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Young boy Demonstrators AS 'SUICIDE BOMBERS' HIT in CAPE TOWN

Young boy Demonstrators AS  'SUICIDE BOMBERS' HIT in CAPE TOWN

Author: Elliott Sylvester
Publication: Weekend Argus
Date: November 29, 2002
URL: http://www.hinduvoice.net/MuslimDemonstratorsCall3rdDec02.html

The cynical use of two young boys dressed as suicide bombers with cardboard cut-out dynamite sticks strapped to their chests to lead a march in support of the Palestinian cause through the streets of Cape Town, has sent shockwaves around the country.
 
The boys, wearing Hezbollah headbands and dressed in black, marched with military style precision and were followed by eight others carrying cardboard AK47s as they led a crowd of 300 people from the Muir Street mosque in District Six to the United States consulate at the foreshore.
 
The march came just 24 hours after the mindless attack on the Israeli-run Paradise Mombassa Hotel in Kenya in which 15 people, include three suicide bombers, were killed. An Israeli passenger jet leaving Mombassa airport at the same time narrowly escaped a missile attack.
 
During Friday's march, the message from the children - between the ages of 7 and 13 - leading the march was simple, but ominous: "DEATH TO AMERICA, DEATH TO ISRAEL," they shouted.
 
Earlier the marchers also shouted, "ONE AMERICAN, ONE BULLET." Later, this changed to: "ONE AMERICAN TOURIST, ONE BULLET" but the organizers then asked the marchers to stop chanting those words.
 
The march, which started shortly after 2:30 PM, was organised by the radical Muslim group, Qibla, to celebrate International Quds day, the day of the oppressed. Its aim is to show solidarity with Muslims living in Palestine under Israeli occupation.
 
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies slammed the depiction of children as suicide bombers, saying it was shameful that children should be used to further the aims of terrorists.
 
Former board chairman, Mervyn Smith, said he was shocked to hear that the march was led by children in military style, dressed as suicide bombers, some also supporing mock weapons.
 
And, in an even more shocking display, the children staged a mock attack on a bakkie draped in sheets and painted to look like an Israeli tank. After tearing the sheets from the bakkie, the group including two girls, ripped apart an Israeli flag before returning to their neat rows to continue the
march with cardboard guns in hand.
 
"It is scandalous that murderous thugs should be portrayed as heroes to young children. The sense of values appears to have been totally lost," Smith said.
 
It was hard to believe that the people of Cape Town could still believe that violence was an answer to the conflict in the Middle East.
 
"The whole world, including the Palestinian authorities, condemns the notion of suicide bombers. Why, in Cape Town, should they still be admired?" Smith said.
 
"Children should not be taught to continue the violence which is already claiming so many lives."
 
But co-ordinator of the march and Qibla member, Abdullah Ederies, said the children were vital in driving home the message that Palestinians were sacrificing their bodies to fight Israel, "one of the most powerful regimes in the world."
 
"Using these children is completely justified...It's time the world sat up and took note..."
 


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