A video released by the militant Islamic group Hamas shows a proud Naima al-Obeid holding a rifle beside her favorite son, Mahmoud, a 23-year-old college student. Mrs. al-Obeid is saying good-bye to her son as he heads out to kill some Jews.
The video starts with a warm embrace between mother and son, their final embrace as it turns out, and then a nice kiss. “God willing, you will succeed,” says the mother. “May every bullet hit the target, and may God give you martyrdom. This is the best day of my life.”
Mahmoud says: “Thank you for raising me.”
Shortly thereafter, Mahmoud was shot dead after killing two Israelis in the Jewish settlement of Dugit in the Gaza Strip. His mother’s response: “We believe our sons go to heaven when they are martyred. When Jewish sons die, they go to hell.”
And so, another perfect ending: Two more Jews go to hell, Mahmoud is up behind the clouds with a merry gang of virgins, and, praise be to Allah, Mrs. al-Obeid becomes a village hero.
“We found crowds coming to the mourning tent — and not just because of him,” reports BBC Middle East correspondent Orla Guerin. “People here aren’t just remembering Mahmoud — they are honoring his mother. She has become a heroine, being talked about on the streets, praised in the local papers. Some Palestinians are taking a great deal of pride in a mother who saw her son go to kill and die without shedding a tear. They are already saying she will inspire other women to do the same.”
Guerin asked Mrs. al-Obeid if it mattered whether her son killed women and children. “The women and children are also Jews,” she answered. “They’re all the same for me.”
Naima al-Obeid has nine more children, whom, she tells Guerin, all have a duty to fight. And, according to documents obtained by Fox News, the Saudi Interior Ministry pays 20,000 riyals to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. Bottom line, if all nine kids blow themselves up, they’ll be nine more parties at the mourning tent and Mrs. al-Obeid will pocket some 180,000 Saudi riyals, the equivalent of $48,060 in U.S. currency — in a place, thanks in no small part to the suicide bombers, where Palestinian per capita income has dropped to $1,650 per year, unemployment has jumped to 38 percent and a third of the population is living below the poverty line, defined by the World Bank as consumption spending of $2.10 per person per day.
Interviewed by Reuters, Hazaa al-Ghoul sounds much the same as Naima al-Obeid. On June 18, a young suicide bomber exploded himself during the morning rush hour on a Jerusalem bus crowded with school children and office workers, killing 19 Israelis.
It was during the news broadcasts of the bus explosion, al-Ghoul tells Reuters, that he received a phone call from a Hamas official to inform him that his son, Mohammed al-Ghoul, a student completing an advanced degree in Islamic studies at al-Najah University in the West Bank City of Nablus, was the attacker. He left a farewell note saying “How beautiful it is to kill and be killed.” Mr. al-Ghoul said he was “very happy” to hear that his son was the suicide bomber.
The London-based Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat recently published an interview with Umm Nidal, the mother of “shahid” (martyr) Muhammad Farhat. The following are excerpts from the interview.
Q: “How did the idea of martyrdom develop in your son?”
Umm Nidal: “Allah be praised, I am a Muslim and I believe in Jihad. We must instill this idea in our sons’ souls, all the time. Jihad is one of the elements of the faith and this is what encouraged me to sacrifice Muhammad in Jihad for the sake of Allah. My son was not destroyed, he is not dead; he is living a happier life than I. Because I love my son, I encouraged him to die a martyr’s death for the sake of Allah. The atmosphere to which Muhammad was exposed was full of faith and love of martyrdom. I maintain that a man’s faith does not reach perfection unless it attains self-sacrifice. I prayed from the depths of my heart that Allah would cause the success of his operation. I asked Allah to give me 10 Israelis for Muhammad, and Allah granted my request and Muhammad made his dream come true, killing 10 Israeli settlers and soldiers. Our God honored him even more, in that there were many Israelis wounded.”
Q: “How did Muhammad say good-bye?”
Umm Nidal: “Muhammad was willing to carry out any martyrdom operation. He would tell me, ‘I am going out now to an attack. I cannot control myself.’ I would answer him, ‘You will yet have a great opportunity. Be patient, plan well, so that you don’t sacrifice yourself in vain. Act with your mind, not your emotions.’ He swore to me that the only reason he loved life was Jihad. He would brandish his weapon and tell me: ‘Mom, this is my bride.’ He loved his gun so much.”
Sheik Ikrima Sabri, leading clergyman of the Palestinian Authority, sums it up: “The Muslim loves death and martyrdom, just as the Jews love life.”
