals by the young girl and the writer El-Gakh.

During his visit to the PA, the Egyptian poet was also introduced to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas:

"Yesterday (Monday) [Sept. 29, 2013] President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas received Egyptian poet Hesham El-Gakh in the presidential residence in the city of Ramallah."

[WAFA (the official PA news agency), Sept.30, 2013]

The official PA news agency WAFA reported on El-Gakh's performance and the honor he received from the PA:

"Egyptian poet Hesham El-Gakh held an evening of poetry in the Ramallah Cultural Palace yesterday... During his [poetry] evening, the poet recited many of his famous poems, among them The Visa, and the poem The Last Thing Distorted in the Torah, and several of his other poems, which pleased the audience...
At the evening's conclusion [PA] Minister of Culture and District Governor of Ramallah honored El-Gakh."

[WAFA (the official PA news agency), Sept. 30, 2013

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(1)  Fatah praises terrorist shooter of 9 year-old:

"The sniper of Palestine was here...  

He left a signature of [real] men"

Netanyahu: "As long as incitement continues
in the Palestinian media, the [Palestinian] Authority
cannot evade responsibility for these incidents"

After a nine-year-old girl was shot in the Israeli town of Psagot in the West Bank yesterday, the administrator of an official Fatah Facebook page praised the terrorist shooter. He related the attack to a sniper attack that killed an Israeli soldier in Hebron two weeks ago. Writing on behalf of Fatah, the page administrator praised "the sniper of Palestine" who began his work in Hebron (the shooting of the soldier), passed through El-Bireh (the shooting of the girl), and - according to the Fatah Facebook page administrator - will continue in more places in the future:

"The sniper of Palestine was here. He saluted Hebron, and rested in El-Bireh. He left the signature of [real] men in different parts of the homeland. He saluted and left, and moved on to a different place, with a new signature, as he tells the stories of those who love the homeland."

[Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page," Oct. 6, 2013]

In the Israeli Cabinet meeting this morning, Prime Minister Netanyahu referred to the shooting, and assigned full blame to the Palestinian Authority and to "the ongoing incitement in the Palestinian media":

"We do not content ourselves with the fact that our staunch security policies have made this the most quiet year in a decade in terms of terrorist attacks. First of all, we detect an increase in terror attacks recently, and I must say that as long as incitement continues in the Palestinian media, the [Palestinian] Authority cannot evade responsibility for these incidents."

[Quoted in Maariv, Oct. 6, 2013]

Palestinian Media Watch has documented Fatah and the PA's continued glorification of terrorists.

Last week, the PA held a memorial for terrorist Abu Sukkar who killed 15 Israelis with a bomb. In a speech, PA Chairman Abbas himself stated that "Fatah lost a beacon."

Note: The Facebook page where this glorification of "the sniper of Palestine" was posted, called "Fatah - The Main Page," is an official Fatah Facebook page. The page defines itself as belonging to the Fatah Mobilization and Organization Commission. Each Fatah commission has an official website. The official website of Fatah's Mobilization and Organization Commission links to this Facebook page.

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(2)  Hate speech continues on official PA TV Girl on PA TV: "I was taught... our enemy is Satan, Zion with a tail" by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik Official Palestinian Authority TV continues its policy of broadcasting and promoting hate speech against Israelis and Jews, as documented by Palestinian Media Watch. Recently a young woman recited a poem including the words: "Our enemy is Satan, Zion with a tail."   Click to view The lyrics of the poem, which were written by Egyptian poet Hesham El-Gakh, promote Pan-Arabism and explain that the speaker "has been taught" that "our wars" are religious in nature, being fought "for the Al-Aqsa Mosque" and that the enemy is Jews - "Zion, Satan with a tail."  Twice before, PMW documented that official PA TV had young children recite this hate speech.  In the latest version the young woman switched the words from "Zion, Satan with a tail" to "Satan, Zion with a tail":  "When I was young I was taught that Arabness is my honor... and that our lands extend from one end to the other, and that our wars were for the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and that our enemy is Satan, Zion with a tail, and that our nation's armies are outstanding." In July, PA TV invited two small girls to recite a poem that included Islam-based hate speech and Antisemitism:  "You who murdered Allah's pious prophets (i.e., Jews in Islamic tradition) Oh, you who were brought up on spilling blood You have been condemned to humiliation and hardship Oh Sons of Zion, oh most evil among creations Oh barbaric monkeys, wretched pigs."   Click to view additional examples of PA demonization of Israel and Jews. Click to view the first PA TV broadcast of the poem "Zion, Satan with a tail"  Click to view the second PA TV broadcast of the poem "Zion, Satan with a tail" The following are the different transcripts of the "Zion is Satan" poems recited on PA TV: PA TV host: "We will now take a short break - to the poetry section by the girl Tala..." Girl: "When I was young I was taught that Arabness is my honor... and that our lands extend from one end to the other, and that our wars were for the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and that our enemy is Satan, Zion with a tail, and that our nation's armies are outstanding." [Official PA TV, Aug. 30, 2013] PA TV host: "Lina, how did you participate in the exhibition [of educational tools]?" Lina: "I recited a poem." Host: "A poem." Co-host: "Lina opened the exhibition." Lina: "When I was young, I was taught that Arabness is my honor... and that our lands extend from one end to the other, and that our wars were for the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and that our enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail..." [Official PA TV, May 8, 2012] PA TV host: "Laila, what do you want to recite next?" Laila: "When I was young I was taught that Arabness is my honor... and that our lands extend from one end to the other, and that our wars were for the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and that our enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail... Our division is by your hands [Arab rulers]. May your hands be cut off. We are fed up with our division, while all people are uniting." Host: "Bravo, bravo, bravo." [Official PA TV, April 7, 2012

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik