The most recent wave of Palestinian terrorism that began in September 2015--a wave of stabbings and knifings now being emulated in European cities--has a particularly grotesque feature: child terrorists.
Palestinian children who directly perpetrate acts of terrorism, including murder, violate the most fundamental of human rights: the right to life. The Palestinian adults who encourage Palestinian child terrorism violate one of the most fundamental rights of the child: the right not to take part in armed conflict or hostilities.
The Palestinian Authority has supported its claim that "Palestine" is ready for statehood, and responded to the UN General Assembly's formal recognition of "non-member observer state" status of the "State of Palestine," by formally acceding to international legal prohibitions on children in armed conflict.
In violation of those legal obligations there have been at least 36 separate terrorist attacks by Palestinian children.
The preferred method of murder and attempted murder by Palestinian child terrorists are stabbings or knifings, the modus operandi in 34 of the 36 attacks.
The breakdown of the known ages of Palestinian child terrorists is as follows: age 17 -11; age 16--14; age 15--7; age 14--6; age 13--3; age 12--2; age 11--1; age of minor unspecified: 17.
The breakdown of the known gender of Palestinian child terrorists is as follows: male--14; female 11; gender unspecified--17.
Legal obligations voluntarily assumed by the Palestinian Authority concerning the involvement of children in armed conflict include the
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which states in part:
- Article 1: States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of 18 years do not take a direct part in hostilities.
- Article 4: 1. Armed groups that are distinct from the armed forces of a State should not, under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of 18 years. 2. States Parties shall take all feasible measures to prevent such recruitment and use, including the adoption of legal measures necessary to prohibit and criminalize such practices.
This treaty was
acceded to by the "State of Palestine" on April 7, 2014.
But after Palestinian child terrorists had murdered two and injured nine in sixteen attacks in the fall of 2015, Palestinian UN representative Riyad Mansour made this declaration in the public hall of UN Headquarters on
November 23, 2015: "We are so proud that in this popular uprising that has started almost two months ago, that the backbone of this uprising are the youth of Palestine." Since that time, Palestinian child terrorists have attacked Israelis at least another 20 times.
Here is a list of known acts of terrorism perpetrated by Palestinian children:
| PERPETRATOR AGE | PERPETRATOR GENDER(where identified) | DATE | METHOD OF ATTACK | ISRAELISINJURED/KILLED |
|
17 | male | 30-May-16 | stabbing | one injured |
| 16 (and 23) | male | 23-May-16 | attempted stabbing | |
|
16 | | 19-May-16 | attempted stabbing | |
|
underage: 2 persons | | 11-May-16 | stabbing | two injured |
|
12, 12 | | 14-Apr-16 | attempted stabbing | |
|
15 | female | 25-Mar-16 | attempted stabbing | |
14female | 3-Mar-16 | stabbing | one injured |
|
17, 17 | | 2-Mar-16 | stabbing (knife and a wooden club) | one injured |
|
17 | female | 21-Feb-16 | attempted stabbing | |
|
14 | male | 21-Feb-16 | attempted stabbing | |
|
15, 15 | male | 14-Feb-16 | throwing rocks (knife and gun) | |
|
17 | female | 13-Feb-16 | stabbing | two injured |
|
14, 14 | male | 18-Feb-16 | stabbing | one killed, one injured |
|
13, 13 | female | 4-Feb-16 | stabbing | one injured |
|
15 | | 30-Jan-16 | stabbing | one injured |
|
17 (and 23) | | 25-Jan-16 | stabbing (also had pipe bombs and explosives) | one killed, one injured |
|
15 | | 18-Jan-16 | stabbing | one injured |
|
16 | male | 17-Jan-16 | stabbing | one killed |
|
17 (and 23) | | 27-Dec-15 | stabbing | two injured |
|
16 | | 1-Dec-15 | stabbing | one injured |
|
14, 16 | female | 23-Nov-15 | stabbing | two injured |
|
16 | female | 22-Nov-15 | attempted stabbing | |
|
11, 14 | male | 10-Nov-15 | stabbing | one injured |
|
16 | male | 10-Nov-15 | attempted stabbing | |
|
17 | male | 31-Oct-15 | attempted stabbing | |
|
16, 17 | | 27-Oct-15 | attempted stabbing | |
|
17 | female | 25-Oct-15 | attempted stabbing | |
|
16 | male | 24-Oct-15 | attempted stabbing | |
|
15 | female | 21-Oct-15 | attempted stabbing | |
|
16 | male | 17-Oct-15 | attempted stabbing | |
|
17 | female | 17-Oct-15 | stabbing | one injured |
|
16 | female | 12-Oct-15 | stabbing | one injured |
|
13, 15 | male | 12-Oct-15 | stabbing | two injured |
|
16 | | 10-Oct-15 | stabbing | two injured |
|
16 | male | 23-Nov-15 | stabbing | one killed |
|
16-19 (4 persons) | male | 13-Sep-15 | rocks | one killed |
Obviously, information on these incidents is readily accessible. And the Palestinian UN Ambassador publicly supported child terrorism at the UN itself. Moreover, videos, photographs, television programs, and social media outlets--from
Palestinian and
Israeli sources--provide a multitude of evidence both of Palestinian children engaged in armed conflict and Palestinian adults (from the political sphere to the education system to the family unit) promoting such behavior.
Shockingly, however, the UN Secretary-General's most recent annual
report on Children and Armed Conflict, released in May 2016, contains the following statement specifically about Palestinian children: "Limited information is available about the recruitment or use of children."
Since the Secretary-General's claim is manifestly untrue, the United Nations is not merely engaged in a feeble cover-up. The UN is now an active enabler of the violation of the rights of Israelis and Palestinians: the basic rights to life and security of the person of the Israeli victims of Palestinian children engaged in terrorism, and the rights of Palestinian children not to be recruited or engaged in terrorism in the first place.
The Secretary-General's report is due to be taken up by the Security Council on Tuesday, August 2, 2016.
See The Washington Free Beacon's article on this report.
View Comments
