Kids jump for Jihad at European-funded dance competition
Kids jump for Jihad at European-funded dance competition
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Song at European-funded youth competition:
“Jihad is needed, Pull the trigger”
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In keeping with the song's theme of destroying Israel, the awards for the winning dancers were gold, silver, and bronze "maps of Palestine" that include all of Israel. |
Itamar Marcus
Like many western cultural centers, the Yafa Cultural Center in Nablus recently hosted a folk dance competition for youth. But unlike their western counterparts, children at this competition danced to calls for violence and waltzed to words of war:
“We replaced bracelets with weapons
We attacked the despicable [Zionists]...
Jihad is needed
Pull the trigger.”
The Yafa Cultural Center, which receives funding from the German development agency GIZ, Norway, and the European Union, recently posted to its website photos from the first Yafa Folk Dance Competition. The gold prize winner danced to the song Pull the Trigger. The following is a longer excerpt from the song's lyrics:
“The Zionists coveted [our] homeland,
compounding damage and enmity
But the popular revolution awaits [them]
The orchard called us to the struggle
We replaced bracelets with weapons
We attacked the despicable [Zionists]
We do not want [internal] strife or disputes
While this invading enemy is on the battlefield
This is the day that Jihad is needed
Pull the trigger.
We shall redeem Jerusalem, Nablus and the country.”
In keeping with the song’s theme of destroying Israel, the three top scoring dancers were awarded maps of “Palestine” replacing Israel. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA and Fatah regularly disseminate maps that erase Israel from the map.
According to the financial report of the Yafa Cultural Center from late 2014, that year it received contributions from the German development agency GIZ (around 50,000 Israeli shekels), Norway (around 7,000 Israeli shekels), and the European Union (around 80,000 Israeli shekels).
The full text of the article posted to the Yafa Cultural Center’s website follows below:
Headline: “The Yafa Cultural Center completed the first Yafa Folk Dance Competition by honoring three young winners”
“The Yafa Cultural Center (a Palestinian center supported by European governmental contributions -Ed.) completed the first Yafa Folk Dance Competition in which 17 groups of children that performed choreography to folk dance routines competed, and which ended with the declaration of three winners from among the participants in the competition...
Winning first place was participant Ru’a Ahmed Sa’id Hamdan, 14, who performed her dance to the sound of the song Pull, For You Are Pulling [the Trigger], and won a golden map of Palestine that was given to her by the center.
Winning second place was participant Tharaa Muhammad Abu Muslim, 13, who performed her dance to the sound of the song O Sower of the Sesame, and won a silver map of Palestine. Winning third place was participant Amir Abu Jaafar, 14, who performed his dance to the sound of the song O Mountain Unmoved by the Wind, and won a bronze map of Palestine.”
[Yafa Cultural Center, Feb. 12, 2017]