Egyptian pop heartthrob Amr Diab has many hits throughout the  Arab world, such as “Nour al Ain” and “Habibi.” The one I’ve watched most on YouTube, however, is “Al Quds De Ardina,” which translates to “Jerusalem is Our Land.” There aren’t any subtitles, but the title and music video make the point pretty clear. See if you can count how many times he says shaheed, and enjoy:
The tune is pretty catchy and the kids are cute, so “Al Quds De Ardina” had a special place in my heart for years as my favorite jihadist radical Islam indoctrination song. Then this happened:
Move over, Amr Diab! These kids beat his kids in cuteness, the tune is way more catchy and, though I don’t know what Amr’s song means, I can’t imagine that it’s more malicious and extremist than this new hit from the Birds of Palestine. The technical aspects of their video may not have been as advanced as those of Amr’s, but there’s nothing more adorable than kids dancing around on stage and using (what I hope are) fake weapons to simulate an insurgency. So, in short, if there were an awards show for this thing, the Birds of Palestine would get the Golden Kalishnikov.
In all seriousness, this is messed up. If we keep indoctrinating kids to kill people, they’ll keep killing people. This is one of the most disturbing media to come out of the conflict recently, and this trend is something we need to combat right now.
