Ashbal 'Lion Cubs' child soldiers in Lebanon began in spring 1969, were led by Palestinian-Arab leaders like Yasser Arafat, and at the founding also by Ahmad Shukairy and George Habash, initially dubbed 'baby tigers' and were active in the 1970s and 1980s.[1]
It was the "youth movement" of Arafat's Fatah.[2]
Some were as young as eight years of age, first.[3]
The boys were taught to dismantle, clean and reassemble rifles, pistols and machine guns and are allowed to fire live ammunition. The children underwent a Mau Mau-like hardening course in which each boy was required to tear apart a live chicken to develop a "lust for killing."[4][5][6]
Then there were reports for even younger kids, as young as 5.[7]
Chants which these children, had to learn and repeat included: "Oh Zionists, do you think you are safe? Drinking blood is the habit of our men" and "We are from Fatah! We have come to kill you a all!"[8][9]
See also
References
- ↑ Henry J Taylor, "Arab Commando Attacks". Lewiston Evening Journal, Apr 28, 1969, p. 3; Daily Press from Newport News, Virginia, April 28, 1969, p.11.
Baby Tigers - The State Department finds that such leaders as Arafat, Shukairy and Habeche talk of "fighting for 20 or so years." They even have training camps for 12-year-old youths, a expanding cadre called Baby Tigers.
- ↑ Jillian Becker (2014), The PLO. p. 187
- ↑ Newsweek - Volume 74, Issues 18-26 - Page 42 - 1969. When Al Fatah opened training camps for 8- to 15-year-old "Lion Cubs" last spring, the response was immediate. Now, on playgrounds of Palestinian refugee camps, Yasir Arafat's young lions— many of them dressed in cut-down combat...
- ↑ John Laffin, "Fedayeen; the Arab-Israeli Dilemma." Free Press, 1973. pp. 96-97
- ↑ Arms Control and Disarmament: A Quarterly Bibliography with Abstracts and Annotations, Volume 6. Library of Congress. Arms Control and Disarmament Bibliography. 1969, p. 420 ..one unit, the Lion Cubs, for boys ten to fourteen, instills a blood lust by making recruits tear live chickens apart.
- ↑ Isaiah L. Kenen, "Near East Report," Volume 19. Near East Report, Incorporated, 1975. p. 37. Few can be taken in by PLO's "democratic, secular state"... .. the Ashbal (the Lion Cubs)... to tear apart a live chicken to develop a lust for killing "-- accompanied by hymns of hate against Israel. As demonstrated by the shocking acts of savagery with which the world has become so familiar, this training has proven all-too successful.
- ↑ Harris O. Schoenberg (1989). "A Mandate for Terror: The United Nations and the PLO." p. 410 Oh Zionists, do you think you are safe? Drinking blood is a habit of our men!" chant the Ashbal (Lion Cubs), boys five years.
- ↑ Keith Campbell: "Children of the Storm: The Abuse of Children for the Promotion of the Revolution." Lone Tree Publications, 1987. p. 6
- ↑ Helene Roux (1988). "How Revolutionaries Use Children." p. 9
THE MIDDLE EAST: SCHOOLS FOR TEACHING TERROR TECHNIQUES
Given the record of successes enjoyed by the totalitarian governments in indoctrinating youngsters into becoming murderous thugs for political ends, it is little wonder that many revolutionary and terrorist movements have followed suit.
Thus it is that Fatah (Arafat's faction of the PLO) has a youth wing the Ashbal ("Lion Cubs") for boys of 6 and older, which produces "junior terrorists". Chants which these children have to learn and repeat include: "Oh Zionists , do you think you are safe ? Drinking blood is the habit of our men" and: "We are from Fatah! We have come to kill you all!" At the age of 12, the children receive two or three weeks of military training and each is issued with a weapon. As part of their training...